Hey, Look! More Links!

Phillies update to come later, maybe after the game tonight. (Late night posting!) For now, here are more links.

• Bank Robbers today risk a lot but don’t really get all that much cash. Also, they wear hats. [AP/Philly.com]

• Two U.S. congressmen from Western Pa. don’t think Philadelphia pays taxes, or something, and as such doesn’t deserve any money from the state for public transit. Also, they want to stop a program that would build roads in Northwestern Pa. Hooray for politics. [Inquirer]

• Hannibal Lecter was tried in Bucks County: “[Dennis] Strong, who is incarcerated, had to wear the ’spit mask’ because there was fear he would spit and be unruly in court, a law enforcement official said. The mask consisted of see-through black mesh netting that was placed over his head and a cotton piece around his mouth.” [Bucks County Courier TImes]

• NBC 10 has another story about strippers on golf courses, which is the station’s second in just a few months. It’s the story that never dies! [NBC 10]

• And, ooh, the city’s suing septa over getting rid of transfers! [KYW 1060]

Damning Fred Thompson With Faint Praise

Hey! Kinda sorta presidential candidate Fred Thompson (R-Law & Order) was in town last Friday, speaking to a bunch of people about how he’s going to run for president eventually.

His speech also apparently sucked. “It wasn’t a rousing speech, but it takes courage to do something more thoughtful and philosophical in this sound-bite culture,” said some chief of staff, which is a way of saying, “Well, his speech was awful, but I didn’t want to bash him in the newspaper in case he’s the Republican nominee next year.”

Thompson didn’t say anything mean about President Bush but bashed everything he’s done. Also, an actual declared Republican nominee for president (albeit one with no shot), Mike Huckabee, made a Mike Vick/dogfighting joke.

Thompson’s talk warms an audience [Inquirer]

BREAKING: PHILLIES ACQUIRE CRUCIAL BULLPEN ARM

Per AP:

The contract of right-handed pitcher Gary Knotts was sold by the Newark Bears to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.

Knotts pitched 108.2 innings, striking out 86 batters and posting a 7-5 record with a 2.65 earned run average in 16 starts. He was ranked first in the Atlantic League in ERA, second in strikeouts and complete games with two, and third in innings pitched. During his 10-year professional career, Knotts has appeared in 86 games at the Major League level, striking out 162 batters in 267.1 innings.

Bears sell Knotts to Phillies, make two other moves [AP/Daily News]

Eagles Bring Toilet Paper, Hyperbaric Chambers To Camp

The veterans on the Eagles moved up to Bethlehem yesterday for the opening of training camp at Lehigh, at that weird other Lehigh sports campus that is like ridiculously far away from the main campus.

And Brian Westbrook and Brian Dawkins brought their hyperbaric chambers. They brought their hyperbaric chambers. Apparently, a hyperbaric chamber — what, I just like saying it, okay? — helps the players recover quicker. “The recovery time is ridiculous,” Dawkins said.

This story is great, because the Inquirer’s Bob Brookover’s lead is the standard “things have changed at training camp” one. But instead of being the usual “players used to be poor, now they’re rich!” storyline, it’s about how players used to bring all this luxury shit and now they bring their hyperbaric chambers to be at the top of their game!

Also, new linebacker Takeo Spikes feels the same way I do about toilet paper:

“Toilet tissue - preferably Charmin,” Spikes said. “You have to have at least 300 or better thread counts. That’s very big to me because if you don’t have that, I don’t know if I can go out and perform up to my level.”

Spikes speaks the truth, though I prefer Cottonelle.

Birds unpack for season of promise [Inquirer]

Americans Too Lazy To Even Take Magic Health Pills

I am pretty much cynical about everything, but I must admit I’m impressed by modern medicine. “Wait, so you mean I can take these little pills and my health will improve?” Ding, ding, ding. Easy answers, this is what I like to see.

I am, however, about as organized as a college student, i.e. I don’t even know what day it is. And sometimes I do forget to take my little magic pills that stop me from coughing or sneezing or crying all day or having ridiculous acne. (That last one is the best one.) But I’m usually pretty good and rarely miss a day, because these are magic pills that improve your life. Apparently, though, most people are even worse than I am.

A radio report on KYW 1060 says people don’t take prescriptions like they should. A study says this somehow costs the economy $177 billion in bills and lost productivity. (Right, but remember: That dude comes out with a study saying the NCAA Tournament costs the economy like 20 trillion dollars every year.)

