A Sunday Trip Through the Inquirer's Biased Opinion Pages

Another Sunday, another dose of the Inqy's pro-Obama bias with ones coffee. people ask me why do I still subscribe to the lefty rag; my reply is that it has a great sports section and to be honest, i hold out hope that one day they'll get it. Through all the management changes you would expect them to finally understand that while the city of Philly is liberal, the Jersey suburbs and some counties directly outside the city are center right.

Anyway, let's start with our old buddy Dick Polman. You can always count on Dick to give you a huge dose of Obama/Democrat talking points and today is no exception. He writes of the reemergence of Slick Willy and as you would expect, he gives Bill a journalistic Lewinsky:

But memories fade quickly in this amnesiac nation. Today, he's venerated for his postpresidential charity work, his '90s tenure seems in retrospect to have been a peace-and-prosperity paradise, and there isn't a politician in the land who can match his ability to frame complex issues in everyday human terms. As they used to say in Arkansas, he can still talk a dog off a meat truck.

You just may need a smoke after that paragraph, Dick. Were you wearing a blue dress?

The editorial board is no better. When the Delaware River Port Authority was in the hands of Jon Corzine and Ed Rendell, they wasted what was considered huge amounts of money pre-Obama on boondoggle projects and the Inqy said nothing of consequence. Now that the leaders are two Republicans, and one being Chris Christie, we have editorials slamming them. I'm still waiting for that editorial asking what Corzine did with all that money from MF.

Of course, they couldn't go without slamming Romney. We have this piece that about off-shoring jobs and since the Obama regime has hit Romney on this, the Inqy plays the good soldier and hammers it home.

And don't forget the mandatory essay bemoaning the hard-right turn of the GOP and the bad influences of the Tea Party. You know the basics, Tea Partier beats supposed moderate, GOP is no longer accepting of centrists BS we saw when John Huntsman was running.

The one semi-unbiased article this week is about Chick-Fil-A in which the writer talks about the other issues facing Philly of greater concern than banning the chicken restaurant.

All in all, six essays from the left and one from the middle. The Inquirer is probably still wondering why it's sales are tanking. This will be one business pursuit in which Democratic power boss George Norcross will tank severely. I've met him, he's a smart business guy, perhaps he'll be the one to finally see the light.

The Greatest Sound In the World Is a Whining Yankees Fan

So I wake up this morning and jump into the Jeep for the trek to work. I flip on ESPN radio and what do I hear but the stunning news that Cliff Lee is coming back to Philly.

Until yesterday, all the news was leaning to him signing with the hated Yankees or staying with the Rangers. But Ruben Amaro, Jr. righted a wrong and outsmarted the overrated Brian Cashman by landing the best pitcher on the free agent market for the second straight year (Roy Halladay was the prize last year). Showing that he learned well from his mentor the hall of famer-elect Pat Gillick, Amaro played on Lee's feelings to play in the city that once was a hated destination but now is baseball paradise. Lee likes the city, loves the coach and enjoys the team--a perfect situation.

He smacked the Yankees upside the head by taking less money than they were offering and gave the fans of New York the finger. There were reports that Yankee fans spit on Lee's wife during the playoffs last year and that may have been the final decision maker.

Good job New York, you've just been dissed for being a bunch of classless losers and Philly's gain is your brutal loss. I so enjoyed listening to your bullshit today trying to rationalize the situation by uttering drivel such as "he's not that good" or "he isn't worth the money" or my personal favorite "A.J. Burnett will pick it up this year". Sure he will.

Yesterday he was the greatest thing ever and today he's just so-so. You sound like that dude who thought he was going to score the hot chick at a bar and your rival is now at her place getting busy while you're home playing with yourself watching the last skit on Saturday Night Live all by your lonesome.

Blow me scrubs, the Phillies have the best pitching staff in baseball by far and possibly the best pitching staff ever. Enjoying losing the division to the Red Sox who scored a stud in the outfield and a stud at first while you waited for Lee to sign with you. But hey, Greinke or even Carl Pavano are out there to be you #2.

MOVE: 25 Years After a Massive Governmental Breakdown

It's lost most of the sting one felt as it happened in real-time as these things tend to yet looking back, the story was amazing. A Democratic mayor in a one-party town dropped a bomb on the house of a radical group and burned a cty block to the ground. He then got re-elected.

