philly

Anyone Getting Rid of a Bed?

Is anyone out there getting rid of a bed in Philly? Lady is looking for a new bed. A full or queen sized bed specifically. She's sleeping on a not-so-hot Ikea foam mattress which she hates. No, abhors. If you're looking to get rid of a bed or are upgrading yourself, leave a comment here or email her. Thanks!

***UPDATE*** 5.01.05
she got a bed

White House Correspondents Association Dinner

I started watching the red carpet procession at 6.30p or so and took a break for two-and-a-half hours until now as it's closer to game time. It's on CSPAN right now.

Good God am I a dork.

Moving a Bed

I wonder what the best method is to transport a full sized bed two blocks. I/we will find out Sunday. Let's see if I can get some friends to help out with their big pickup or wagon.

***UPDATE no bed moving***
Oh well. The search continues.

Two Years in Iraq and Counting

I just saw this video via Philly IMC. It's a simple video of images, some graphic, from the past two months set to Johnny Cash's cover of NIN's "Hurt". The images are from, I'm guessing, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world where people are dying and people are fighting to stop the war. It's only a copule of minutes long. Watch it.

Will Smith's Plaque

It looks like Will Smith's plaque on the Walk of Fame on The Avenue of the Arts has been removed/stolen. Anybody else see this? Saw this on the way back from the gym on Friday afternoon. Is it being cleaned? Or just plain stolen? I'd imagine that to be a pretty tough job and would take more than a crowbar to pull off. There are tons of cops over there all day long and all through the night too.

BBC News Turns to Its Readers

BBC News is planning on turning to its readers for stock photography. Read about it here.

We will keep using numerous pictures from agencies and other professionals, as I acknowledged last week, but anyone can help if they think we have a problem with our "stock pictures" - the cow, gay couple, woman having scan, odd dog, person looking cross, child on doorstep, police car door etc.

Each week I'll pick a topic and you can send in your picture best illustrating it. We'll show you the top ones, put them in a gallery, and then use some of them on reports when appropriate in the months and years to come.

Interesting, eh? This is a huuuuge news agency reaching out to the masses for content. Interesting.

More BBoy Photos

Some more BBoy photos. This set from the 24^th. And they're the Repstyles Crew.

Where's Bob Casey?

Where's Bob Casey at you ask? Well, he actually surfaced long enough to answer a few questions from the Daily News. Saw it first over at Attytood.

We called him up, asked him about five controversial issues. We got straight answers. No spin. No Kerry-style nuance. It must drive his consultants crazy.

Like it or not, this is where Casey stands:

But then in one of his answers he says:

[Defense of marriage amendment (which would ban same-sex marriage).] "I support the Defense of Marriage Act [passed in 1996, it defines marriage as a union of a man and woman] and a number of states have passed similar measures. But to have a great constitutional debate about this issue is completely unnecessary. This is used to divide people and appeal to bigotry."

Isn't that nuanced? It's a little wishy washy. And then there was something that reminded me of what Chuck Pennacchio says about being untouchable by the Democratic "leadership" and how they can't tell him what to do:

Casey also said that he has not softened his pro-life stance and that no national Democrat has asked him to follow a party line.

"They know where I stand and know I'm very independent," he said.

He's so independent he's barely outlining what he believes in time for the primary.

Good grief this guy is not good news in my eyes.

Release of Casket Photos

The Pentagon is finally releasing some photos [WaPo] of returning flag draped caskets, but many have been redacted.

Many of the photographs released were censored, with black rectangles blocking out faces, uniform insignia, name tags and other images that could reveal the identities of military personnel involved in the honor ceremonies.

"Individual judgments were made to black out some faces and identifying information to protect privacy information," said James Turner, a Pentagon spokesman.

Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, which assisted in the lawsuit, said it was "an outrage and an insult that they blacked out those faces of the honor guard, when today on . . . [the Pentagon Web site] you can see photos of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. I can only imagine they put those black boxes there to make the photos unusable."

Not all images were of victims of today's conflicts. Some show coffins containing remains of U.S. service members from Korea and Vietnam.

A small victory. Now if we can just get them to admit that getting into this war was wrong in the first place. Is that too much to ask?

Budget Vote

And speaking of Medicaid and taxes, I point you to this N.Y. Times article. Some highlights

The House and Senate broke a lengthy impasse over federal spending Thursday night, narrowly adopting a $2.56 trillion federal budget for 2006 that aims to trim the growth of Medicaid by $10 billion over five years, add $106 billion in tax cuts and clear the way for oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge.
...
Mr. Bush cited the resolution as an example of his ability to get things done on Capitol Hill
...
Although the budget resolution is nonbinding, it is important because it provides an economic blueprint that lawmakers can use to pass specific tax and spending legislation later in the year. For instance, the resolution assumes $106 billion in tax cuts over the next five years, and explicitly directs Congress to enact legislation providing for $70 billion of those cuts. The intent, its authors say, is to extend Mr. Bush's tax cuts on capital gains and dividend income.
...
In the Senate, three Republicans - Senators George V. Voinovich and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island - joined with 43 Democrats and one independent to oppose the plan. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, was absent.

Mmmm, tax cuts during war. It's NEVER EVER BEEN DONE BEFORE. Oh wait, the Repugs just did that. Sorry. It's been done ONLY ONCE BEFORE and by the same Repugs who pushed it through this time.