philly

The Prophet Mohammad

I spotted this sticker last night and found it quite interesting. Posting stickers is just about as immediate a medium as blogging. You can grab a stack of blanks and scribble away with your marker. Walk outside, peel, stick.

I saw two of these on Broad St on the SE corner of Spruce St.

Tulin has a poll to vote on whether or not the Philadelphia Inquirer should have or should not have published the editorial cartoon of the prophet Mohammad. I think that here in the U.S., the press should be providing coverage of a news story. If that news story is on a drawing, we need to see that drawing.

If the drawing was of something blatantly offensive to Koreans, I'd want to see it. I'd make my own assessment of the drawing. But that's me and that hypothetical is not about religion, a highly volatile subject. Either way, I don't see rioting as a solution. I've never understood using religion as a starting point for violence.

Attytood points to an editorial by the Inquirer's Daily News' award-winning cartoonist Signe Wilkinson:

I’m guessing the Danish cartoonists were trying to do the same thing. The cartoons were criticizing violence and suicide bombing in the name of Islam. The cartoonists have the right to publish. And, in a free society, Muslims have a right to protest and publish their own cartoons in response. This is not a right granted to cartoonists or protesters in some Muslim countries.

It's a good read.

DuctapeFatwa has a good diary up on Booman Tribune about this.

In the MSM via NYT, BBC News, WaPo.

Some Evangelicals Get Global Warming

When I first read the headline to this NY Times article: "Evangelical Leaders Join Global Warming Initiative" I was like, holy shit, those fuckers came around on this! And then I thought, wait, this isn't a 'religious thing' like being gay or god forbid letting said gays be married! This is about the planet getting warmer and us having some effect on speeding up that process.

Among signers of the statement, which will be released in Washington on Wednesday, are the presidents of 39 evangelical colleges, leaders of aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army, and pastors of megachurches, including Rick Warren, author of the best seller "The Purpose-Driven Life."

Eighty-six signers in all to this initiative.

But twenty-two evangelical leaders who signed a similar, and by similar, I mean the absolute opposite, letter, are probably not too pleased. In January, they made their own declaration

"Global warming is not a consensus issue." Among the signers were Charles W. Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family; and Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Unfortunatly, it basically is. By everyone. Except those twenty-two people and the Bush administration. Great minds think alike. Feeble minds puddle together.

Liberals Undermining War Support!

This Sunday, Sen Rick $antorum was here in Philadelphia preaching to the choir, literally, during Justice Sunday III [photos of the protest outside]. Thursday, he was in Valley Forge speaking to the military academy cadets, basically, another choir. While the cadets may have opinions of their own, they are literally pawns in the political game pushed from one country to another and Kimberly Hefling was there for the AP.

Speaking for about an hour to more than 300 cadets at the Valley Forge Military Academy, Santorum said public support for the war has been difficult to maintain because of "biased coverage of the war and the political left demagoguery of the war."

Lovely.

And towards the end of the article, the Casey campaign was brought up.

The Casey campaign released a statement saying Santorum should have offered a real critique of the administration's policies in Iraq instead of just blaming the media.

"Santorum has voted with President Bush 98 percent of the time and now he's trying to copy his PR tactics," said Larry Smar, a spokesman for Casey.

I thought that was quite laughable. Why? Let's see what Bob Casey Jr has said on the Iraq War:

Once it was under way, like a lot of Americans, I was supportive of what our troops were trying to do there, based on what we were told by our government. We found out later the intelligence was, at best, faulty and, at worst, misleading. We can learn a lot of lessons from that, but the key thing now is to finish the job.
Inky 4.29.05

Casey said he would have voted for the war considering the evidence at the time, and supported the spending bills that funded the effort. But when asked to outline his plan for Iraq, including whether he favored a deadline for pulling troops out of the country, Casey would not offer specifics.

"I don't think you can, as a matter of policy, articulate a long-term strategy if you don't have the facts to make that determination," Casey said.
Inky 8.20.05

Some people think that pulling out is a good idea and a timeline is a good idea -- I don't agree with that.
Centre Daily Times 10.23.05

Chuck Pennacchio was always against the Iraq War and wrote up this document [.pdf] calling for withdrawal with an exit strategy timeline. A timeline to get out of this debacle.

Jim Dean, Howard Dean's brother and Chairman of Democracy for America started a pledge drive to only support candidates who 1. Acknowledge that the U.S. was misled into the war in Iraq, 2. Advocate for a responsible exit plan with a timeline, 3. Support our troops at home and abroad. Check, check and check for Chuck Pennacchio.

The Nation's editors pledged in their November 28, 2005 edition:

We will not support any candidate for national office who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq a major issue of his or her campaign. We urge all voters to join us in adopting this position. Many worry that the aftermath of withdrawal will be ugly, but we can now see that the consequences of staying will be uglier still. Fear of facing the consequences of Bush's disaster should not be permitted to excuse the creation of a worse disaster by continuing the occupation.

We firmly believe that antiwar candidates, with the other requisite credentials, can win the 2006 Congressional elections, the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries and the subsequent national election. But this fight, and our stand, must begin now.

In the coming weeks and months The Nation will help identify--and encourage support for--those candidates prepared to bring a speedy end to the war and to begin the hard work of forging a new national security policy that an end to the Iraq War will make possible.

And in their January 2, 2006 edition, they acknowledged Chuck Pennacchio's call for withdrawal from June of 2005.

$antorum and Casey Jr are both wrong on choice and on Iraq. Chuck Pennacchio is more than simply a step in the right direction, he's the best candidate with the pulse of the people. Read his stances on the issues and make an informed decision.