Philly in a nutshell.

Mumia Abu-Jamal Still Guilty as Hell

The Supreme Court has decided not to grant a new trial for the man who murdered Philly police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981:

The Supreme Court said Monday it will not take up Abu-Jamal's claims that prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury that convicted him of murdering Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld Abu-Jamal's conviction but held his death sentence invalid. The appeals court said it would not second-guess state court rulings rejecting Abu-Jamal's claims of bias in the composition of the jury.

The high court considered only the conviction. The state has separately asked the court to reinstate the death sentence, but the justices have not acted on that request.

The French will think us so barbaric as they named a street after the scumbag. Well, maybe Obama can apologize for this too since his whole trip has been putting down America and praising the Europeans anyway.

Mumia deserves to fry and the sooner the better. His cold-blooded shooting of Danny Faulkner was cowardly but the international attention and support he has received by lefty idiots like Mike Farrell, Harry Belafonte and Ed Asner has been downright repulsive.

This is a battle that has been going on for far too long and has too end soon. For the sake of Maureen Faulkner--Danny's widow--I hope it does.

Background on the case here. Bio on Danny here. Ed and PJ-Wearing Fool have more.

Goodbye and Thanks, Brian Dawkins

Anyone who has read this blog more than once knows I'm a dedicated Philly sports fan. Until last October/November (when the Phillies won it all), this region was a football region through and through. The old joke is that in most places, a kids first words were "mama" or "dada" while in Philly it's "Cowboys suck!". We're passionate to say the least.

There was one man who epitomized Philadelphia Eagles football and always gave 110% when he stepped between the line; that man is Brian Dawkins. B-Dawk was the team leader not only because he expected the best from everyone on the team but because he demanded he himself give much more than anyone else. The man was an absolute force roaming the D backfield at Lincoln Financial.

Those days are over now as Dawkins signed a four-year deal with the Denver Bronco's after Eagles management slapped him in the face by not offering him a new deal. As with all decisions made by the Birds front office, they also gave the fans the finger by letting Dawk get away. The guy is a veteran and has meant more to the Eagles than Joe banner or Andy Reid will ever know. They may have ensured that Philly remains a baseball town for the foreseeable future with this stupid and shameless move. They ran another icon right out of town.

Just as an aside, I don't generally wear a players jersey but I have a Dawkins jersey and will continue to wear it until he gets in the Hall of Fame.

Dawkins took it like everyone expected him to; with class and dignity.

Thanks for all the good years, B-Dawk.

Monday Morning News and Notes

It's early here on the left coast but I'm in an right coast mindframe.

Here's what's new in the world:

Global warming is being questioned just about every day now.

Ah, the stimulus is turning out just great, isn't it?

Business is bad all over, people are losing their jobs so let's ban selling smokes at drug stores.

Because all economies have "performance issues".

The recssion and one party rule in Philly.

Phillies Sign Howard For $54-Million

Not a bad deal considering the guy is an RBI machine:

PHILADELPHIA -- Ryan Howard just wanted to concentrate on baseball this spring. No squabbles over his contract. No daily questions about his future.

The big slugger got his wish -- and a hefty raise, too.

Howard and the Philadelphia Phillies agreed to a $54 million, three-year contract on Sunday, avoiding a potentially contentious arbitration hearing.

The 2006 NL MVP will earn $15 million this season, $19 million next year and $20 million in 2011. He can increase the base salary by $1 million in each of the last two years if he wins the MVP award during the previous year. He can boost it by $500,000 if he finishes second.

He's earned it and they won a Series so it had to be done.

Let's get started now and defend the title.

Exit question: Will Philly talk radio idiots stop getting on the Phils as being a small market team?

Michael Smerconish Got Played

You may recall that Philly talk show host and moderate Republican Michael Smerconish gained some fleeting pub when he endorsed Obama for president. Smerconish's rationale was that Obama was serious about getting Osama bin-Laden and that was enough to turn the non-conservative Smerconish against McCain and drive him right into the Obama camp because, well, Obama said he would make that a major part of his administration.

