[via JUSTIA.COM] PREVIOUSLY: Panama Birth Canal Could Disqualify McCain U.S. CONSTITUTION: No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. AMERICAN CHAOS: John McCain was born August 29, 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone, to two U.S. citizens. It’s a common misunderstanding that the zone was a U.S. […]
JUST WONDERING: Why Are We Still Schocked — SHOCKED! — By The World’s Oldest Profession?
SLATE: Why, exactly, is prostitution illegal? The case for making it against the law to buy sex begins with the premise that it’s base and exploitative and demeaning to sex workers. Legalizing prostitution expands it, the argument goes, and also helps pimps, fails to protect women, and leads to more back-alley violence, not less. This fight over legalization has been waged in the last few years over international human-trafficking laws and proposals to make prostitution legal in countries like Bulgaria, a movement that the U.S. government helped defeat. In 2004, the federal government expressed its position: “The United States government […]
WORTH REPEATING: Like A Virgin 4 The Very 1st Time
BY AMY Z. QUINN FOR THE INQUIRER It’s May 29, 1985, and my best friend Laura and I — all of 13 and 12 years old — are standing in front of the Spectrum, clutching rainbow-hued Ticketron passes to see Madonna. Not only is this Madonna’s first U.S. tour and her first time in Philly, but more important, it’s our First Concert Without Parents! One of my older sisters drops us off at Broad and Pattison, and we strut around the Spectrum for a bit before taking our seats, leaving frosted-pink lipstick stains on the cigarettes we brazenly smoke out […]
TODAY I SAW: The Valley of The Shadow Of Death
[Photos by JUSTIN ROMAN] BY JEFF DEENEY What looks at first glance like a makeshift pyramid of stuffed animals outside an abandoned brownstone between 22nd and 21st on Dauphin Street is in fact it is one of Philly’s many street shrines for neighborhood homicide victims. The stuffed animals comprising this shrine are mostly bears of different sizes, shapes and pedigree. There’s writing in black magic marker on the bears that reveals a name: Mook. The same name is spray painted on the front window of the house next door to the abandoned brownstone. “RIP Mook” is scrawled in big, black […]
World Record-Holding Marathoner Will NOT Compete In Beijing Olympics, Citing Appalling Air Quality
THE INDEPENDENT: Haile Gebrselassie says he will not run in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics over fears about the high pollution levels in the city. The Ethiopian marathon world record holder, who suffers from asthma and missed the 2007 London Marathon because of the problem, will now run at the shorter distance of 10,000m in Beijing. “The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42km in my current condition,” Gebrselassie said. “But I am not pulling out of the Olympic event in Beijing all together. I plan […]
THE WAR: 8 U.S. Soldiers Killed In One Day
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Insurgents killed eight US soldiers in two separate attacks in 24 hours in Iraq and nine more people died on Tuesday in clashes in the north. In one of the deadliest days for the US military in several months, the insurgents on Monday killed three US soldiers and their translator in the Iraqi province of Diyala where a massive American and Iraqi military sweep has been targeting Al-Qaeda militants. The military, which announced the Diyala incident and casualties on Tuesday, said another soldier was also wounded in the bomb attack. On Monday, five other US soldiers were […]
AMY WALKER: 21 Accents In Two Minutes
NPR: PHILADELPHIA actress Amy Walker has become an instant YouTube star with a video of herself performing 21 different accents in two and a half minutes.
SHOCKER: NY Gov. Caught In Fed Prostitution Dragnet
NEW YORK TIMES: ALBANY — Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation. Governor Eliot Spitzer delivering the New York State Executive Budget address in The wiretap recording, made during an investigation of a prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP, captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a room. The person briefed on the case identified […]
DAVE CLARK FIVE: Glad All Over
RELATED: Pioneering ’60s band The Dave Clark Five will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York later today. The group’s induction comes just weeks after lead singer, Mike Smith, died in hospital from pneumonia. Smith, 64, was paralyzed from the rib cage down following a fall at his home in Spain in 2003. Madonna, Leonard Cohen, The Ventures and John Mellencamp will also be inducted into the prestigious roll of honour tonight. Justin Timberlake will induct Madonna into the Hall of Fame, while Iggy & The Stooges will perform in honour of the singer. […]
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Pubic Radio Edge Since 2006
FRESH AIR On February 26, Conductor Lorin Maazel led the New York Philharmonic on an unprecedented concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, at the invitation of the North Korean government. It was the first time a major American orchestra had performed in the communist country. The program opened with the national anthems of both North Korea and the United States, then moved on to music from Wagner’s Lohengrin, Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony and Gershwin’s An American in Paris; the orchestra encored with the overture from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and with “Arirang,” a much-loved Korean folk song described by the Associated Press […]
WORTH REPEATING: Take My Wife, PLEASE
ANDREW SULLIVAN: Remembering the day-to-day psychodramas of [the ’90s] still floods my frontal cortex with waves of loathing and anxiety. The further away you are from them, the easier it is to think they’re fine. Up close they are an intolerable, endless, soul-sapping soap opera. The media are marveling at the Clintons’ several near-death political experiences in this campaign. Hasn’t it occurred to them how creepily familiar all this is? The Clintons live off psychodrama. They both love to push themselves to the brink of catastrophe and then accomplish the last-minute, nail-biting self-rescue. Before too long the entire story becomes […]
STUDY: 56 Pharmaceuticals Found In Philly Tap Water
(Welcome CNN.com readers!) ASSOCIATED PRESS: A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows. Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major California suppliers said the public “doesn’t know how to interpret the information” and might be unduly alarmed. How do the drugs get into the water? People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of […]
MONEY: Smells Like Grand Theft Identity
THE SUN: Fraudsters used dead rocker Kurt Cobain’s social security number to buy a $3.2 million house, it emerged yesterday. The Nirvana frontman’s widow Courtney Love revealed that identity thieves had also set up 188 credit cards in her name. This week Courtney, 43, met cops in Van Nuys, LA, to give them details of a probe by forensic accountants Kroll which discovered £36million missing. Cheques had been stolen and cars bought by villains. “It was fraud after fraud. But nobody believed me until now. I did a check on my deceased husband’s social security number and he has a […]