7 Words You Can’t Say When You’re Dead

George Carlin is dead. Here he is complaining about the most annoying people of all, white people.

Bloggers Have High Number Of Workplace Homicides

The Labor Department released statistics yesterday that showed 1 in 4 workplace deaths in Philadelphia is a homicide. The national average is 1 in 10.

Nationwide, the most common way to die on the job was to get in an auto accident. But in Philadelphia, auto accidents made up only one in eight deaths. Enjoy the rest of your workday.

Update: Oh, yeah, and this graf (thanks Mike):

“Among them was Zong Xiang Wang, 44, fatally shot during a robbery Aug. 11, 2006, behind his takeout at Fifth Street and Lehigh Avenue in North Philadelphia. Wang had hoped his restaurant would be the ticket to the American Dream. Instead, mourners placed dumplings, noodles and rice at his grave to nourish him on his journey to the afterlife.”

Phila. tops in workplace homicides [Inquirer]

Only The Good Presidents Die Young

Former President Gerald Ford died yesterday at 93. The only president to not be elected prez or veep, Ford was also known as the guy who pissed off hippies by pardoning Nixon and the guy who pissed off Vietnam War supporters (both of them) by pardoning draft dodgers.

Despite his death, Ford was the second story on the cover of the Daily News. That’s okay, though, as all former presidents are honored with 30 days of flags at half-staff, according to U.S. Flag Code. (Even Nixon!)

He was good enough as a center at Michigan in college to be offered contracts by several NFL teams; however, he turned these down for a far less important career in politics.

And, uh, we’ll always remember the time he visited Villanova! Or, really, not.

‘True gentleman,’ ex-President Ford dies at 93 [CNN.com]

Boulevard of broken dreams

Coretta Scott King, wife of MLK, died Monday night in Baja California, Mexico. Sad news. And, as expected, leaders around the nation are expressing their sadness. (Bloggers, too.)

In Philadelphia, we had Philly NAACP head J. Wyatt Mondesire chiming in:

We don’t have those kind of people around anymore. And that’s the kind of void that we have to carry now, that a woman who was almost saintly is now gone. And who can carry that on? I don’t know. I just don’t know.

He then added, “But, you know, in recent years Ms. King had stopped running with the ball and tried to be too much like a white civil rights leader. Frankly, Coretta is a testament of fallen dreams who perpetuated a fraud while hiding behind excuses dripping in make-believe racial stereotypes.”

Coretta Scott King dies [CNN.com]
Phila. NAACP Head Remembers Mrs. King’s Legacy [KYW 1060]
Donovan McNabb: Mediocre at best [Philadelphia Sunday Sun]
PWD on Jerry Mondesire

Fun with juxtaposition, university edition

Here’s an excerpt from an article in yesterday’s Washington Post, about how many colleges — especially Penn — have turned bad relations with the community around (for the most part) and are now much safer than they once were, say, 10-15 years ago:

Today, Penn is the among the hottest schools in the country — sitting smack in the middle of a clean and vital retail neighborhood where crime has been reduced by 49 percent in the past decade, and where students swarm the streets shopping at upscale stores. Penn has jumped in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings to No. 4 and attracts significantly more applicants — successes that school administrators attribute in large part to Penn’s “West Philadelphia Initiative.”

Ok? Now here’s the first paragraph of a story in Penn’s student newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, which also ran yesterday:

A man was shot and killed early on Christmas morning in local campus eatery Philly Diner, located at 3925 Walnut St.

Now that’s media synergy!

Urban Colleges Learn To Be Good Neighbors [Washington Post]
One killed in shooting at Philly Diner [Daily Pennsylvanian]