Michael Smerconish now has the honor of being among the first people punked by Obama before he even takes office.

It's interesting that a man who has been active in politics for decades was seduced by a few smooth words by a smooth politician and gave up his self esteem for a few those few words and the promise of a blurb in several blogs for one day (and reportedly a new contract).

Congrats Mike, I once listened to you daily but ceased the day you whored yourself out. Enjoy waiting for Obama to act on the sole reason you supported him, although you asserted differently, and non-convincingly on the HuffPo. You can wait with the Daily Kos crowd and all the others who were fooled by a few inane words.

And for the record, I never had an issue with Smerconish inviting Obama on the show, as a talk show host he would have been idiotic not to. My problem is that Smerconish is a Bush Republican--in other words; a liberal Republican and he grew farther to the left of the party to fit into the MSNBC paradigm, He sold out himself.

BTW, why don't you call Obama's people Mike, see if they'll allow another interview. I doubt it now that you've served his purpose.

Eagles Roll On to Arizona

An interesting weekend of football to say the least. I liked the Ravens and they won with stats that were shocking. It will be a tough offseason for the Titans.

The Steelers were flat out a better team against San Diego without LT.

In the biggest playoff upset in a decade, the Cardinals put the wood to the Panthers.

And of course, my birds whacked the Giants at home. McNabb was good enough, the defense was stellar and Eli Manning was simply horrid in the wind. What an astounding run by the Iggles.

Odds to win it here in a humorous format.

Pat Burrell Ends Phillies Career

There was high hopes when the Phillies selected Pat Burrell as the number one pick out of Miami back in 1998. He was a standout athlete with a nice--if long in my opinion--power stroke who had succeeded at every level.

Burrell joined the big club in 2000 and had a huge year in 2002, a year that hard core Phillies fans hoped would continue through his career. That was not meant to be and in the next few years, Burrell became the center of fan rage, his laid-back style and unflappable demeanor didn't help his case. I recall sitting in left field and hearing the Philly faithful berate Burrell inning after inning. I couldn't believe that Burrell didn't turn around and give them all the finger (like he did to the Red Sox). That's what they (we?) wanted of course but Burrell didn't oblige. I think the only thing that saved him was the way he played against the hated Mets. The dude killed them on a regular basis.

He picked it up and became a steady 25-30 homer, 85-100 RBI guy. He solidified a position that we needed filled and his arm was a thing to marvel. many a major league player hesitated coming around first on a one-bounce liner down the left field line because of his arm.

Now Burrell will be gone because of the Phils signing of Raul Ibanez--a player with a more consistent stick and power akin to Burrell's. Yet, Patty B earned everything he has gotten. He finally led the Phils to the World Series championship and for that alone will be remembered with reverence. I can guarantee that he will get a standing ovation whenever he plays at CB Ballpark regardless of what team he goes to. His last memory as a Phillie will be riding with his wife and dog in the front of the Phillies parade where he was cheered by 2-million psychotic Philly sports fans.

Good luck with whomever you play for Patty B. I think he'll contribute to an American League team for a few years as a DH.

Navy Beats Army Again

Ho hum. It's getting old at this point, but I guess Army can take solace in the fact they had cooler unis:

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Army's cool new dress code resulted in the same old loss against Navy.

With President George W. Bush in attendance, Shun White ran for 147 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead Navy over Army 34-0 Saturday for its seventh straight win in the storied rivalry between service academies.

Army (3-9) debuted camouflage helmets, pants and uniform numbers, and the backs of their jerseys had the words "Duty. Honor. Country."

Army's uniform makeover was sharper than its play. Bowl-bound Navy (8-4) improved to 53-49-7 in the one of the greatest rivalries in college sports.

Obamanation Begins

Exercise your first amendment right in the City of Brotherly Love and get a quick trip to the Roundhouse:



And so it begins, don't question the authority of The One.

Via Ace.

Summing Up This Election

I couldn't have said it better myself, dude:



The CNN reporter looked a bit uncomfortable about interviewing that guy. The guy just admitted a felony but I have to get the hell out of here. Nice.

"Black Panthers" Intimidating Voters In Philly

I touched on this before but this shows that it is really happening. Not sure if they are really Black Panthers but regardless, they are intimidating voters:



I'm guessing they're not voting McCain/Palin.

