Lenin Statue In AC Upsets One Dude

Back in 2005, the restaurant Red Square opened at the Tropicana in Atlantic City — and up went a statue of Lenin, complete with a martini glass (at right, obviously). And since then one man with way too much time on his hands has been complaining to everyone he can see about the statue.

He claimed having a 15-foot tall statue of one of history’s most brutal dictators is an insult to thousands of soldiers who died fighting communism. He went on talk radio shows claiming the statue is anti-American, wrote letters and attended Boardwalk parades, urging Tropicana officials to take down the statue.

Now he’s claiming the statue is simply “bad luck” and should be taken down lest Atlantic City be smitten by God, who is apparently anti-communism. Wah, wah, a statue of Lenin with a martini in Atlantic City, I must protest! Geeze, what sore winners capitalists are.

Now, the statue of the murderous dictator Julius Caesar? There’s a statue worth protesting against.

Man wants to topple Atlantic City casino’s Lenin statue [AP/NJ.com]
[Thumbnail from Annika Lux]

We Shall Celebrate With Ads And Port-A-Potties

Over two-thousand years ago this Wednesday, Jesus himself was wrote the Declaration of Independence, helping America break away from evil King Herod of England in the biggest upset in world history until Villanova’s defeat of Georgetown in the 1985 National Championship. Or at least that’s how I think it goes.

As the City of Philadelphia is the place where the Declaration of Independence was conceived, written and later stolen by Nicholas Cage — it remains missing, if you see it call 911 — Philly is decked out in patriotic gear once again. It’s also decked out in the greatest American invention ever, advertisements.

The Sunoco Welcome America! festival is also sponsored by Southwest Airlines, the Philadelphia International Airport, 6 ABC, Coca-Cola, Fairmount Park, the City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It has a second tier of sponsors, too: El Sol, Goya, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation, the Penn’s Landing Corporation and Transformers: The Movie.

There is a third level of sponsorship as well. That list: 95.7 BEN FM, 98.1 WOGL, 100.3 The Beat, 102.9 WMGK, Advil, 107.9 WRNB, the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Ajilon Consulting, Amtrak, the Philadelphia Housing Authority, Domus, Valley Green Bank, Herr’s, Hershey’s, the Independence Visitor Center, GEICO, KYW Newsradio 1060, Le Nueva Mega, the Loews Hotel, Marriott Vacation Club International, Metro, Haverford Systems, the National Park Service, NBA Nation, the New Covenant Church, Once Upon A Nation, the Osiris Group, Juicy Juice, PATCO, the Philadelphia Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Trolley Works, Philadelphia World Salsa Congress, The New York Times, the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy, the Plash bus, the Philadelphia Parking Authority, Praise 103.9, Radio Disney, The Philadelphia Tribune, Rumba 1560 AM, SEPTA, Sovereign Bank, Sundance Vacations, Telemondo T62, Temple University, Tastykake, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Titan, the Trolley Car Diner, Wireless Philadelphia, Kajeet, WJJZ 97.5, 93.3 WMMR, The Kimmel Center, Select Event Rentals and the Center City District.

Lest you think these sponsors have nothing to do with the independence of our nation, Southwest Airlines has let us know that their existence validates the simple words declaring the Intolerable Acts intolerable first written by some dude many years ago.

God Bless America.

Sponsors [Welcome America!]

Local Angles To National Story

“Possible Local Victim of Pet Food Recall,” bellows the subhead on the Action News story about the pet food recall, and hot damn, there is a possible victim.

That ugly dog over in the photo to your right is an unfortunate victim of the pet food recall, and right now it’s at the University of Pennsylvania Vet Hospital, possibly an upcoming recipient of Barbaro-style cards, letters and prayers. The dog isn’t really a victim of the recall, though; he’s a victim of, uh, whatever it is that’s contaminated the food, since the company that made the food doesn’t know yet.

But there’s another pet food recall local angle. The company that made the recalled food is Menu Foods; it supplies over 90 brands of cat and dog foods that have been recalled. (Yes, the leading brands of pet food are all produced at the same factory. Of course they are.) And one of the plants that produced the tainted food is in Pennsauken, N.J.

And, of course, there are even more local angles. Some people might’ve purchased the recalled food.

Silviene Grzybowski became worried when her local pet store pulled the food she normally feeds her cat and posted an announcement saying it, and many other popular pet foods, had been recalled. Her cat, Smokey, hadn’t been eating for days.

“The vet told us to buy her her favorite food, but I’m going to call the vet right now,” Grzybowski said.

The vet just hated your cat, ma’am.

Of course, this big national story will soon fade from the spotlight, as have you heard about the teacher who had an affair with a student and her husband shot and killed the kid? Oh, man, that’s the best morbid curiosity ever.

Pet Deaths Prompt Pet Food Recall [6 ABC]
Recall of pet food hits close to home [Camden Courier-Post]
Teacher-Student Love Turns Deadly [ABCNews.com]

Big Five Two

The Inquirer today reports on the five-biggest gaining companies in the Philadelphia area since (I think) the last time the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time high, which was Jan. 14, 2000. (Aww, remember back then? No, me neither.)

Anyway, congratulations to these three companies, who really stood out among the top 5:

• Urban Outfitters: “Shares of the Philadelphia clothing company were selling on the Nasdaq at just $1.81 on Jan. 14, 2000. From there, they climbed steadily to a high of $33.43 on Nov. 23, 2005… Shares have declined this year - they closed yesterday at $17.33 - as profits have slimmed because of discounting. A ’seismic shift in women’s fashion’ has made the company ‘cautious as the customers’ response to our product offerings remains inconsistent,’ chairman Richard A. Hayne said in May.”
• Orleans Homebuilders: “The first half of this decade was a great time to be a home builder - until this summer, that is. Shares of Orleans Homebuilders have soared 647 percent since the Dow’s last high, but on Sept. 22, they hit a 52-week low of $11 a share.”
• Neoware: “Shares have stumbled in recent weeks[.]“

Indeed! So congratulations to Penn National Gaming (of course) and Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. (whatever that is), the only two companies in this “top five” whose finances haven’t gone to shit.

The Phila. region’s 5 biggest-gaining companies [Inquirer]

Leftovers: Tough Break

• Jevon Kearse, injured near the end of the Eagles’ loss to the Giants yesterday, is out for the year with a knee injury. Gee, yesterday’s game just keeps getting better and better. Tomorrow, the team’s going to announce that anthrax was accidentally released at the game and everyone needs to get tested. [Inquirer]

• Wireless Philadelphia has a pricetag! $21.95 a month. (The “Digital Inclusion” — read: poor — rate is $9.95.) The service hasn’t even started yet, and the rates have already gone up from the $20/month promoted when the city signed the deal. Capitalism sure is a hideous bitch goddess. [Civil Defense]

• In New Jersey, the state will no longer pick up deer carcasses, which means driving in Jersey just got about a million times more awesome. [AP/Camden Courier Post]

• Just after Chris Ferguson, the astronaut reared in Northeast Philly, leaves the space station, there’s a toxic spill. Coincidence? Yeah, most certainly. [Reuters/CNN.com]

• Hey, Bob Casey can talk!