Local Philadelphia sketch group Secret Pants recently set up shop near the Constitution Center, asking locals a simple question... Bush, or Batman? Armed with a plethora of quotes from the two famous figures, they challenged people on the street to guess who said what. Sounds easy, right? Hah! Think again. The old guy is definitely our favorite. Thanks for the link, Aaron!......

Smile people: It's Friday! AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S GUANTANAMO CELL TOUR The champions of human rights are constructing a replica of the infamous cells at City Hall this weekend, available for examination or entrance by passersby. You can videotape a message to Bush, too. That must be one hell of an interesting video library. WHO: Anyone WHERE: City Hall's Dilworth Plaza,1400 JFK Boulevard (map) WHEN: From 1pm to 7pm HOW MUCH: Free! PENNYWISE AT THE FILLMORE It's......

Most people, when finding out after surgery that their anesthesiologist had given them Sodium Pentathol prior to their operations because the doctors wanted "to find out something about the patient," and that as a result, they spoke for twelve minutes straight to the surgeons and scrub nurses, possibly revealing embarrassing or incriminating secrets about themselves, would have sued the hell out of the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, and the hospital. Deb Margolin, however, wrote a......

Many neo-conservatives both in the Bush White House and Congress have argued that in a post-9/11 world torture is a necessary and viable method of obtaining information from detained enemy combatants. Others have argued that torture discredits the U.S. abroad, breeds anti-American sentiment, places our soldiers at risk, and contradicts most of mankind’s reasonable standards as to what is and is not moral. Here’s an overview of the United States’ recent relationship with torture: This......

Climate change has rapidly become part of our national discourse. As early as four or five years ago, the issue was treated by many as a paranoid conspiracy. Now, political figures from governors to presidential candidates to George W. Bush himself seem unable to avoid the fact that not only is our planet becoming warmer, but it is also losing the ability to produce key resources such as oil and clean water. Here’s a look......

Perhaps Senator John McCain is feeling pressure to court the remaining Christian conservative votes he has not already pulled out from under former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who is a former evangelical pastor. Many far-right conservative voters have expressed doubts about McCain’s allegiance to their values, including notorious radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. This may be the reason why in the past week he has been openly embracing fiery evangelical leaders. In 2000, the Arizona......

Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama exchanged blows in Ohio Tuesday leading up to next week’s primary in that state. 161 delegates are at stake. The exchange of criticism focused largely on Clinton’s position on the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. On free trade, there appears to be little difference in the candidates’ rhetoric and voting records. Clinton, however, faces a challenge on the issue that Obama does not. Obama claims that......

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend. Most Likely to Rule: Be Kind Rewind Expect our review of this Michel Gondry comedy, starring Jack Black, Mos Def, and Danny Glover, later on this morning. Trailer - Freshness Showing at: Ritz at the Bourse The Band's Visit A fish-out-of-water comedy about the Ceremonial Police Band of Alexandria, Egypt arriving for a gig in Israel, only to find that their hosts and transportation have failed......

The Daily News takes a closer look at one of the programs that Philadelphia Safe and Sound will have to shut down, thanks to Nutter's budget cuts: the anti-truancy program. Meanwhile, the Inquirer takes a closer look at a federal lawsuit filed by the Philadelphia Housing Authority, implicating Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, a Bush cabinet member. A profile of Phyllis Beck and Alice Beck Dubow, the first mother-daughter judges in the......

The Inquirer takes a look at the political landscape on the morning of Super Tuesday. If you're from New Jersey or Delaware, remember to vote! As long as you've done your research, and you care at all. If neither of those things are true then please, don't vote. A federal lawsuit filed in December says that President Bush's housing czar, Alphonso Jackson, pressured the Philadelphia Housing Authority to transfer land worth $2 million to Kenny......

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you. The cast is filling out for the upcoming Fox sci-fi drama Fringe, produced by, amongst others, man of the hour J.J. Abrams. Sounds like it's going to be an X-Files type of thing. We're down with that. Speaking of J.J., the director of the Abrams-produced Cloverfield is already in talks to do a sequel. Seeing that the recent controversy about Mass Effect made......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. We've still got quite a few year-end lists and awards to get through, so settle in, people! First The Movie Blog points out that a Moviefone poll has selected the worst performances of 2007, with Lindsay Lohan "winning" for her role in I Know Who Killed Me. Meanwhile, Slate has a different kind of top ten list for us: the Bush......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

Two separate laws aimed at making most government records public by default are making their way through the state legislature. The House bill, which was approved by a committee yesterday, is stronger than the bill that was passed by the Senate yesterday, 48-1. Another day, another shooting in Philadelphia. Two officers responding to a call about a man causing a disturbance in West Philadelphia early yesterday morning chased the man into an alley, where he......

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Lisa Aversa Richette - a controversial advocate of society's disadvantaged - died of lung cancer this past Friday. She was 79. Here's an article about the complex planning going into tonight's Democratic presidential debates at Drexel. The Inquirer has the details on two local child-sex cases; a 52-year-old former scoutmaster from Mont Clare is looking at 16 to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to having sex with a......

