BY MICHAEL CURRIE SHAFFER INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah yesterday proposed examining a “congestion charge” that would require drivers to pay to bring their cars into traffic-clogged parts of central Philadelphia at peak hours. Fattah offered few specifics about what his plan would cost or just how it would be implemented. He said he hoped only to “study” the idea. “We cannot have a city in which everyone expects to be able to drive their car everywhere they want to go,” Fattah said. Fattah’s idea is modeled on a program that has slashed vehicular traffic and commute times […]
THE MICHAEL SMERCONISH EXPLAINER: Wiping The Smirk Off Mr. Clean With The Dirty Rag Of Truth
As we reported last week, Michael Smerconish is now a regular fixture of the Inquirer’s Sunday Op-Ed page. Bully for him, we’re all for equal time and open debate. But as we have said before, it’s 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 puditocracy — that people don’t even expect to hear the truth anymore, let along demand it. Mr. Smerconish is a cunning fellow who likes to pass himself off as too guileless to have an agenda. […]
GRAMMYS: Free Speech Makes Comeback Of The Year
Connecting past and present, one-time folk protest queen Joan Baez introduced current freedom-of-speech fighters and five time Grammy nominees the Dixie Chicks, still “Not Ready to Make Nice” to the country conservatives and spineless radio programmers who totally abandoned them for criticizing (barely) the President’s pre-emptive war tactics. An hour later, the same tune was named Song of the Year, a recording industry affirmation that left the group’s usually outspoken Natalie Maines speechless “for the first time in my life,” she declared. But by the time the Chicks returned to take Best Country Album for “Taking the Long Way,” Maines […]
POLL: ONLY 13% OF CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS BELIEVE IN MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING
National Journal has released a new ?Congressional Insiders Poll,? which surveyed 113 members of Congress ? 10 Senate Democrats, 48 House Democrats, 10 Senate Republicans, and 45 House Republicans ? about their positions on global warming. The results were startling. Only 13 percent of congressional Republicans say they believe that human activity is causing global warming, compared to 95 percent of congressional Democrats. Moreover, the number of Republicans who believe in human-induced global warming has actually dropped since April 2006, when the number was 23 percent. Question: Do you think it’s been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the Earth […]
HIZZONER ’07: Dem Machine Gives CHAIRMAN BOB Lock On Nomination; GOP Preps For Agony Of Defeat
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – February 9, 2007 – The 69 ward leaders of Philadelphia’s Democratic Party are set to endorse a mayoral candidate today, something they haven’t done for an open primary in more than 35 years. The candidate is widely expected to be Congressman Bob Brady, the party’s chairman for the last 21 years. He was the only one of the five declared Democratic hopefuls to get a 20-thousand-dollar campaign donation from a political committee run by the party. And, until Wednesday, signs touting his name were the only ones hanging in the party’s headquarters downtown.The endorsement is considered such […]
City Council Passes Historic Ban, Could Change Ratio Of Fat Kids To Skinny Kids, Even Kids With Chicken Pox
The bill, which passed unanimously, is a ban on restaurants using trans fats like partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that have been linked to heart attacks and death. While conceding that some restaurant chains have eliminated or are in the process of banning trans fats from their kitchens, Ramos said the new law will spur the industry to action and save at least 200 lives in the city each year. Assuming the mayor signs it, the bill, starting Sept. 1, will prohibit oils, shortenings and margarines that have trans fats and are used in frying or for spreads. In September 2008, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAD: “How Do You Ask A Man To Be The Last Man To Die For A Mistake?” — John Kerry
[Click on image to activate] RADIO TIMES WITH MARTY MOSS-COANE HOUR 1 — Iraq: Resolutions to reality. While Congress debates non-binding resolutions on President Bush’s war strategy, sectarian violence continues unabated in Iraq. We’ll talk about why Congress cares so much about these resolutions, and what message this is sending to those in Iraq and its neighbors. We’ll talk with DICK POLMAN, the national political columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and TRUDY RUBIN, the foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer. HOUR 2 — MICHAEL APTED is a documentary filmmaker and director of feature films and TV shows. His most […]
MELROSE PLACE: Munchers Mull Fumo & OPM; Old Man Threatens To Kick Reporter’s Ass Into Next Week
By Alfred Lubrano Inquirer Staff Writer South Philly was churning yesterday, the natives at turns delighted and dejected. The loud and conspicuous opera that is currently the life of the newly indicted State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo elicited sympathy and enmity, loyalty and spite. During lunch at the Melrose Diner, prime rib and eggplant were the specials, but at least one customer at the counter was chewing on Fumo, savoring the taste of a man who might be cooked. “Everybody’s day comes, and I do revel in it a bit,” said Randy Dezii, an investment counselor who has done business […]
Freedom NOT Just Another Word For ‘Nothin’ Left To Lose’
BY JANE L. DALTON CHANCELLOR OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR ASSOCIATION Many firms with Philadelphia offices are in fact providing pro bono services to Guantanomo detainees, and to dozens of other clients whom the average person might find offensive. They are to be commended. Lawyers who practice in this country are obligated to be mindful of deficiencies in the administration of justice, and that the poor and the near-poor cannot afford adequate legal assistance. Therefore, all lawyers are asked to devote time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who, […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: Fumo Indictment Explainer
RADIO TIMES WITH MARTY MOSS-COANE A multi-year Federal investigation into State Senator Vincent Fumo has resulted in a 139-count indictment that alleges he defrauded the state Senate out of $1 million, used a nonprofit group for personal and political gain, and conspired with his staff to engage in an elaborate cover-up. Marty will talk with two Philadelphia Inquirer reporters who have followed the investigation, CRAIG McCOY and JOHN SHIFFMAN. INDICTMENT: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VS. VINCENT FUMO [PDF]
1.5 Million Women To Sue Pants Off Wal-Mart
SAN FRANCISCO Feb 6, 2007 (AP)? A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest private employer, must face a class-action lawsuit alleging as many as 1.5 million former and current female employees were discriminated against in pay and promotions. The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a 2004 federal judge’s decision to let the nation’s largest class-action employment discrimination lawsuit go to trial, possibly exposing the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailing powerhouse to billions of dollars in damages. “Plaintiff’s expert opinions, factual evidence, statistical evidence and anecdotal evidence present significant proof of a […]
Hello AOL NEWS Readers! If You Lived Here, You Would Be Home By Now! You Could Have It So Much Better With Phawker! Hello AOL NEWS Readers!
EDITOR’S NOTE: First, let me say we are positively flattered to rank up there with Monkeyfister and Daily Pulse — feels like we’ve arrived. Second, ordinarily we couldn’t care less if this guy fucked rocks, as long as the rocks were consenting adults. Whatever gets you through the night, man. But this guy runs with a pack of Christo-fascist Elmer Gantrys that used their considerable influence over their mega-church flocks to whip up a lot of misinformed and gullible people into a baseless hysteria about gay people, just so they could turn out the vote for their RNC taskmasters. We […]