H/T: Hot Air where the updates are coming fast and furious.

Also, more here at Election Journal where they are tracking all cases of suspected voter fraud from around the nation. They've got more than you can count.

Update: Greg Sargent at TPM says an Obama worker denies they were intimidating anyone. He has not mentioned or posted the video above, which is everywhere now. Anyone with even an iota of pride would admit they were wrong and post the video but it's election day and no one in moonbat land has any pride.

Voter Fraud Update

In Philly...

In Florida...

In Virginia against our military men and women...

The networks in a rerun of Florida 2000...

In all cases, it's the Dems who are involved.

Update: In what is not a fraudulent occurrence but should be as the man should be a felon; unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers voted. Since neither Pol Pot, Stalin or Castro were on the ballot, I'm guessing he went with Obama.

Update: The Catholic Church through ACORN...

Update: In Minnesota (ACORN just keeps popping up)...

Update: And Wisconsin...

An Historic Day of Voter Fraud

And no, not just because we may elect the first African-American or woman. No, it will be day that voting rights were turned on their ear. It will also be the day that the media is either completely discredited or gets rewarded for their overt bias.

Let's discuss the voting nightmare we're about to witness. Cities such as Philadelphia and Saint Louis have seen an increase in voter registrations that have never been matched and thanks to ACORN and other Obama front groups, they will have an impact. Sure, dead people have always voted in Philly but we are about to see an entire zombie army descend on the polls. Poll workers are handcuffed in their actions and Obama could see a million ineligible voters lifting him to victory.

Second, the media will portray every single case of suspected GOP voter fraud as proof that the Republicans are trying to steal this election just like we did the last two (talking point: W. was selected, not elected). They will ferret out any perceived intimidation and play it up to plant that seed about fraud. The fact that they've never mentioned ACORN and the blatant criminal actions they've perpetrated against our democratic system will play a huge part.

If anyone sees any voter irregularities, please e-mail me concerning where and when and I'll start posting them.

Update: And right on cue it starts:

GOP Election Board members have been tossed out of polling stations in more than half a dozen polling stations in Philadelphia because of their party status.

A liberal judge previously ruled that court-appointed poll watchers could be NOT removed from their boards by an on-site election judge, but that is exactly what is happening.

It is the duty of election board workers to monitor and guard the integrity of the voting process.

Denying access to the minority (in this case Republican) poll watchers and inspectors is a violation of Pennsylvania state law. Those who violate the law can be punished with a misdemeanor and subjected to a fine of $1,000 and sent to prison between one month and two years.

Those on site as describing it as "pandemonium" and there may be video coming of the chaos.

Expect this throughout the day as Philly pols (and union leaders) know damn well that Obama needs to win Philly by 500,000 votes (Kerry won by 400,000 in '04). Those pesky Republicans will not be tolerated!

Utley Fires Up the Fans: "World F**king Champions"

Expect the FCC to take a look into this:


Yeah, it was live on the local channels. Watch Jason Werth jump up as if Utley said he would do it or Werth dared or bet him.

A good day and most of the players seemed to have been boozing it since Wednesday night after the series win.

A clearer unimbeddable verison here.

Scenes From The Phillies Championship Parade

Today I took my son and his friends to the Phillies championship parade. It was a mob scene with; I would estimate, at least 300,000 at the stadium complex. Add the hundreds of thousands more along Market St. and Broad St. and you're talking millions.

Here's some pix I snapped so you could get a feel for the utter joy Phillies fans are feeling today:

First we have some pix that show a portion of the crowd...a small portion:

The crowd stretched all the way Broad St. and turned towards Citizens Bank Park off Broad through here.

Here's another view as the crowd stretched out forever. That's Citizens Bank on the Left and Licoln Financial--home of the Eagles in the center with the old Spectrum on the right.

Some things you just didn't need to see and this would be one of them. Beer was flowing freely as you can see.

This idiot climbed over the street on the CB sign and when he got to the other side was quickly grabbed and thrown in a police car for the cruise to the Round House.
People were in a good mood and there was much face painting among the crowd.
Enter the Phillies Phanatic--the best mascot in all of sports. He performed for five straight hours today.Pat Burrell arrived on his own drawn by Clydesdales. He received the honor as he has the longest tenure on the team and thus suffered the most. He brought his dog whom you can see behind him sort of.

