BBC: This is music from Afghanistan, of a kind seldom heard before, but now produced by a trio of young men. The band, Kabul Dreams, is made up of vocalist Sulaymon Qardash, bass player Siddique Ahmad and drummer Mujtaba Habibi, who claim to be the country’s first and only rock and roll group. “One year ago in December we decided to create this band and since it was happening in Kabul, we thought Kabul Dreams is a good name,” says the 19-year-old vocalist, who bears a distinct resemblance to Liam Gallagher of the British band Oasis. “It’s a real dream […]
DOUBLE STANDARD: Outgoing D.A. Lynne ‘Tough Cookie’ Abraham Was Not So Tough On Rogue Cops
Outgoing District Attorney Lynne Abraham, who has often been accused of being soft on cop crime, declined to press criminal charges against Philadelphia Police Officer Frank Tepper who was fired this week for shooting to death William “Billy” Panas Jr. in Port Richmond on Nov. 21. The victim was unarmed. Eyewitnesses claimed an irate and intoxicated Tepper shot the unarmed Panas Jr. in the chest when the two men exchanged words after a neighborhood brawl. A grand jury is currently investigating. In her final act as D.A. Abraham also declined to press charges in the death of Lawrence Allen who died […]
DO THE MATH: One Billion In 215-Targeted Stimulus Dollars Has Created Just 3,500 Jobs In Philadelphia
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] DAILY NEWS: Federal records show that more than a billion dollars from President Obama’s $787 billion economic-stimulus program has been targeted for Philadelphia. But the typical job created here is just as likely to require a lab coat as a hard hat, as much of the money has gone for university research projects. Meanwhile, city government, which has been financially ravaged by the recession, has gotten relatively little help from the stimulus program, and then mostly in indirect ways, like payments to citizens that bump tax revenues, or money to accelerate already-planned capital projects. In the […]
GOODBYE SUPERMAJORITY: Two Top Congressional Democrats Say ‘Take This Job And Shove It’
NEW YORK TIMES: Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the embattled Connecticut Democrat who was facing an increasingly tough bid for a sixth term in the United States Senate, has decided not to seek re-election this year, Democrats familiar with his plans said Wednesday. Mr. Dodd, 65, a pivotal figure in the major debates now confronting Congress, is to announce his decision at a news conference Wednesday afternoon in Connecticut. The decision came hours after another Democratic senator, Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, also announced that he would not seek re-election this November. The developments underscored the fragility of the Democrats’ […]
FROM THE VAULT: Clothes Make The Man
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY There is, perhaps, no more efficient way to remind yourself that you are no longer 22 than to walk the aisles of Urban Outfitters. For the postcollegiate slackerati it is a mecca of precisely modulated urban hipster cool, a time-warp thrift store aesthetic filtered through a retrograde prism of detached irony and kitsch–proof positive of the fashion adage that everything, no matter how uncool, comes back into style eventually. This is readily apparent to anyone old enough to remember when most of these styles were cool for the first time. Rule of thumb: […]
PLOT THICKENS: CIA Bomber Was Double Agent
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The suicide bomber who killed eight people inside a CIA base in Afghanistan was a Jordan-born terrorist double agent who was invited to the base because he claimed to have information targeting Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command, a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a foreign government official confirmed MondayThe bombing killed seven CIA employees – four officers and three contracted security guards – and a Jordanian intelligence officer, Ali bin Zaid, according to a second former U.S. intelligence official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident. The former senior […]
Philly Clout’s Top 215 Political Stories Of The Decade
PHILLY CLOUT: Yes, we know this is a time of year for lists, but at least we’re pretty sure you won’t see this one anywhere else. This is the one and only PhillyClout Top 10 Local Political Stories of the Decade. Our thanks to Dave Davies, Bob Warner and John Baer for their help. Happy reading. 1) Fumo goes down – This is the biggie. Longtime state Sen. Vince Fumo, viewed as the most powerful politician in the city, is convicted on 137 of 137 corruption counts. He ended the decade in prison. 2) Bug found in Mayor John Street’s […]
WORTH REPEATING: How To Make Dick Cheney STFU
HARRY SHEARER: As is well known by now, [Dick Cheney] uses the case of the failed Detroit underpants bomb attempt to accuse President Obama of “pretending that the United States is not at war,” thereby making us less safe. He can engage in this kind of rhetoric safe in two comforting assumptions: that the Republican base, and a certain percentage of independents, will eat this stuff up, and that the Democrats, in and out of power, will continue to not know how to respond. The latter is because they, willingly or not, allowed themselves to be co-opted into the “war […]
Taliban Suicide Bomber Kills Eight CIA Agents
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Reporting from Kabul — A bomber slipped into a U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday and detonated a suicide vest, killing eight CIA officers in one of the deadliest days in the agency’s history, current and former U.S. officials said. The attack took place at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khowst province, an area near the border with Pakistan that is a hotbed of insurgent activity. An undisclosed number of civilians were wounded, the officials said. No military personnel with the U.S. or North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces were killed or injured, they said. A U.S. […]
HELP WANTED: Join The Rebel Alliance
[via TEEFURY] RELATED: Meanwhile, Back In Iran Pretty astonishing footage: an angry crowd storms a public hanging and rescues the two condemned men at the very last minute as they dangle from nooses, only to be peppered with gunfire from the authorities. Nobody said freedom was free.
Police Uncharacteristically Mum About Predator Cop
DAILY NEWS: He met the girl whom he is accused of later victimizing in 1995 at the Olney Recreation Center, where he was teaching karate to youngsters. She was 10. He spent the next two years befriending her and her family, gaining their trust and, quietly, laying a trap, court documents allege. After the first two alleged assaults in the van in 1997, Wiggins began routinely taking his young victim out for car rides, court documents indicate. Some ended back in Fairmount Park, others at his house on Chew Avenue near Front Street in Olney. But all of the trips […]
O DEATH: Kill The Bill
Sign our petition to Congress and President Obama: The Senate health care bill must be killed. Click here to sign our petition. Hi Jonathan – The Senate’s health care bill must be killed. It is an ungodly mess of errors, loopholes, and massive giveaways. When the American people find out what’s actually in this bill, they will revolt. Congress and President Obama have no choice but to do better for health care than this bill. Sign the petition: the Senate health care bill must be killed. How bad is the bill? Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to […]
RUSS FEINGOLD: Obama Killed The Public Option
RUSS FEINGOLD: I’ve been fighting all year for a strong public option to compete with the insurance industry and bring health care spending down. I continued that fight during recent negotiations, and I refused to sign onto a deal to drop the public option from the Senate bill. Unfortunately, the lack of support from the administration made keeping the public option in the bill an uphill struggle. Removing the public option from the Senate bill is the wrong move, and eliminates $25 billion in savings. I will be urging members of the House and Senate who draft the final bill […]