BY JONATHAN VALANIA Michael Smerconish looks like Mr. Clean, or, as he is known to Russian housewives, Mr. Proper. Michael Smerconish is also a country club Republican, a talk-radio host and, as of late, a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate even if we think he has his head up his ass most of the time. Sadly, because of guys like Smerconish — Machiavellian media climbers that will say ANYTHING to ensure their butt space in the game of musical chairs that is the talking head punditocracy […]
MEDIA: End Of The World As We Know It & I Feel Fine
BY Carla Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle Political Writer It may be the most stunning and creative attack ad yet for a 2008 presidential candidate — one experts say could represent a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising. Yet the groundbreaking 74-second pitch for Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, which remixes the classic “1984” ad that introduced Apple computers to the world, is not on cable or network TV, but on the Internet. And Obama’s campaign says it had absolutely nothing to do with the video that attacks one of his principal Democratic rivals, New York Sen. Hillary […]
VOX POPULI: Killing And Maiming Foreigners In Their Own Country Not Nearly As Popular As It Once Was
AP: BAGHDAD – Sunni insurgents, resilient despite the five-week security crackdown in the Iraqi capital, killed at least six more U.S. troops over the weekend.
POGUE MAHONE: Live From St. Paddy’s Day
This man will be covering the Mayor’s race for Phawker. His name is Shawn Kilroy and, no, he doesn’t know any better. In the coming weeks he will be doing a series of live remotes from various campaign events. All on his own, he decided to go out and do a little practicing on drunks the Irish. Hence, this clip. Enjoy.
HIZZONER ’07: Jesus & Uncle Milty Pass 1st Ballot Hurdle
MILTON STREET’s bid for a City Council seat is still alive, along with the longer-than-longshot mayoral hopes of Queena Bass and Jesus White.But four other political candidates were knocked off the ballot yesterday for alleged problems with their financial disclosures or voter petitions. A squadron of seven Common Pleas judges began yesterday to plow through three dozen election-law challenges. Street’s candidacy for Council at large survived an attack based on his alleged failure to list all his creditors. Bass, the only woman in the mayor’s race, and White, a part-time security guard living in temporary housing, had been challenged for […]
PANIC IN WASHINGTON AFTER MAN JUMPS WHITE HOUSE FENCE, TOSSES UNKNOWN OBJECT
Oddly, there is still NOTHING about this on the new wires an hour after we broke this story…you go MSM! Here’s what we know: Philadelphian Laurel Katz, aka The Voice Of Phawker, was supposed to have lunch today at the White House. (Hey, on any given day, somebody from the Phawker masthead is probably having lunch at the White House — that’s just how we roll.) However, when Katz arrived today she was told by the Secret Service that there had been a security breach of the White House perimeter. Reportedly a man climbed over the White House fence and […]
GAMBLOR: City Council Does The Right Thing
ASSOCIATED PRESS — PHILADELPHIA City Council voted unanimously Thursday to place a referendum on the primary ballot that, if passed, could stop construction of two casinos along Philadelphia’s waterfront. Members voted 17-0 in favor of asking voters in the May 15 primary whether the city charter should be amended to ban the building of casinos within 1,500 feet of homes, churches and schools. The decision brought simultaneous cheers and boos from hundreds of casino opponents and supporters who were part of a standing-room-only crowd in council chambers. SugarHouse and Foxwoods plan to build slots casinos along the riverfront. SugarHouse plans […]
GAMBLOR: City Council To Consider Quaint Notion Of Actually Giving Philadelphians Say In Casino Schemes
City Council could soon vote on putting a question to voters this May, on the future of the city?s slots parlors. A super majority of 12 votes would be needed by City Council for this ballot question to go to voters in May. The question involves changes to city zoning that effectively would bar casinos from just about every part of town. The mayor opposes this, leaving Councilman Frank DiCicco perplexed: ?I would just wonder if the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decided to put a nuclear power plant down at Delaware and Reed, would the city?s position be the same? I […]
The Military-Industrial Complex Started As A Hobby
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 goddamned SLOW, well, now you know. Phawker will be showcasing images […]
HIZZONER ’07: Rivals Move To Crunch Brady’s Bunch
BY DAVE DAVIES Six voters associated with Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Knox filed a legal challenge to rival candidate U.S. Rep. Bob Brady late yesterday, charging that Brady failed to disclose his city pension and other financial interests when he filed to run. Another rival, state Rep. Dwight Evans, said last night he’ll file his own challenge to Brady’s candidacy today, noting that Brady’s failure to disclose his city pension is exactly the kind of omission that’s been used to strike other candidates from the ballot in past elections. “Brady is running for the highest office in Philadelphia,” Evans said […]
How Many Corpses Does It Take To Suspend Habeas?
WHO: US. Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) & Sen. Jon Kyl (R., Az.) WHAT: Will discuss whether Guantanamo Bay inmates have the right to habeas corpus in a debate moderated by Ted Koppel. WHEN: Sunday, March 18 at 5:30 p.m. WHERE: National Constitution Center 525 Arch Street, Independence Mall, DETAILS: As part of the inaugural Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution, Barney Frank and Jon Kyl will debate whether detainees should be able to seek relief for unlawful imprisonment and appear before a court. Ted Koppel will moderate. Barney Frank has represented Massachusetts’ fourth congressional district since 1981. […]
STUDY: DOJ Corruption Probes R Ridiculously Partisan
In statewide and federal cases they found a total of 66 investigations. Here’s the breakdown: * Democrats: 36 * Republicans: 30 This is roughly what you’d expect. Democrats are slightly overrepresented compared to their actual numbers, but only by a bit. There’s nothing fishy. But the numbers for local cases paint a very different story. They found 309 investigations, broken down as follows: * Democrats: 262 * Republicans: 37 * Independents: 10 Now isn’t that odd? At the local level, even though both parties make up about half of all elected officials, Democrats get hammered and Republicans are left alone…. […]
SHISTER: Olbermann Living Life Of O’Reilly — Mad As Heck And Not Gonna Motherf***** Take It Any More!
“Keith is MSNBC’s rock star,” says Phil Griffin, NBC News senior vice president and executive in charge of its corporate cousin. “People follow him. They believe in him.” Countdown averaged 709,000 total viewers in the February sweeps, up a whopping 77 percent over the same period in ’06, according to Nielsen Media Research. Among 25- to 54-year-old viewers, the demographic advertisers pay a premium to reach, Olbermann, 48, spiked 59 percent. No wonder MSNBC just quadrupled his salary. At an estimated $4 million a year, he’s the highest-paid on-air talent at the network. As part of his new four-year deal, […]