[Illustration by ALEX FINE] PHILLY CLOUT: One of the strange ironies we’ve noted in the budget process is that Philadelphia is currently poised to make massive citywide cuts at the same time the federal government is pledging to send the city millions of dollars as part of the $787 billion stimulus package. But here’s the rub. Nearly all the money coming from the feds is dedicated for very specific purposes and cannot go to general operating expenses. So if the city’s budget requests in Harrisburg don’t go as planned, and Mayor Nutter implements his “Plan C” doomsday budget, then the […]
CHARM OFFENSIVE: Bubba Goes To Pyongyang
NEW YORK TIMES: Former President Bill Clinton landed in North Korea on Tuesday to negotiate the release of two American television journalists sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korean territory, according to a person briefed on the mission. Citing television footage from Pyongyang, The Associated Press said Mr. Clinton was greeted at the airport by North Korean officials including the chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan and Yang Hyong-sop, vice parliamentary speaker. The footage showed him smiling and bowing as a young girl presented him with flowers. The reported presence of the nuclear negotiator raised the […]
TEABAGGED: ‘Outrage’ At Constitution Center Staged By Goon Squad Hired By Lobbyists For Big Medical
The crazies come out to discuss Healthcare Reform [Micah Mahjoubian: Town Hall meeting with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Senator Arlen Specter at the National Constitution Center in Philly on August 2nd, 2009. Believe it or not, this is well before the crowd got out of hand. Keep an eye out for the lady with the bible.] * HUFFINGTON POST: When Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius and Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) came to the National Constitution Center to answer questions about health care reform, they were greeted by an overflow crowd of approximately 400 people, the majority of whom […]
ORLY: ‘Queen Bee Of The Birthers’ Melts Down
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy PREVIOUSLY: Birthers Of A Bizarro Nation
COMING ATTRACTION: Q&A With Sarah Stolfa
GALLERY 339: The Regulars Revisited
HOT NOT DOC: ‘Obama’s Kenyan Birth Certificate’
[Click HERE to enlarge] WORLD NET DAILY: California attorney Orly Taitz, who has filed a number of lawsuits demanding proof of Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president, has released a copy of what purports to be a Kenyan certification of birth and has filed a new motion in U.S. District Court for its authentication.[…] “I’m forcing the issue, where Obama will have to respond,” she said. “Before, they said, ‘You don’t have anything backing your claims,’” Taitz explained. “Now I have something. In fact, I have posted on the Internet more than Obama has. My birth certificate actually has […]
LIVE AND DIRECT: All Points West Day Three
BY KYLEE MESSNER The last day of All Points West was sure to be full of surprises. As we arrived, we were informed no bands would be playing for quite some time, given the storm that had just hit. We wondered if the show would be canceled. “Of course not, millions of dollars have been raised from this festival,” a staff worker told us. How reassuring, I thought. It wasn’t until four o’clock that a sea of people began to form lines, many leaving, others remaining, all clueless as to when they would be let into the festival. “How unorganized,” […]
EELS: Force Of Nature
OfficialEels: video for “In My Dreams” from the HOMBRE LOBO album
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR With the record business decimated by illegal downloading, the live concert represents the ailing music industry’s biggest source of revenue. But as journalist John Seabrook reports in The New Yorker, the live concert business has yet to reconcile two competing sides of its identity. For the world’s leading concert promoter and ticket seller — LiveNation and Ticketmaster, respectively — a concert is a moneymaking venture. For diehard fans of top-grossing touring artists like Bruce Springsteen and U2, it’s a unique experience of “instant cousinship” with other fans (as one pioneering promoter puts it). Meanwhile, Internet scalping on sites […]
TONITE: Laugh, Clown, Laugh, Rinse And Repeat
[Click flyer to activate Internets]
White House Plans Counter-Offensive Against Insurers
NEW YORK TIMES: With Republicans mobilizing against the proposed health care overhaul, President Obama, Congressional Democrats and leading advocacy groups are laying the groundwork for an August offensive against the insurance industry as part of a coordinated campaign to sell the public on the need for reform. […] Revamping health care is the president’s top legislative priority, and people on all sides of the debate agree that August, when lawmakers leave Washington to take the pulse of constituents, will be crucial to shaping public opinion. With Republicans making headway by casting the legislation as a costly government takeover, Democrats have […]
QUESTION THE PARKING AUTHORITY: The Torch Of PPA Loathing Has Been Passed To A New Web Site
[Click image to activate Internets] PREVIOUSLY: “In this time of fiscal crisis, when they’re talking about laying off police officers, firefighters and closing libraries, we’ve got an agency that’s collecting cash faster than you can possibly imagine, and it’s not going to the places it’s supposed to fund,” Gym says. “Who do we need to look at it? Are we going to leave it up to people with titles and say, ‘Hey, they’re going to take care of it?’ Why do you think things stay the way they are?”
VOLK: Where Have All The Gangsters Gone?
PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE: The Godfather rises up out of his chair: “Sit down,” he says, giving me his seat before I can object. [Reputed Philly mob boss Joe] Ligambi grabs another stool and sits down beside me. And there we are, just a couple of fellas, talking over a glass of wine. […] I’d gone everywhere I could to learn about him, including his house. Ligambi lives on 17th Street, just south of Packer Avenue, near the sports stadiums, in a house registered under his wife’s name. The neighborhood is best described as leafy, more suburb than city. I walked the […]