More Phanatic. The crowd was really getting pumped.

The old ball coach was looking dapper in a suit. Charlie Manuel seemed overwhelmed.

Ryan Madsen earned his spot this year as the set-up man. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

Talk about a man enjoying himself, Shane Victorino was among the most energetic. I'm sure that bottle was full when the parade started. The "Flyin' Hawaiian" indeed.

Victorino again. He was easily the most cheered player. He epitomizes what Philly fans love: hard-nosed 100% effort all the time. He'll be around a long time in this town.

Jason Werth was another guy enjoying himself. Note the Miller Lite can and I'm sure he had a cooler in the float.

Werth was ecstatic and he definitley pumped up the crowd. He was having fun and after this season, he should be. He was an integral part of this team and should have been MVP of the World Series.

All in all it was a great day with no bad moments. I didn't see a single fight. The only bad thing you'll hear about is the F-bomb Chase Utley dropped in front of 40,000 at the CB Ballpark.

Phillies on the Verge

I don't want to jinx my team but the Phillies can clinch the World series title at home tonight. It's going to be cold, windy and rainy and we don't have a dome like those pussies from Tampa.

We have stud Cole Hamels going and have been htting the ball hard to all fields. The crowd will be amped and they can be, shall we say...brutal against an opposing team in the dog days of July. How jacked up will they be rooting the Phils on in a game they can win the Series?

What an insane weekend: the Phillies win 2 this weekend, the Flyers beat the Devils twice, the Eagles whooped the Falcons and the least watched live event this weekend was The Who playing last night where Pete Townsend mentioned that they were the bottom end of the totem pole.

It's a Phillies town right about now and that is highly unusual.

Update: Just how remarkable would a Hamels win be tonight? Quite.

Welcome to Philly Rays Fans

Let be among the first (and few) to welcome Rays fans to our happy city. Frank Fitzpatrick is among the scant others who say welcome in his own special way:

If you arrive early for Sunday's game, do not, under any circumstances, wander into the Eagles' parking lots. (If you're confused, the Eagles' lots are those where the balloons of nitrous oxide are going for $20 and the tailgaters are grilling Dallas fans.) The last out-of-town baseball fan who made that mistake was cornered, beaten, and forced to watch Eagles Post Game Live.

Yeah, Birds games are kinda like Dead shows with alot more beer and a violence level that is about 1000-times more than your average Black Sabbath gig.

Anyway, I'd like to give you some pointers as well:

Stay away from the bullpen when your guy is warming up. The Phils fans are right on top of them and tend to be the variety that is, shall we say...full of beer and piss. The pic below is the bullpen your Rays will have to warm up in. 'Nuff said.

Next, as Fitz alluded to, it's probably not in your best interest to wear Rays gear. You would probably be smarter to just paint a bullseye on your back as the B.J. Upton jersey you bought last week at Modell's will serve the same purpose.

Also, as Fitz mentioned, you may want to stay on the north side of Pattison Ave. The Linc is that big building on the south side where the Eagles will be playing tomorrow. Now, the Rays aren't playing until 8:00 PM and the Eagles play at 1:00 PM. The Eagles fans will have been drinking at the Linc since roughly 6:00 AM; do the math and realize it doesn't add up in your favor. That's fourteen hours to get properly lubricated by game time. God help you should the Eagles lose because all bets are off at that point. You may want to find the nice policeman riding a horse and stay close to him. As a public service, below is a picture of a typical Eagles fan. Not the beer firmly planted in hand the sloped forhead and mouth formed in a perfect scream that is either aimed at Tony Romo or else Andy Reid has just called his fourth straight running play in the red zone. Here's more of a primer.

Finally, should you feel the need to break out the cowbell you all so irritatingly ring, the chances are pretty high that it will be removed by the proctologist on call at Thomas Jefferson Hospital. You had better hope said proctologist is not a Phillies fan.

Please feel free to e-mail me if you need any more survival tips and welcome to our fair city--the City of Brotherly Love. Enjoy your stay.