“I think [Rendell] believes he has a mandate to pillage, but he won 61 percent of the vote against an empty suit last year and he didn’t have a clear agenda until June 30,” added Eric Epstein, a Holocaust scholar, nuclear power watchdog and founder of the public interest group Rock the Capital. The comments set Rendell off. He called an Inquirer reporter fuming that the paper gave Epstein any ink at all. “Eric Epstein,” boiled Rendell, “is about as mentally stable as that guy who ate all those people.” It was unclear whether the governor was referring to Jeffrey […]
‘I Am Not A Terrorist, I Just Play One On The Internet’
Mark Reynolds [of Wilkes-Barre] was arrested by the FBI at a snow-covered highway rest stop in Idaho on Dec. 5, 2005, according to the federal government, after going to the spot to pick up $40,000 he believed was payment from al-Qaeda. Reynolds has maintained that he is not a terrorist but rather was pretending to be one online to capture jihadists determined to attack America. In October 2005, Reynolds first caught the attention of Shannen Rossmiller, a former Montana judge who hunts and ensnares extremists on the Internet. Rossmiller testified Monday that Reynolds had solicited help from al-Qaeda on the […]
VIET NOW: This Is A Metaphor
An American soldier tries to feed a starving Iraqi puppy an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) but the dog is so crazed from hunger he won’t even let the GI get near enough to open the package. Does that remind you of anything?
NEWS CLUES: It’s Like Adderall For ADD Newshounds
WORST HARVEY WALLBANGER EVER The trial of a 57-year-old Burlington County, NJ woman charged with murdering her brother-in-law by serving him a concoction of fruit juice laced with antifreeze is underway in Mt. Holly. The Shamong Township woman is charged with preparing a fatal cocktail of fruit juice and antifreeze that resulted in the death, three years ago this week, of 58-year-old Jonathan Neabor of Old Bridge, NJ. During one of two of her taped confessions, she told a state trooper that she wanted only to sicken Jonathan so he would come and live with the family to provide financial […]
BREAKING: THE WAR IS OVER!
REPEAT, THE WAR IS OVER! Not with a bang, or a whimper, but an anonymous-source trial-balloon inflated by the White House and tethered to the New York Times. We are NOT making this up. They will hem and haw, and Tony Snow’s already issued the non-denial denial, but our Spidey sense tells us it is no longer a question of if we leave Iraq, but when. Bearing in mind that even running round the clock convoys, it will take almost a full year to move all U.S. military assets out of theater — how soon is now? UPDATE: Secretary Of […]
‘Help Me Obi-Wan, You Are My Only Hope’
A hologram of Al Gore addressing the Tokyo Live Earth Concert. It’s in Japanese, but best we can tell, it has something to do with the weather.
GAMBLOR: ‘I Don’t Know Whether To Cry Or Shit Spit’
Pennsylvania state senate Republicans are raising the stakes in their standoff with Rendell administration officials who are refusing to testify about the possible closing of casinos if the budget stalemate drags on (see previous stories). Republican state senator Jane Earll chairs a committee that has issued subpoenas to two Rendell administration officials to testify about the possible casino closures. Despite the subpoenas, those officials were no-shows at a Friday morning hearing. Earll says the committee will now explore its legal options. She declined to say what those options are, but a lawyer for Senate Republicans has said the arrest of […]
CLOSE CALL: Terror Docs Made Local Inquiries
BY JOHN SHIFFMAN AND GEORGE ANASTASIA INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS Two of the seven doctors arrested in Britain after last week’s failed bomb attacks had explored the possibility of coming to the United States, making inquiries to a Philadelphia-based organization, sources said. After the Glasgow airport bombing attempt, FBI agents visited the Philadelphia headquarters of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. The nonprofit organization is a national clearinghouse that certifies the qualifications of foreign-trained doctors to work as medical residents in the United States. Agents found records there on two of the British suspects. One of them, sources said, is […]
iMAYOR: Much Ado About Doing Nothing
Even on a superficial level — what about appearances? What about the lack of dignity of the city’s chief executive wearing workout clothes and sitting in a lawnchair near a Dumpster? Sure, Ed Rendell made himself look ridiculous on occasion. But when he was photographed in a swimsuit doing a cannonball dive, it was to publicize that his administration opened the public pools on time. When he was photographed on his hands and knees, scrubbing a bathroom floor, it was to promote the fact that his administration was literally cleaning up City Hall. It wasn’t about getting himself a new […]
EDITORIAL: What I Did On My Summer Vacation
BY DAN BUSKIRK CONCERNED AMERICAN When President Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence on four felony counts of perjury and obstruction of justice, he waited till the eve of a national holiday, presumably hoping that everybody would go to the beach or the mountains, get drunk and spend most of Thursday grumbling to co-workers about having to come back to work instead of the double standard of justice for rich, white, politically-connected males. But for some of us, the Fourth Of July isn’t just about barbecues, fireworks and bumper-to-bumper traffic — some of us actually take the time to reflect […]
Rendell To Sign Public Breastfeeding Bill Into Law
Governor Rendell says he’ll sign a bill on the way to his desk that would ensure a woman’s ability to breast feed her baby in public. Before the state House gave final approval to the bill, it removed an amendment that would have allowed breast-feeding women to sue if they are interfered with. Montgomery County House Democrat Daylin Leach said removing the amendment would speed the bill’s passage and said he believed women had recourse under existing law. KYW: Got Milk?
Obama In Town, Minus Knife-Wielding Stalker
DES MOINES, Iowa – A man with a large knife was arrested Wednesday outside presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s hotel in southeast Iowa, police said. Davit Zakaryan, 24, was searched and apprehended after Obama’s security crew allegedly saw him loitering outside a Fairfield Inn in Ottumwa before the Illinois senator was about to leave for a busy day of campaigning. Zakaryan was arrested after 8:30 a.m. and charged with possessing an illegal weapon and driving without a license. Police said the knife was longer than 8 inches, which exceeds the state limit. Zakaryan was being held Wednesday night at the Wapello […]