In a video presented by the Smithsonian Institute’s Latino Center after the premiere showing of the new film Bella at the United Artists King of Prussia Stadium 16—note to readership: unless you enjoy watching rich people kiss each other’s asses and overblow their purpose in life, you better get an aisle seat if you go to a film premiere—I discovered that both former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the lead singer of the band Switchfoot......

Warm up your Tivos, because some exciting television program is coming your way this Saturday! And by exciting, we mean boring and pointless. It's a televised debate between the Philadelphia mayoral candidates! The city has ordered Judge Rayford A. Means to fix the two rooming houses he owns in Southwest Philadelphia, which are apparently infested with rodents, have faulty plumbing, sagging floors and broken ceilings, and are also overcrowded. In response to a grand jury......

Ah, what I wouldn't give to be the average George Bush supporter at this very moment in time. If I could, then I could delusionally ignore what I have just seen and pretend like everything is all right with "the home team." Yes, the Eagles just thoroughly dominated the overmatched Jets! Yes, there are WMDs hidden behind one of the flat-screen TVs in Saddam Hussein's palatial domain that just haven't been found yet! Yes, voting......

As it gets closer to Halloween for LAist, a contributer recollects her tale of staring down the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker. Must think happy thoughts -- okay, free organic chocolate chip cookies for Los Angeles -- now that's a happy thought. Other happy Los Angeles thoughts include an interview with Jack Kehler of The Big Lebowski (he was the Dude's landlord), a beautiful and magical photographic moment in Venice......

The Daily News discusses the biggest appointment the next Mayor will have to make: the police commissioner. Nominations are being accepted now for the Citadel Heart of Learning Awards, which honor the best educators in Chester County. Anyone can submit a nomination online at www.citadelheartoflearning.com between October 1st and December 31st. There was a fire Tuesday night at a Northeast Philadelphia warehouse where a Mummers group stored its props, and Fire Department investigators ruled yesterday......

A college student died in West Chester over the weekend from an unusual strain of meningitis called meningococcal meningitis, which is not one of the five or six strains covered by the vaccine recommended for college students. The death has prompted some fear and panic in the area, but only two people have been identified who had close enough contact with the student to warrant antibiotics. The source of the student's infection remains unknown. News......

This Phillyist first became aware of Mike Birbiglia when my younger sister was in high school. She signed up to be on his street team. She kept putting his posters up on my door. She'd corner me until I listened to clips from his albums. People, she found audio streams of his appearances at venues across the country and wouldn't let me out of the house until I admitted that, yeah, the dude was kind......

Turns out we've been a bad blog. Thanks to Phillyist Sarah, and the Inquirer, we've found some local news stories that we were supposed to be writing about but haven't. One is the story of Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan getting sued by Chops because, they say, he gave a bad review to their strip steak when he didn't even eat it. However, the receipt from the meal, which he cleverly kept, seems to......

We think this might qualify as some sort of meta-volunteer experience: Philly is hosting this year's National Conference on Volunteering and Service, and Greater Philadelphia Cares is looking for a few good volunteers to help everything move along smoothly. Volunteers will (fittingly) be involved in every aspect of the conference, which runs July 16-18 at the Convention Center. Best of all, this is one of those deals where you get concrete rewards on top......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. We're pretty sure some of you readers out there have little ones, and are always on the look-out for fun things you can do with them. Well, we just heard about a little site and mailing list that could help you out: Dancing Meatballs. They've got the hook-up on family friendly activities in and around the city. LolShirt! Brilliant!!1! (Via boutell)......

The shapeless dough of the internet, formed into tasty pellets and baked to perfection, just for you. What was originally going to be a bongos-controller racing game for the GameCube is now coming to Wii with the title DK Bongo Blast, and it'll be controlled using the Wii Remote and Nunchuck. Sadly, it doesn't have a US release date yet (they get it in Japan on June 28, those lucky bastards), but in the meantime,......

What's new and/or interesting on TV this week. Road Tasted (Tue, 9:30PM-10PM, Food Network) - Guess where Road Tasted is going this week? That's right, our very own Philadelphia! They'll be sampling cheesesteaks at Campo's Deli (uh, what about Pat's or Geno's??) and sweets at Franklin Fountain, amongst other things. Lil' Bush (Wed, 10:30PM-11PM, Comedy Central) - This is the debut episode of a new animated series following the adventures of a prepubescent version of......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

By his own admission, Michael Penn isn’t a song-and-dance man. (His stage presence is, one might say, subdued.) Twiddling his strings at his Friday night show at World Café, he confessed “I’m a chronic tuner with no gift of gab,” and encouraged showgoers to grab the audience mic between song breaks to offer up “a really good joke, a fun fact, even a well placed heckle!” The crowd didn’t really comply, but no matter. Here......

Jackson O'Connel-Barlow of Grand Buffet, on influences, sweatshops and baseball cards....