Now that that's out of the way, this is a pretty spot on article. I find it very interesting that points brought up against PHP (weak typing, easy to write swiss cheese security code, framework overload) are generally it's greatest strengths as well.
Let's take the weak typing issue for example: Sorry, you should be keeping track of your variables. If you can't do this, then just define your own object and use it. I do this with just about all return types now; it's pretty nice to always know what type of variable you're going to be dealing with on the other side of your MVC. The worst thing that comes from this issue (which exists in every weakly typed language) is improper use of comparison operators (!= vs. !==, == vs. ===). Again, this is up to the developer.
PHP will give you the lumber and the rope, but it's up to the developer if you hang yourself or manage to build a galleon. Personally, I love having the option of total control with the risk of total destruction.