NEW YORK TIMES: Almost exactly two years after it embarked on what was the biggest financial rescue in American history, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that the recession is ending and that it would take a step back toward normal policy. Though the central bank stopped well short of declaring victory, policy makers issued their most upbeat assessment in more than a year by saying that the downturn appears to have hit bottom and that consumer spending, financial markets and inventory-building by corporations all continued to stabilize. The central bank cautioned that the recovery would be slow and that […]
Boo Birds A No-Show At Sestak Health Care Forum
[Photos by RAY SKWIRE] BY GREG ADOMAITIS The chants of “People! Not profits!” and signs calling for the death of the Obama health care plan stayed out on the sidewalk when Congressman Joe Sestak [D-PA] packed the Broad Street Ministry last night for a largely shout-free town hall forum on health care reform. The event drew an overflow crowd, not only was the main floor packed but so was the basement where workers were running up questions from those downstairs to put before Sestak. It was so full that by 8:30 p.m. there were police in the lobby claiming it […]
ARTHUR KADE: The Journey
Teaser for forthcoming Arthur Kade mockumentary by Kevin Brueck. PREVIOUSLY: AMERICAN ASSHOLE: Q&A With Arthur Kade PREVIOUSLY: MAILBAG: Throw Another Kade On The Barbie, Mate
CINEMA: Don’t Eat The Brown Acid, Again
WOODSTOCK (Directed by Michael Wadleigh, 184 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC For the fortieth anniversary Warner Brothers has whipped up quite a promotional frenzy around the most legendary festival of the twentieth century, Woodstock. Half a million people are estimated to have attended it, the triple record set went to number one on the Billboard charts in 1970, yet what most people are really discussing when they mention Woodstock is their memories of the Oscar–winning documentary of the event, directed by Michael Wadleigh. The film was a phenomenon of its time, bringing a piece of the counter-culture to […]
REALITY CHECK: Healther Skelter
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Healther Skelter www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance
INKY/DN BANKRUPTCY: Judge Bitchslaps All Parties
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Philadelphia Newspapers hopes to use $35 million in new capital to settle nearly $400 million in debt and emerge from bankruptcy. An opposing creditors’ plan would leave the newspapers saddled with up to $85 million in debt, making it difficult for The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News to survive, a company lawyer said Tuesday. Lawyer Larry McMichael offered broad outlines of the competing reorganization plans after a hearing Tuesday, but neither has been filed in court. A new judge handling the case chided various parties involved Tuesday for offering “untenable” options to resolve the company’s finances, which […]
GREATEST HITS: Today I Saw…Revisited
BY JEFF DEENEY Today I saw a hot sun shining down on North Philly for the first time this year. The forecasted high was 82 degrees with nothing but bright blue overhead; compared to the cold spring the city was emerging from, it felt like mid-July. The flavor on the streets was beer, even at 11 a.m. on a Monday. On 25th Street near Dauphin, a young girl in skintight capris, a halter top and a waist-length weave drained a Miller High Life bottle on her front step, her head tilted back 45 degrees and her throat open in full […]
THE TOWNHALL TEMPER TANTRUMS WILL BE TELEVISED: Raging Against The Dying Of The White
?Embedded video from CNN Video HUFFINGTON POST: The entire episode, carried live by all three major cable news stations, offered a window into the type of conservative histrionics currently being exhibited at these town hall forums. It also, at least in one instance, exposed how unconstructive some of these opponents of reform truly are. After one participant detailed his concerns with the legislation, Specter asked the gentleman what he would like to see done. “Some of the things I would like to be done, okay, are…” the man paused, searching for an answer. “Tort reform!” the crowd screamed. “Tort reform, […]
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES: Brand New Nick Cave Novel Set For Publication This Fall
The Death of Bunny Munro is Nick Cave‘s first novel since his critically acclaimed debut, “And the Ass Saw the Angel,” which was first published in 1989. Penguin is releasing a new edition this September to tie in with his new novel. The Death of Bunny Munro will be published in hardcover by Faber and Faber, Inc., an affiliate of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, on September 8, 2009 (ISBN: 978-0-86547-910-4; $25.00). Bunny Munro sells beauty products and the dream of hope to the lonely housewives of the south coast of England. Set adrift by his wife’s suicide and struggling to […]
NIGHT IN THE RUTS: The Internet Is Killing Porn
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The adult entertainment business, centered in the San Fernando Valley, has weathered several recessions since it took off with the advent of home video in the 1980s. But this time the industry is not dealing with just a weakened economy. A growing abundance of free content on the Internet is undercutting consumers’ willingness to pay for porn, and with it the ability of many workers to earn a living in the business. For Stern, 23, the rapid decline of job opportunities in the porn business over the last year has been dramatic. She has gone from working […]
SEN. NERO: Pileggi Tells Philly To Hurry Up & Wait
INQUIRER: Under mounting public pressure, State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi predicted yesterday that a pair of measures sought by Mayor Nutter to rescue Philadelphia’s budget would be approved, but he warned that there would not be a vote for at least several weeks. If Pileggi (R., Delaware) is right, and Harrisburg approves the penny-per-dollar city sales-tax hike and pension restructuring that Philadelphia has asked for, the city would avoid the mass layoffs and most of the crippling service reductions — such as closures of most libraries and all recreation centers — that Nutter has warned will be necessary if […]
CITY BUDGET CLOCK: Five Minutes To Doomsday
An urgent plea from Mayor Nutter: Dear Phawker, I need your help today to encourage the Pennsylvania State Senate to take action now on House Bill 1828, legislation that will help our city fund vital services and will ensure that our city will not have to make massive, drastic budget cuts beginning next week. All Philadelphia State Senators support this legislation. As a result of the global financial crisis and the ongoing recession, our city faced a potentially huge budget shortfall, which would have led to difficult choices between drastically cutting city services and significantly increasing tax revenues. To preserve […]
LYING LIARS: Stop The Insanity!
[via POLITIFACT] USA TODAY: Some August town hall meetings around the country have degenerated into furious shouting matches, driven by outrageous misinformation borne of many sources. The Internet spreads anonymous chain e-mails to a public that is both vulnerable and gullible. Groups with a financial or ideological interest give the rumors a boost. Talk radio provides an echo chamber for the demonizers. […] The distortions have become so numerous that they’ve often won Politifact.org’s “pants on fire” award (as in “liar, liar, pants on fire”). So in the interest of correcting some of the misinformation, here are a few truths […]