Anyway, not even helping us get healthy with little magic pills is easy enough for Americans.

There’s many issues. In fact, there are a number of layers of things that are problematic. First of all, it’s not always easy to read the prescription directions. Many times they’re confusing. When you get your prescription from the pharmacy, they’re could be all sorts of paperwork or things stapled or glued to the prescriptions.

In addition to that, many people don’t believe they have to take their medications. For instance, people with high blood pressure don’t take their medications as much as 51 percent of the time, despite the fact that high blood pressure could triple the risk of heart disease down the road.

So if we’re smart enough to figure out how to get our medicine out of the packaging — there are things stapled to it! — there’s a chance we might believe we should take this medicine. Keep in mind, we also spend billions of dollars on dietary supplements, but still don’t take enough calcium or whatever.

Poor Medication Adherence Could Be Costing US Billions [KYW 1060]

Slow News Day Quick Links

Okay, it’s been slow for a bit now, but it’s really, really slow this week. When the top story on the news is a cheesesteak joint suing a market… well, you get the idea. As such:

• A woman stole a police car, dropped off the kid she was with, then crashed the Chevy Impala cruiser. She apparently drove around for about an hour, though, so that’s fairly impressive. [6 ABC]

• Big news in Cherry Hill! The school wants to buy alcohol sensors and will not ban The Joy Luck Club from the reading list. There’s sex in the book, and we all know how Cherry Hill feels about “smut.” [The Courier-Post]

• Another blow to suburban white kids. [Bucks County Courier Times]

• And, uh, the biggest story of the day: “The Courier-Post is recruiting plugged-in members of the community to come to our Cherry Hill office and learn about our new online calendar.”

Email Of The Day

You have to admit, their optimism is… I dunno, something. Charming, maybe? But also hilarious.

Reserve Your 2008 Sixers Playoff Tickets Today [Comcast/Sixers]

Mayor Finally Introduced To His Police Commissioner

It may have taken a triple homicide at a bar — and a bunch of shootings over the weekend — but Mayor John Street met with Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson for a brainstorming session! This marks the first time the mayor has met Johnson, and the two were said to get along pretty well.

And, apparently their solution is to ban alcohol or something.

A couple of recent shooting incidents drew special attention during the meeting with Mayor John Street: “I am really concerned about bars and the proliferation of shootings and violence that are taking place in bars. We had another triple shooting in a bar over the weekend. We had a triple homicide in a bar the weekend before that.”

Hey, the mayor’s doing something, everybody! Gather around, this is about as common as a full solar eclipse or the installation of a new pope.

Mayor Meets With Phila. Police Brass To Address City Crisis [KYW 1060]

Abridged ‘Daily News’ Columnists

Ronnie Polaneczky: Blah blah blah new SEPTA fare plan illegal cruel worse than Hitler.

Stu Bykofsky: RIP, Tom Snyder.

Elmer Smith: Digital Divide!

Links: Stating The Obvious And Such

Whee! Links list, since I can’t seem to get long posts out of any of these.

• Group of people likes piece of media geared at them; film at 11. [Inquirer]

• A bunch of years ago Pope Paul 6 was told Catholics they can’t use condoms in order to prevent a lessening of morals; now that morals are “lessened” — whatever that means — this somehow means the pope was right even though he banned condoms, even for married couples where one partner has AIDS. (Sorry, dying people!) Truly, Pope Paul was a genius in one respect: He wrote an encyclical that made it impossible for him to be wrong. [The Bulletin]

• PATCO is thinking of re-opening the creepy Franklin Square station due to a carousel and a mini-golf course. They’re going to need to call in the Ghostbusters to rid the station of Slimer and Co. [AP/CBS 3]

• Ed Rendell told the media nobody warned him Congress was attempting to gut SEPTA’s funding — public transit doesn’t really have lobbyists like car and oil companies — even though Bob Brady called him 16 times about it. Let’s settle this with a boxing match at the Blue Horizon, please. [Daily News]

• Some idiot on TV said Michael Vick’s dogfighting charges are worse than Kobe’s rape charges and motherfucking Nancy Grace (another noted idiot) had to correct him. Somehow what the dude said was offensive, but a U.S. senator calling for Vick’s execution is a-okay. I understand how these things work. [CBS News Public Eye]

• And a 16-year-old was allegedly killed for his new dirtbike. [NBC 10]