In another incident that month, interrogators wrapped a bearded prisoner’s head in duct tape “because he would not stop quoting the Koran,” according to an FBI agent, the documents show. The agent, whose account was corroborated by a colleague, said that a civilian contractor laughed about the treatment and was eager to show it off. The reports amount to new and separate allegations of religiously oriented tactics used against Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. After an erroneous report of Koran abuse prompted deadly protests overseas in 2005, the U.S. military conducted an investigation that confirmed five incidents of intentional and […]
DUBIOUS ACHIEVMENT Of 2006: Men With Nokias & Free Wireless At Baghdad Starbucks Make Saddam A Bigger Celeb In Death Than He Ever Was In Life, From Hoosegow Obscurity To YouTube Snuff Stardom
CITIZEN MOM REPORTS: I saw most of the video — CNN froze it at the moment the platform dropped — as it broke Friday night. I remember feeling glad that even Saddam, the despicable and murderous, had someone urging dignity at his moment of death. When a group of men in the crowd taunted the condemned man by chanting the name of Muqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi prosecutor spoke up, pleading for some respect for the dead (or the about to be). Never was there a more made-for-al Jazeera moment: Justice meets vengeance meets brutality. This was very much NOT a […]
BREAKING: Philadelphia Inquirer BEGINS LAYOFFS JOANN LOVIGLIO Associated Press – The Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday began a round of long-expected layoffs amid a drop in circulation and ad revenue. Several reporters at the Inquirer, Pennsylvania’s largest newspaper, said they were told Tuesday morning that their jobs were being eliminated. The employees said that they were told to meet with personnel officials on Wednesday to discuss details of their severance pay and health benefits. In all, 68 [71, according to a just-released Guild memo] newsroom employees were expected to be laid off, company spokesman Jay Devine said. All the affected workers […]
DEATH OF A SALESPERSON: All Things Must Pass
BY SARA SHERR The Tower Records at Broad and Chestnut was scheduled to close on Friday, Dec. 22. Instead, the doors shut late Wednesday night after an independent Virginia record retailer bought up the last of the remaining stock, which really wasn’t much by then. Two similar mass purchases had occurred earlier in the week, one from a New Jersey record store owner who bought up a bunch of major label stuff (which means a lot of Daniel Powter and Ashley Parker Angel, and returns for credit! Smart cookie!) The other was an unknown company which volunteered to take the […]
COMMENT: Bloggerati Killed The Alt-Weekly Rock Stars
Our hugumbus YEAR IN MUSIC Omnibus is about to drop, but while we’re finishing up polishing this turd, chew on this from our pal JOE WARMINSKY in WASHINGTON CITY PAPER: Don?t get me wrong?I fully embrace what the blogosphere does provide. It’s essentially a broad, asymmetric rebellion against the SoundScan regime and the stodgy business plans of the major record labels. Blogs offer what good fanzines used to offer: stylistic detours, obsessive detail, contrarian viewpoints, and a secondary economy that allows overlooked musicians to flourish, at least on a small scale. There isn?t much money in it, and it’s mostly […]
IRAQ: Levittown Man Killed By Christmas IED
Moon had already completed his enlistment papers when he graduated from high school in 2003. In the days before his induction, he drew his family and friends together in an extended celebration, Nam said. His goal was to become an FBI agent, she said. He enlisted first because “he wanted to support his family financially. He wanted to support his country.” Posted first to South Korea, where he met members of his extended family, Moon served a tour in Iraq from August 2004 to September 2005. He won an Army Commendation Medal, an Army Achievement Medal and a Combat Infantryman’s […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Last week CP struck a decisive blow against the tyranny of PW’s seemingly unbreakable Cover Wars winning streak. But this week the Empire has struck back. Hard. So jump down, turn around and pick a bail of cotton, City Paper, because PW is the master now. What’s that you say? ‘Only a master of evil, Darth’? Perhaps, Rabbit. Perhaps. Still, all this is good news for people who STILL read alt-weeklies. Hands down the most singularly disturbing alt-weekly cover of the year, PW’s music issue rocks the dumbly-named Man, Man on the cover, dubbing them Band Of The Year and […]
Edwards Declares Candidacy Smiling Knee-Deep In Katrina Muck, AKA The Dark Goo Of Compassionate Conservatism’s Lies, Says ‘Heckuva Job’ Still Half-Assed
Seeking to take advantage of the slow news days after Christmas Mr Edwards launched his campaign in the backyard of a house damaged by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans last year. Wearing jeans and an open-necked shirt, Mr Edwards, 53, worked with local youngsters to repair the house, his labour interspersed with interviews on America’s breakfast news programmes. “I’m here in New Orleans… to announce that I’m a candidate for the presidency of the United States in the election in 2008,” he said. “To show what?s possible when we as Americans, instead of staying home and complaining about somebody else […]
GUNCRAZY: Two Teens & Amputee Critically Wounded In West Philly Trifecta After Chinese Takeout Spat
(AP) PHILADELPHIA Three people were injured, including two teens, after gunfire erupted in West Philadelphia Wednesday evening. Police said two teens and a 58-year-old [NOT pictured, right] were shot near the intersection of 57th and Walnut just before 7 p.m. ?We had a group of males in the 100 block of S. 57th Street firing a gun,? said Lieutenant John Walker of the Philadelphia Police. Officials believe the three victims were just innocent bystanders in an act of senseless violence. One 14-year-old was shot in the back and was taken to the Children?s Hospital of Philadelphia in critical condition. Authorities […]
NOW IT CAN BE TOLD: Ford Actually Died In 1996
[googlevideo]-89770458144460734[/googlevideo] WASHINGTON POST: Offers a beyond-the-grave pardon or ‘Do Over’ to 43.
BREAKING: Sovereign Bank Prez Says ‘Smell Ya Later,’ Exercises ‘Hissy Fit’ Clause Of Contract After Not Getting CEO Chair, Invokes Hobo Prayer On Way Out Door, ‘I Quit, Now Pay Me Millions!’
Sovereign will pay [Alan H.] Fishman a $4.56 million lump-sum cash payment, as well as other severance compensation valued at $2.58 million. Fishman’s other severance compensation includes an annual lifetime retirement benefit of $532,000, a pro rata portion of his annual bonus of about $758,000, and accelerated vesting of his equity awards valued at $1.29 million. Fishman, who was also chairman and chief executive of Sovereign Bank’s New York division, will also receive three years’ health coverage after he resigns, the company said. MARKET WATCH: OK, A Million-Plus Annually For Life? No Problem! More Than Three Year’s Health Coverage? What […]