Still playing on Phawker Radio! All Good Monkeys Go To Heaven BY JONATHAN VALANIA A word of warning: This is gonna be one of those columns where I go on and on about my little monkey shines with famous alt-rock personalities. Millions of people love it when I do that, but others seem to get very, very angry about it, stomp their feet and write mean letters that hurt my feelings. If that sounds like you, stop reading right now. I’m serious. I don’t want to even see you in the second paragraph.
SAY IT AIN’T SO, JOHN: McCain Spreading False Story That Obama Infomercial Will Delay Start Of The Game
MCCLATCHY: Throw the flag against: John McCain. Call: Unsportsmanlike conduct. What happened: “No one will delay the World Series game with an infomercial when I’m president,” the Republican presidential nominee told a crowd Tuesday in Hershey, Pa. Democratic rival Barack Obama bought the 8-8:30 p.m. slot on Fox and other major networks Wednesday night to air a campaign pitch. The first pitch of the World Series game, the resumption of rain-delayed Game 5, was set for approximately 8:37 p.m. EDT, about nine minutes later than usual. Why that’s wrong: It’s not unusual for World Series games to start after 8:30 […]
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Flipping Cars After Your Team Wins World Series Diminishes Us All
Flipping cars is hard work! And best left to the semi-pros, like our man Rick ‘Grizzly’ Brown. Let’s keep it in the realm of competitive he-man sports, OK? Also, please resist the urge to discharge your firearms into the air. Basic law of science: What goes up, must come down. Often into someone’s head. Thank you for your time. Go Phils!
NPR 4 THE DEF: Giving Public Radio Edge Since 2006
“By the end of the week, he’ll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in Kindergarten.” — Senator Barack Obama, North Carolina, Today FRESH AIR The McCain campaign’s charge that Barack Obama has socialist leanings has put the spotlight on a word relatively uncommon to modern American elections. Linguist Geoff Nunberg explains how the “S” word was used in the past — and why it’s come up now. ALSO, Saturday Night Live‘s Seth Meyers is making waves with a broader TV audience this election season as the show expands its political parodies to Thursday […]
RE-BROADCAST NEWS: Q&A With Barack Obobble
This first ran on Phawker back in the late 1960s. Curiously, it seems more relevant today.
KAREN HELLER: Being Vincent J. Fumo
KAREN HELLER: Time for another installment of Fumo Family Values, currently playing in the James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse. Christian Marrone endured his second day yesterday as a prosecution witness in the federal government’s case against Vincent J. Fumo, all 139 counts. Marrone was the state senator’s former special assistant, assigned to the regional office. By special assistant, Fumo meant general contractor, jack of all (building) trades, and e-mail whipping boy – all, argues the government, at the taxpayers’ expense. Marrone is also Fumo’s son-in-law, though to judge by court behavior, any rapport between them is in the past, too. […]
HOT DOCUMENT: London Calling
Subject: attention Jonathan Valania – The Guardian From: richard.adams@guardian.REDACTED Date: Mon, October 27, 2008 8:27 am To: feed@phawker.com —————————— Jonathan – your piece in the Inquirer yesterday was fantastic. We’d like to re-run it on the Guardian‘s op-ed site for the amusement of British people and others. regards, Richard Adams (I’m in the Guardian’s DC bureau) EDITOR’S NOTE: 34,000 54,000 page views, a re-print offer from the GuardianUK, an encouraging word from Josh The Bricklayer (SEE BELOW), more incoherent hate mail than Charlie Manson gets in a year, one death threat, notice that I am officially […]
Christian Science Monitor Will Kill No More Trees
NEW YORK TIMES: After a century of continuous publication, The Christian Science Monitor will abandon its weekday print edition and appear online only, its publisher announced Tuesday. The cost-cutting measure makes The Monitor the first national newspaper to essentially give up on print. The paper is currently published Monday through Friday, and will move to online only in April, although it will also introduce a Sunday magazine. John Yemma, The Monitor’s editor, said that moving to the Web only will mean it can keep its eight foreign bureaus open while still lowering costs. “We have the luxury — the opportunity […]
WORLD SERIES: White Out Tonight
SNOW GO: Parking lot of Chalfont Office Park, a few minutes ago. [Photo by NATHAN SLACK] UPDATE: Tonight’s game cancelled due to weather, re-scheduled for tomorrow night at Citizen’s Bank, 8:37 PM ASSOCIATED PRESS: Winter made an early debut in northeastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday as a storm blanketed parts of the region with several inches of snow, closing schools and causing power outages and road closures. PPL Corp. said more than 25,000 customers lost power. Higher elevations of the Poconos received up to 8 inches of wet snow by Tuesday morning, causing downed trees and power lines, the National Weather […]
MAG: Does John McCain Have A Chappaquiddick?
HUFFPO: For the past two months, a major American magazine and an allied news service have been engaged in a legal battle with the United States Navy over records that they believe show that John McCain once was involved in an automobile accident that injured or, perhaps, killed another individual. Vanity Fair magazine and the National Security News Service claim to have knowledge “developed from first-hand sources” of a car crash that involved then-Lt. McCain at the main gate of a Virginia naval base in 1964, according to legal filings. The incident has been largely, if not entirely, kept from […]
SUSPENSION OF BELIEF: Reign Out
[Photo by STEVE IVES] Looks like we pick it up tomorrow, sixth inning, 2-2. Cute kid-wearing-a-Fanatic-costume pic after the jump…
FILIBUSTED: Ted Stevens Found Guilty On All Counts, Opening Door To A Filibuster-Proof Dem Majority
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted of seven corruption charges Monday in a trial that tainted the 40-year Senate career of Alaska’s political patriarch. The verdict, coming barely a week before Election Day, added further uncertainty to a closely watched Senate race. Democrats hope to seize the once reliably Republican seat as part of their bid for a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Stevens, 84, was convicted of all the charges he faced of lying about free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor. Jurors began deliberating last week. MORE DAILY KOS: Alaska disqualifies felons […]
DEATH OF PRINT: Inquirer Circulation Plunges In The Wake Of Outrageous Phawker Guest Editorial
EDITOR & PUBLISHER: For those holding out for some improvement in print circulation, this morning brings disappointment. The Audit Bureau of Circulations released the latest figures for the six- month period ending September 2008 and the report shows major drops in circulation at the big metros. According to ABC for the 507 newspapers reporting in this period, daily circulation slipped 4.6% to 38,165,848 copies. For the 571 papers, Sunday dropped 4.8% to 43,631,646 copies. For comparison purposes, in September 2007 reporting period, daily circ fell 2.6% and Sunday was down 4.6%. […] Daily circulation at The Philadelphia Inquirer slipped 11.0% […]