Fadhel Al-Maliki, a 35-year-old Iraqi national living in Atlantic City, N.J., had been flagged by security officials at LAX and was undergoing a secondary “selectee screening” when he set off a metal detector. As Al-Maliki was being detained, his two bags were loaded on to US Airways Flight 1422, which took off for Philadelphia with 143 passengers and six crew members on board, said Liz Landau, a spokeswoman for the airline. Al-Maliki, a former security guard, told screeners that he knew what had triggered the alarm and proceeded to remove items from his rectum, including a rock, chewing gum and […]
GAMBLOR: City Council To Consider Quaint Notion Of Actually Giving Philadelphians Say In Casino Schemes
City Council could soon vote on putting a question to voters this May, on the future of the city?s slots parlors. A super majority of 12 votes would be needed by City Council for this ballot question to go to voters in May. The question involves changes to city zoning that effectively would bar casinos from just about every part of town. The mayor opposes this, leaving Councilman Frank DiCicco perplexed: ?I would just wonder if the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decided to put a nuclear power plant down at Delaware and Reed, would the city?s position be the same? I […]
Inky & DN Join Phawker In The National Chorus Of Editorials Calling For Attorney General To Resign
INQUIRER: He should resign Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales should resign. If he ever does, the nation could take it as a clear sign that President Bush finally grasps the need to preserve core civil liberties while guarding against terrorism. It would also be a sign that the president grasps that the Justice Department is at least one part of the government that should be free from the all-politics-all-the-time approach of his Karl Rove-led White House team. Until the day Gonzales does the right thing — or it’s demanded of him — Americans must assume that their president doesn’t get […]
HOT DOCUMENT: I Shall Return
March 14, 2007 To: The staff From: Bill Marimow [Editor, Philadelphia Inquirer] I wanted to give you advance notice of an upcoming event in my life. Beginning tomorrow, I’ll be out of the office for several weeks because I’m having surgery for prostate cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The operation is being done by Dr. Patrick Walsh, the surgeon who pioneered the nerve-sparing prostate surgery. Based on the reading I’ve done, the prospects for full recovery are very good. Based on the experience of other colleagues who have had this surgery, I’m estimating that I’ll be out of […]
PW’s Steven Wells Rips Sweeney’s Shameless Shilling, But Fails To Disclose Status As Comcast’s Bitch
The living god-king of Philadelphia hipsters recently jumped the shark in the most embarrassing manner possible. You know who I mean. He needs no introduction. Yesterday he was the maharaja of Philly cool, the super-groovy gossip blogger, the dude who put the “pst” into hipster. Today he’s snot on a crack whore’s stocking. His crime against credibility? In a horrifically badly judged Philadelphia magazine advertorial, the god-king posed in the back of a “free” car — ridiculously resplendent in his trademark ironic girl’s coat and not-so-ironic no-sex specs — and gushed about his sponsors’ products (go to www.philadelphiawilldo.com for the […]
POP IN TAPE: Hot Wax In The 215
BY MICHAEL FICHMAN I’ve worked on and off in sports journalism (professional, then amateur) for about seven years now. Periodically, the small-mindedness of a niche-interested group becomes apparent. For example, when a talented football player like Barry Sanders retires before his time, sportswriters lose their fucking minds. “How could he do that? He’s just walking away?!” When Michael Jordan came back for the umpteenth time (or decided to play baseball for that matter), people whined that he was tarnishing his legacy, as if MJ himself hadn’t created it. Most sportswriters and hardcore sports fans were once aspiring athletes, moon-shooting idealistic […]
REVIEW: The Shins, Electric Factory, Last Night
EVA SAYS: So, you’d think after all these years of waiting to see The Shins, my first show would have been some meaningful notch on my concert bedpost or something. What a silly expectation that was. At best, maybe I got excited for the first ten seconds of each song. But then the initial thrill of recognition would fade and I would be back to underwhelmed. Mostly I blame myself. After all, my friends did try to warn me off: “The Shins suck, you loser Zach Braff fan!” (For the record: I do not like Zach Braff nor was I […]
ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL
WARNING: F-bombs, stereotypes, hilarity the funniest thing you see on the Internet today — no really, we checked. [Hat tip to P-Riddy]
NPR FOR THE DEF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR ON WHYY Religion scholars Elaine Pagels and Karen King’s new book, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas [pictured, circa 1973 A.D.], interprets and translates the recently discovered gnostic gospel of Judas. Pagels’ previous books include, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas and The Gnostic Gospels. King’s previous book is The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle. RADIO TIMES with MARTY MOSS-COANE Hour 1 On March 3, after a series of public meetings and forums organized by Penn Praxis, 500 people attended a conference where a group of leading architects presented their concepts […]
The Military-Industrial Complex Started As A Hobby
The City of Philadelphia’s photo archive contains over 2 million images that date back as far as the late 1800s, i.e. the last time a Republican won in this town. In all seriousness, this is an INCREDIBLE visual record of the city’s evolution and a relatively new web site, PhillyHistory.org, is making it available for online consumption and purchase. To date, some 22,000 images have been digitally scanned, at a rate of roughly 2,000 images a month. So, if you’ve been wondering why the line at Kinko’s is so goddamned SLOW, well, now you know. Phawker will be showcasing images […]
Man Explodes To Death At Friendly’s
A serviceman working on the air compressor system at a restaurant in Northeast Philadelphia was killed yesterday when a pressurized tank exploded, officials said. The man, a South Jersey resident whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was working on the air compressor system at the Friendly’s Restaurant on Roosevelt Boulevard and Red Lion Road about 2:30 p.m. when the explosion [NOT pictured, right] occurred, officials said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported. The cause of the blast was under investigation. INQUIRER: Tick, Tick, BOOM