Leftovers: ‘Bulletin’ Declares War On Priest Jokes

• In today’s Evening Bulletin, the following letter from publisher Tom Rice appears:

Last Thursday, this newspaper ran an editorial cartoon which was deeply offensive to Catholics and especially Catholic clergy and their supporters. This cartoon ran without my knowledge or consent. Nevertheless, as publisher of The Evening Bulletin, I accept ultimate responsibility for this offense to the community and offer my sincere apology. I am ashamed that this cartoon so offended good people I respect and admire. I will do everything necessary to ensure that nothing like this occurs again.”

What was the offending cartoon? This syndicated one from the Mike Shelton of the Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.) that was published there on Oct. 4. You can read it by clicking this link or the thumbnail above. It’s a priest-boy molestation joke (really fresh, Mike) that is offensive because no priests have ever molested any boys.

• Dan Gross reports that local band Capitol Risk will be filming a video at The M Room for a contest sponsored by Ellio’s Pizza. In the old music world, you had to tour for a while, maybe self-release an album or two and hope that somehow, your music found its way into the right hands and was good enough to get you a deal. Now, you just need to win a contest sponsored by a company that makes toaster oven pizza. [Daily News, last item]

• A review of all the greatest hits compilations coming out for Christmas. You’ll be happy to know that Roxette, T.A.T.U., Staind P.O.D. and Jamiroquai are releasing their “hits” this Christmas. [Your Band Sucks]

• In light of Tower’s closing, Jonathan Takiff writes about the future of the music industry, with a bonus photo of one of those guys holding a sign informing you of the store’s impending closure. [Daily News]

‘Bulletin’ Breaks Space-Time Continuum

First, read this letter in today’s Evening Bulletin:

Praise For PAVCS

To the Editor:

I am single parent of two children (high school and elementary grades) who attend the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School (Pa. Virtual Charter Schools Make Progress, Oct. 11), now going into our second year. I would like to shed some light for anyone out there who thinks this is an impossible thing to do. Well, it sure can be done! If you already share daily coaching with your child’s homework help or any other tasks necessary to encourage your child to grow educationally, then you already have what it takes to adapt to this innovative way of educating your child. The best aspect of it all is that the classroom is brought directly into your home. …

If you are interested, log on to www.pavcs.org and learn more. I assure you it’s worth the time and the effort of exploring new horizons.

Sophia Lewis
Philadelphia

Okay. Now read the one right below it?

To the Editor:

I agree with Sophia. This is not as difficult as it may seem. This is also my second year with PAVCS. My children are in sixth and eighth grades. They love it, I love it, we all love it! My children are excelling more in this program than they were in traditional brick-and-mortar school. I encourage anyone who is considering using this program to look into the pavcs Web site that Sophia provided, and I will also (www.pavcs.org). The benefits are many and the detractions are few.

Karen McShea
Philadelphia

It’s two letters on the same day, one of them responding to the other! How is that even possible? Did the two get together and decide to send similar letters? If so, why would the paper print them? If they didn’t, then is Karen McShea some sort of time traveler? Or has the Evening Bulletin turned to bending spacetime in hopes of boosting readship?

Letters to the Editor 10/17/06 [Bulletin]

Calendar Controversy™ Continues To Rage On

Over the weekend, I stumbled upon the Evening Bulletin’s coverage of The Calendar Controversy™, which appeared in Friday’s paper.

The Bulletin’s story (by Jim McCafferty) not only included James Baldwin and Bayard Rustin references in the lead — good show, good show — but includes a few more details that the Inquirer and Daily News, uh, whitewashed:

Robert Gray, of the African American Freedom & Reconstruction League, launched perhaps the strongest attack.

“We not only have the right but also a responsibility to set our own standards,” his letter to the board read. “No white person can tell us what our standards are, the ‘radical’ or the ‘right winged.’

“Consenting adults have a right to do whatever they want to do. When it comes to our African-American children, we are concerned about our children as much as you are concerned about your children, and we have a right to decide what will be taught to our children.”