Justice Sunday III: Photos

Act Up Philadelphia was there in full force. They stormed up Broad St from Fairmount Ave with a venegance. I ran into the street to meet them with my camera and backpeddled with them for half a block. I like this shot the most. Red flares creating a very noticable scene for I'd assume blocks. A fifteen foot wide banner lead by three folks trailed by about twenty or thirty demonstrators with banners, placards and their loud voices.

With the Act Up group was this huge puppet of 'Jerry Foolwell' it was eggcellent. Just like the ones I've seen at protests in the past, spared no expense. The three puppeteers and one directioneer worked very well together.

Even with the time I put into four posters, this was my favorite one of the night. It's quite true, the Bible, taken literally, is a horror. Have you read that thing for like five pages?

And my favorite candiate for Senate in this state of Pennsylvania was there too, Chuck Pennacchio. He was working the crowd, speaking with demonstrators who turned a dilligent ear to hear his seasoned words. And as you can see, he was holding up a sign too!

Alan Sandals was there too, another Democrat in the running for the nomination for the Senate run. He brought along a gigantic video van as well which played his new commercial. Which Democratic Senate candidate wasn't there in solidarity with the people? One Bob Casey Jr. But then again, he doesn't care much for the notion of choice and furthering womens rights. Not one for socializing with the hoi polloi either from what I've seen, or I should say, not seen.

Fifty-five of the shots I took at the protest are up on my flickr. I fucking love photojournalism.

I'd say that there was about 200 people there. I forgot to ask a cop because I'm so used to them not giving out crowd estimates at protests from the last few I've been to. But I think this one was small enough [under 500K and all] to warrant one. Arg. It was a decent mix of races out there. I've noticed that many protests tend to be mostly white, why, I'm not sure, but this one had a good mix of black, white and brown. As far as trouble, I didn't see any. Didn't see anyone getting arrested. Didn't see anyone getting physical. Peaceful. Loud, but peaceful.

As the people from the first program were leaving the church, I noticed that it was mostly white. I'd say 60% to 75% white and 40% to 25% black. I'm assuming that those numbers aren't reflexive of this church's actual membership, but when white folks like $antorum, Dobson and Fallwell come to town, the crazies will follow from the 'burbs.

I can't wait until the reports from inside with transcripts come out from the papers in the morning. I heard from a secondary source that $anitorum said that if Alito were to be appointed to the SCOTUS bench that it would be a true act of god. Pricele$$.

* * * UPDATE * * *
From the MSM:

• Inky
• Daily News
• AP
• WaPo

And Fox29's coverage of the event via ChicoMax.

Quickly on Justice Sunday III

Oh man it was cold out there. I'd say about 200 or so people were out there, but I'm not the best crowd estimater. I snapped about 200 shots and I'm about to start downloading them from the CF card. I wanted to stick around for the end of the second session, but everybody left and it was mighty cold outside. Didn't want to stand out there for an hour and a half by myself and the cops. A pretty lively crowd out there. Pictures to come.

Huffing Magnum Sharpie

Tomorrow is Justice Sunday III where the über conservative Right wing wackos will descend upon the Greater Exodus Baptist Church [704-714 N. Broad St] to do whatever it is they do. Earlier today, I was at Chuck Pennacchio Philly campaign HQ helping make some posters for the demostrations/protests. I huffed me a good amount of Sharpie. Sharpie Magnum to be exact.

I've been around some large graffiti markers in my day, but this one takes the cake. Good god it was an enormous marker.

I printed out the slogans and helped to black in the text onto the posterboard with said ginormous Sharpie and it ate a slew of my precious brain cells. Didn't get woozy or anything though. We reminisced about rubber cement, those fruit scented markers and even those old purple-y ditto sheets from back in the day.

So, if you need a protest sign/placard for tomorrow night, the Pennacchio gang may have you covered. The first program runs from 7-8.30p and the second program from 9-10.30p. Should be a blast. It'll be even better if the Giants beat the Panthers earlier in the day. That would make me one happy camper.

See you at the protest and go Giants!

Justice Sunday III: Protest Info

So now I've learned that both Planned Parenthood and Act Up Philadelphia. Mac over at Pesky'Apostrophe first told me about it and Liz at the Pennacchio Blog followed up with a few phone calls to flush out the details.

Planned Parenthood will be organizing a protest earlier in the day while Act Up will be holding a demonstration starting at 6.30p.

previously

* * * UPDATE * * * 1.9.06
Photos here

Countdown to Justice Sunday III

Strangely, I haven't heard much about this weekend's upcoming Justice Sunday III featuring none other than Sen Dick $antorum, Herb Lusk, Tony Perkins, Jerry Fallwell, James Dobson and Bishop Wellington Boone.

Sunday 7p at 714 N. Broad St at the Greater Exodus Baptist Church. I'm gonna be there regardless. Is anybody else going and are there any planned demonstrations?

* * * UPDATE * * * 1.9.06
Photos here.

South Koreans: Sooo Cool

The NY Times tells me that my people are soooo cool and that China's youth, hundreds of millions strong, all wanna be us. Who's the real Slim Shady?

"We know that the products at Korea City are made in China," said Wang Ying, 28, who works for the local branch of an American company. "But to many young people, 'Korea' stands for fashionable or stylish. So they copy the Korean style."

Ha.

Santorum: Flip Flopper

The last paragraph of this Inky article on the flip floppiness of Dick $antorum on the issue of Intelligent Design is just too much:

"I'm a little disappointed," said [Jim] Cashman, one of eight pro-intelligent design board members who were ousted in the November election. "He's trying to come to the center more, and that bothers me. He used to be more conservative."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. He used to be more conservative.

On a side note, the Democratic party used to have balls.