PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL: Trips to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, as well as to the 394 National Park service sites across the country, will be out if there is a federal government shutdown. MORE RELATED: With the government mere hours away from shutdown, the budget debate has centered around policy riders that GOP lawmakers insist must be included in any funding bill. The most controversial of those riders involves funding for Planned Parenthood, an organization that runs 800 community health centers across the nation. Congressional Republicans are seeking to defund the organization because it provides abortions, […]
SIDEWALKING: Walking Tall
The Kimmel Center, PIFA opening night reception, 6 PM Thursday by JEFF FUSCO
VOTING IRREGULARITY: 11,059 Votes For The GOP-Backed Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Suddenly Show Up, Two Days After The Election
HUFFINGTON POST: In a dramatic turn of events on Thursday, the Waukesha County clerk announced that the vote total announced for Tuesday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race had been mistaken — and that the corrected numbers changed the outcome of the entire election. There were 3,456 missing votes for Democratic-backed challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg and 11,059 for incumbent GOP-backed Justice David Prosser. Kloppenburg has previously been beating Prosser by just 200 votes of the roughly 1.5 million cast statewide. The new total puts Prosser on a significant path to victory, about 7,500 votes ahead of Kloppenburg. MORE PETER BARCA (D), WISCONSIN ASSEMBLY […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: About This Budget Bullsh*t
EDITOR’S NOTE: OK, admittedly it’s not a very original title, but it IS accurate. William C. Henry is better known to me as ‘Uncle Bill.’ He’s always been a man of strong opinions and a persuasive argument-maker, but I was a little surprised to learn — after re-connecting with him after a prolonged period of radio silence — that his current perspective so closely mirrors that of Phawker. Which is refreshing, to say the least, since most (white) people seem to turn into Fox News zombies when they get to be his age (early 70s, FYI). Not Uncle Bill. It […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
SUPERMAN-ISH: Man Rows 10 Miles, Then Rescues A Drowning Man From The Schuykill River
FOX 29: Two men jumped into the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia on Thursday and pulled two young men out of a sinking car during rush hour. One of the rescuers told Fox 29 what happened. Chris DeFelice was rowing a single skull in the river when he heard a screech of tires at 9:15 a.m. and sensed that there going to be an accident. DeFelice heard a crunch-like sound, and saw a car rolling backward in to the water near Kelly Drive. DeFelice quickly rowed to where the car was sticking out of the water, with its trunk upright and […]
WALL STREET JOURNAL/NBC POLL: Trump Is Teabaggers Top Choice For President In 2012
MSNBC: According to the latest national NBC/WSJ poll, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads the hypothetical 2012 GOP pack with support from 21 percent of Republican primary voters — followed by Trump and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 17 percent each, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 11 percent and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at 10 percent. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is at 6 percent, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann gets 5 percent, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum receives 3 percent and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour gets 1 percent. Strikingly, Trump — who has received a considerable amount […]
What’s Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander — Unless By Gander You Mean Congress, Then No
NICKOLAS D. CHRISTOF: If we careen over a cliff on Friday and the American government shuts down, hard-working federal workers will stop getting paychecks, but the members of Congress responsible for the shutdown are expected to be paid as usual. That’s partly because Congressional pay is not subject to the regular appropriations process, and partly because of Constitutional concerns. The Senate passed a bill proposed by Barbara Boxer of California that would suspend Congressional paychecks in any government shutdown, but the Republican-controlled House has blocked it. House Republicans approved a similar pay suspension, but it was embedded in legislation that […]
SIDEWALKING: Crystal Blue Persuasion
AIDS Fund’s Black-Tie GayBingo, Crystal Tea Room, 8:45 PM, April 1st by JEFF FUSCO
NO MORE TEARS: Fox Cancelling Glenn Beck’s Show
HUFFINGTON POST: Fox News and Glenn Beck announced Wednesday that Beck will “transition off of his daily program” later this year. Beck’s production company, Mercury Radio Arts, will instead work with Fox News to produce programs for the channel. In a joint news release, Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts, Beck’s production company, said that they will “work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News’ digital properties.” MORE
STYLE COUNCIL: Vagabond Blues
BY REBECCA GOODACRE Vagabond is a distinctive fashion boutique with uncommonly good taste located on North 3rd Street in Old City, Philadelphia. The adorable flower box hanging outside the front window makes for a very welcoming shop front, but what it contains inside is even more inviting to fashion lovers. The store is separated into two distinct sections that for the sake of clarity we will refer to as ‘the front section’ and ‘the rear section.’ The front section is stocked with earthy tones, floral prints and cute leather accessories; perfect for a delightful feminine spring and summer day looks. […]
RE-LEARNING: The Miseducation Of Michelle Rhee
NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Though all modern presidents like to think of themselves as leading the national education debate, they rarely are; most important decisions are made at the state, mayoral, or school-board level. But if this decentralized uprising can be said to have a leader, it is the youthful, tough-talking, and telegenic Michelle Rhee. Four years ago, Rhee was chosen to run Washington, D.C.’s troubled school district by a young Democratic mayor, Adrian Fenty. She resigned just as abruptly this past fall, after Fenty was thrown out of office. But while Rhee’s head-cracking, heresy-spouting attempt to revamp the school system […]
Q&A: With Hampton Sides Author Of Hellhound On His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the International Hunt for His Assassin
Hampton Sides is an acclaimed bestselling author and a National Magazine Award nominated journalist. He won the PEN USA Award for nonfiction and the 2002 Discover Award from Barnes and Noble for Ghost Soldiers, a historical narrative following the rescue of WWII Bataan Death March survivors that was later adapted into the Miramax feature film The Great Raid. His next book, Blood and Thunder, was adapted into an episode of the Public Broadcasting Service’s American Experience series. Hellhound On His Trail, is a taut and thrilling account of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 65-day manhunt for […]