“The problem for us then is not the month itself, but the claim it makes openly,” he continued. “The first claim is that Gay and Lesbian History month is the same as Black History month, and the second claim is the Gay struggle underline [sic] the African-American struggles for basic rights. When in reality the Gay and Lesbian history Month is introducing a lifestyle that is totally unacceptable to most people of African descent.”

He concluded, “[In] the struggle for black people’s rights, black people are the focus themselves and the primary benefit, and in the Gay struggle whites are the primary beneficiaries and blacks are on the bottom.

“In reality, the gay and lesbian agenda is not inclusive at all. It is a white orientated agenda using African-American children. The gay and lesbian agenda under Policy 102 has no place in the Philadelphia public schools. We will not allow our righteous struggle for freedom, justice and equality to be linked to their exclusive racist agenda.”

Now, nevermind that Gay and Lesbian History isn’t even being taught in the schools — here’s proof, from the school district: “Gay and lesbian history will not be taught as part of the curriculum.” — but somehow it’s part of a white separatist plot? I really do like Gray’s “righteous struggle for freedom, justice and equality” that excludes gay people. Nice.

The other paper’s didn’t even get the best quote Rashad Faheem Shabazz, who is the inspiration for next month’s special feature of Fornication Price Month. He called homosexuality “a disease or a disorder of the mind and insanity.” (He also called for a boycott of the schools.) Ho ho, Rashad!

But getting back to Gray. His first problem was the “claim is that Gay and Lesbian History month is the same as Black History month.” How does that work, exactly. Governments and other organizations recognize everything from Gay and Lesbian History Month to Black History Month to Colon Cancer Awareness Month to, oh I don’t know, Mathematics Awareness Month.

Mathematics Awareness Month! Is Gray going to attack them for making the struggle for math knowledge the same as Black History Month? I don’t even know how to define “equal struggles.” Just because gays were never, say, singularly singled out with slavery or Jim Crow laws doesn’t mean they weren’t discriminated against, nor does it mean they shouldn’t get equal rights because it says so in a book written thousands of years ago.

Perhaps Gray can shed some light on the subject while he mounts his campaign against Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

SRC Bitterly Clashes Over Gay History Month [The Evening Bulletin]

Leftovers: First They Came For The Marlboro Men, And I Did Not Speak Out Because I Was Not A Marlboro Man…

• The Bulletin on the Smoking Ban: “The anti-smoking Nazis have passed their first Nuremberg law, and more will follow.” Because if you can’t compare genocidal facism to a not being able to light up in a bar, what can you compare it to? [Bulletin]

• The Inquirer’s Marc Narducci asks if Eagles fans are overrated because he saw a few people leaving the game early Sunday. As a commenter pointed out, the Eagles certainly left the game before any of their fans did. And who the hell is Marc Narducci (or anyone, really) able to judge who is a “true” fan or not? That being said, Eagles fans did get way too many votes in the most recent AP poll. [Eye on the Eagles]

• Your three new City Councilpeople come November, ladies and gentlemen: Carol Campbell, William Greenlee and Daniel Savage. How many people saw that list and said, “Wait. The writer of Savage Love is running for City Council?” [AP/Philly.com]

• Terrell Owens is now “likely” to rejoin the Dallas Cowboys for their Oct. 8 game at the Linc. ARAMARK breathes sigh of relief, buys 50 billion kegs of Bud Light in advance of game. [AP/Yahoo!]

• And now for the latest edition of Northeast-Philadelphian-In-Space: The shuttle Atlantis has had its return delayed due to a piece of debris that may have floated out of the craft. They’re likely to return Thursday or Friday now, upon which Chris Ferguson will get a celebratory shopping spree at Franklin Mills. [AP/CNN.com]

Leftovers: Buy, Eagles Fans, Buy

• The Eagles will be selling 1500 standing-room only tickets for each home game tomorrow morning, sending IT departments into a frenzy when they realize that every single person at the office is constantly refreshing the Eagles homepage. [Daily News]

