DAILY NEWS: AT 4:15 A.M., “Mr. Cheng” gets a call on his cell phone, signaling him to head outside to the light-blue van that will take him and other illegal workers to a mail-packaging factory in Montgomery County, to jobs that pay just above the minimum wage. It’s dark and quiet on the streets of South Philly as the van drives around, picking up other workers, who greet each other in Indonesian. Cheng is ethnically Chinese, but was born in Indonesia and lived there until he came to the United States about eight years ago. “I was dreaming of a […]
THE INTERWEBS: Jim Carrey Has A Badass Web Site
[Click image to activate Internets] No, really.
FIRST AMENDMENT: Fox News And Glenn Beck Lose Case Against GLENNBECKRAPEDAGIRLIN1990.COM
THR, ESQ: Fox News’ Glenn Beck has lost a claim that a website called glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com was registered in bad faith and in violation of his trademark rights. The website was founded by Isaac Eiland-Hall earlier this year in response to a joke on odd-news site Fark about Beck’s lack of denial for a non-existent murder/rape. Eiland-Hall argued to WIPO hat he registered the website as a satirical critique of Beck’s conspiratorial politics. WIPO’s arbitration panel agreed that the website appeared “to be engaged in a parody of the style or methodology that (Eiland-Hall) appears genuinely to believe is employed by […]
CHEEKY: ‘Twilight’ Star Goes Lady Godiva For PETA
HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: “The Twilight Saga” human Christian Serratos is a supporter of animal rights. You might have known that — I didn’t particularly — but now everyone will be aware of Christian’s cause. The young actress posted her ad for PETA on her Twitter account this afternoon, and her advocacy was a bit more revealing than we would have expected. “I’d rather go naked than wear fur,” the ad proclaims in some very “Twilight”-esque font. The photo is set in the woods (a la Forks, Wash., obvs) and even has same color scheme “New Moon” has had in advertising (to […]
MEDIA: Rupert Murdoch Vs. The Internets
THE GUARDIAN: Rupert Murdoch says he will remove stories from Google’s search index as a way to encourage people to pay for content online. In an interview with Sky News Australia, the mogul said that newspapers in his media empire – including the Sun, the Times and the Wall Street Journal – would consider blocking Google entirely once they had enacted plans to charge people for reading their stories on the web. In recent months, Murdoch his lieutenants have stepped up their war of words with Google, accusing it of “kleptomania” and acting as a “parasite” for including News Corp […]
MASERATI: Live At First Unitarian Church
Video: Maserati Interview [Breakfast at Sulimay’s] on Scrapple TV NEW YORK POST: An indie-band drummer from Brooklyn fell to his death today after trying to leap from a freight elevator at a tony Williamsburg fund-raiser, police said. Jerry Fuchs, 34, who drummed for West Coast dance-punk band !!! (pronounced “chk chk chk”) and the Georgia-based psychedelic instrumental ensemble Maserati, tumbled five stories shortly after 12:30 a.m. inside 338 Berry St., cops said. “It’s a manual freight elevator, and it stopped somewhere above the fifth floor,” said Buildings Department spokesman Tony Sclafani. Sources said Fuchs and his pal opened the elevator […]
SPORTO: The 700 Level Of The Mind
BY MIKE WOLVERTON SPORTS GUY Last night’s game was there for the taking, but it didn’t get took. Here’s my positive spin: the Eagles don’t start playing their best football until their backs are against the wall (see last year, the Garcia year, more). Well, their backs are much closer to the wall now than they would have been if they had finished off the Cowboys last night. Another positive: tackle Jason Peters got hurt, got x-rayed, got re-taped, sucked it up and got back in there. And Peters played a good second half. This in contrast to the game […]
KUCINICH: Why I Voted Against Health Care Reform
DENNIS KUCINICH: We have been led to believe that we must make our health care choices only within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing healthcare. Clearly, the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution. They are driving up the cost of health care. Because their massive bureaucracy avoids paying bills so effectively, they force hospitals and doctors to hire their own bureaucracy to fight the insurance companies to avoid getting stuck with an unfair share of the bills. The result is that since 1970, the number of physicians has increased by […]
SEPTA STRIKE: Is Over!
INQUIRER: The strike by SEPTA workers that had paralyzed much of the region since last week ended this morning with a signing of an agreement by SEPTA officials and leaders of Transport Workers Union Local 234. Buses, subways, and trolleys, idled since 3 a.m. Tuesday, should be running in time for this mornning’s rush. The end to the six-day walkout came in dramatic fashion, as union leaders joined SEPTA officials about 12:45 this morning at a news conference outside the Center City office of Gov. Rendell, who brokered the deal a day after he said he was giving up on […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Wolfmother + Mom = FAIL
[Photo via INDYPRESS] BY JAMIE DAVIS For my first concert review for Phawker, I asked if I could cover the Wolfmother show at the Electric Factory on Saturday. Fine, says Phawker. Problem is, I can’t take the car out past 11 PM as I am only 17 and only have my Cinderella license, so I thought I’d let my friend Sasha drive. He said that he could and everything was cool, or so I thought. A few hours before the show, as I was printing the directions, his mom calls and tells me that Sasha has to be home by […]
CAMDEN: That All There Is To A Government Rescue?
INQUIRER: Raw sewage seeped into Jackeline and Eduardo Gonzalez’s basement, through its bathroom, hallway, and bedroom. The fumes forced the family to eat outside and sent 1-year-old Eduardo Jr. to the emergency room three times with respiratory problems. The toxic flow burned holes in walls and ruined clothes and a sofa. The mold ended Grandma’s visits from Puerto Rico. The sewage comes from a collapsed pipe at the end of their block, on Cherry Street in Camden. How does the city respond? For three hours, three days a week, a bored employee uses a noisy machine to transfer waste from […]
EARLY WORD: The Thin Line Between Love And Hate
SUNDANCE FESTIVAL: One of the most infamous lawyers of the twentieth century, William Kunstler liked to shake things up. Filmmakers Emily and Sarah Kunstler explore their father’s life and legacy: from middle-class family man to celebrated radical activist to “the most hated lawyer in America.”Kunstler’s resume is one for the storybooks. He fought for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. and catapulted to the world stage by defending the Chicago Seven. Soon Kunstler became the go-to guy for the radical left. When inmates rioted at Attica prison or Native Americans took on the federal government at Wounded Knee, they […]
MERCY: House Passes Sweeping Health Care Reform
NEW YORK TIMES: Handing President Obama a hard-fought victory, the House narrowly approved a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system on Saturday night, advancing legislation that Democrats said could stand as their defining social policy achievement.Democrats say the House measure — paid for through new fees and taxes, along with cuts in Medicare — would extend coverage to 36 million people now without insurance while creating a government health insurance program. It would end insurance company practices like not covering pre-existing conditions or dropping people when they become ill. Republicans condemned the vote and said they would oppose […]