[Photo Courtesy of PhillyHistory.org] 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 godamnned SLOW, well, now you know. Phawker […]
BREAKING: Fumo Steps Down, Fed Indictment Pending
HARRISBURG — State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, under FBI scrutiny for four years, took to the senate floor today and announced he expects to be indicted this week, proclaimed his innocence and said he plans to vigorously defend the allegations against him. In a cadence at times defiant, at times mournful, Fumo (D., Phila.) said he would step down as the ranking Democrat on the powerful senate Appropriations Committee, but would continue serving in the chamber as he fights the expected charges against him. “I know in my heart that I have not done anything illegal,” said Fumo in a […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR ON WHYY Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, and writer Michael Arndt. Little Miss Sunshine, their bittersweet film about a dysfunctional family, has been nominated for four Academy Awards. This was Faris and Dayton’s feature film debut after directing hundreds of music videos, and also the first screenplay of Arndt’s to be produced. ALSO, writer Jon Mooallem wrote “Designer-Dog Fights,” a story in the New York Times Magazine about the breeders who breed dogs to create a canine with a particular mix of behavioral and physical characteristics. RADIO TIMES The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is selling one […]
WAR PIG: Disgraced GOP Congressman Named Military-Industrial Complex Executive
BY BONNIE L. COOK Inquirer Staff Writer — Former U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon has been named chief strategic officer for Defense Solutions, an Exton-based company specializing in military services and sales, a company official said yesterday. Chief executive officer Tim Ringgold said Weldon, a 10-term Republican congressman from Delaware County, would help lead the firm’s “growing defense and homeland security practice areas.” “Curt Weldon knows how our Armed Forces and emergency response communities work and what they need,” Ringgold, a retired Army colonel, said in a statement. Weldon lost his seat in November to Democrat Joe Sestak after the FBI […]
Swiss Bank Opens Local Branch, A Little Too Late To Cash In On The Golden Age Of City Hall Corruption
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Credit Suisse is pleased to announce that it will open a Private Banking USA office in Philadelphia to serve the wealth management needs of the growing number of high-net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals in the region. The office will be headed by Richard Jaff?, who joins Credit Suisse as a Managing Director. The office opening is another example of Credit Suisse?s strategy to expand its presence in major US wealth markets. […] Credit Suisse is one of the world’s leading private banks, with a 150 year history of serving the unique needs of wealthy individuals. Private […]
NO KIDDING: Councilman Wants Rubber Sidewalks And An Octopus’ Garden In The Sky
Philadelphia, PA (AHN) – A member of the Philadelphia City Council says he will be holding hearings on a number of environmentally friendly city projects, one of them being making sidewalks out of rubber. City Councilman at large Jim Kenney said the rubber sidewalks, which are made from recycled tires, do not crack and will last longer than sidewalks made out of concrete. However, the new sidewalks won’t enable people to bounce — rather than walk — down the street. He said they rubber will be very solid. “It’s a very solid material,” he said, according to AP. “Probably harder […]
STUPOR BOWL: Purple Reign! Purple Reign!
BY ED KING ROCK SNOB In a wet, sloppy Super Bowl game that featured perhaps the greatest mismatch in quarterbacks, the unlikeliest of factors in football’s orgasmic finale came through: the Halftime Show, featuring Prince drenched in real, live purple rain and withstanding artificial lightning. I don’t recall when the Halftime Show as Cross-Generational, Cross-Marketing Rock Extravaganza began, but it’s always been a reason to bear witness to the last desperate breaths of rock legends (McCartney, The Rolling Stones), hate foreigners trying to upstage our national holiday (U2 and Bono’s American flag-lined leather jacket), or fully understand the impulses that […]
EDITORIAL: No Matter What Rush Limbaugh Is Talking About — Iraq, Football, Yummy Oxycontin — It Always Seems To Come Down To ‘How Scary Black People Are’
“We’re concerned with death here. We’re concerned with body counts. We’re concerned with the breakdown of law and order. [inaudible] Insurgencies, gangs, whatever you want to call them. They’re out of control in major American cities, and Philadelphia is just one example, and where are the hearings on this? Oh, I know. Senator [Joseph R.] Biden [D-DE] and Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi [D-CA] are too busy trying to weaken the commander-in-chief so we can’t win the war in Iraq. They are not only invested in defeat, they can’t allow victory. They simp — politically, they cannot allow it. Four-hundred-and-six Philadelphians murdered […]
VIET-NOW: These Are People Who Died
[Click Image To Enlarge] In January more than 1,900 people — soldiers, security officers and civilians — were killed in the insurgency in Iraq, up from 800 in January 2006. Many corpses showed signs of torture, meaning the victims were probably killed by religious and tribal death squads. [Source New York Times] HORSEFEATHERS: Rush Limabaugh Compares Philly Murder Rate To Baghdad, Wonders Where The Outrage Is, Almost Like He Cares, Almost [Audio]
SMILE: The BEE GEES Were Cool Once…No Really
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER To rock boys coming of age in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the brothers Gibb were known primarily as the fey, toothy, Members Only-jacketed target of the Disco Sucks backlash that greeted the blockbuster sales and grating ubiquity of their Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. But unbeknownst to many, the Bee Gees also had an amazing career in the ’60s, creating deathless psychedelic-pop singles and ambitious album-length statements that explored complex themes and experimented with all manner of instrumentation and orchestral arrangements. Even back then, it was their harmonizing – as rich and distinct […]