• John Perzel has proposed a huge increase in police officers all over the state, including 1,300 new cops in Philly alone. Perzel: “We’re here today to send a clear message to the drug-dealing thugs, the illegal gun-pushers, and all those responsible for terrorizing our neighborhoods and communities - your days are numbered.” Drug-dealing thugs had a mixed reaction to the news. [Inquirer]

• Herb Denenberg answers the tough questions: “Question: Can an insurance company refuse to insure my dog?” [The Evening Bulletin]

• Is it any coincidence that when a Northeast Philadelphia native is in space, the astronauts lose a bolt into the abyss? I think not. [AP/CNN.com]

• Now you can get to Harrisburg in 90 minutes instead of two hours! Yay? Hurrah? Does anyone actually travel to Harrisburg? [AP/Philly.com]

I’ll Take ‘Overstatement’ For $200, Alex

From a column by PACleanSweep leader Russ Diamond in today’s Evening Bulletin:

When is an election not an election? What is a “qualified elector?”

These two simple questions may play a pivotal role in what some observers are calling the most important political race on the planet. The answers could very well be the difference in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race and the future of not just America, but the entire world.

Yeah, the people in Darfur are on the edges of their seats waiting to see how the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is going to weigh in on the challenge to Carl Romanelli’s petition.

Pa. Supreme Court To Decide Fate Of The World [The Evening Bulletin]

‘Bulletin’ Says Screw It, Let’s Just Run Articles About How We Love Republicans

In a front-page story — with a faux-banner headline, kinda — in The Evening Bulletin, the newspaper that complains about media bias talks about the great white hope:

Political talk fills the papers and airwaves in the City of Brotherly Love these days.

Most of the yowling and yammering at the moment has to do with the growing confidence the Democrats are feeling in the statewide elections coming in November.

While the bright hope lies with Republican Senator Rick Santorum rapidly closing the once double-digit lead of his Democratic challenger, Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey, down to low single digits, most of the other Republican incumbents in this area are finding themselves in the fight of their political lives.

Indeed! There is this nice little chestnut here, though:

David C. Thomsen is the Republican Chairman in the 15th Ward. This past year he assisted in an effort to get Temple graduate David Corbett on the ballot to run against Frank Oliver in the 195th legislative district. The campaign came close to getting 300 signatures, but wasn’t near enough.

“Third parties get three or four months to gather signatures. We only get three weeks.” Thomsen complained.

Yeah, those third parties have it so easy. Well, okay, maybe when the Republicans support them it’s a little easier.

GOP Looking For A Few Good Mayoral Candidates [Bulletin]
Aug. 14: Dubya And The Greens, What A Combo

Several Excerpts From Today’s ‘Evening Bulletin’

Robert Sandler, Shedding Light On 11B, The Amendment No One Knows About:

And it’s why, if we’re going to have the strong two-party system that we need, the Democrats ought to come to their senses and kick out the CrazyCrats so they can field candidates acceptable to their base and to moderates. Or they can keep on losing. If they choose losing, they have no one to blame but themselves. They’re trying to win with a “Left Wing and A Prayer.” Sorry! The Left does not believe in G-D. That makes it a “Left Wing and No Prayer.” And they wonder why they keep losing!

Herb Denenberg, Defibrillators, Wiretaps, Pork, And The Stomach Talking To The Brain:

Question: Is the recent decision holding the wiretapping of terrorists to be illegal and unconstitutional going to help the Democrats?

Answer: You’ll get many opinions on that, but here’s mine. It will help the Republicans. That’s because it shows the Democratic Party, which generally failed to condemn the decision, is soft on terrorism and wants to handcuff the American war against Islamic/Fascist/Nazis. What’s more, the decision will be reversed on appeal. This is just part of a pattern of the ACLU, the rest of the loony liberal establishment, and the Democratic party opposing almost every attempt to fight terrorism.

Jason High, Republicans Would Do Best To Follow Santorum:

This will further provide a backdrop for our necessary involvement in the conflict with the nations of Iran and Syria.

Some great political discourse from five-year-olds followed by a call for more wars! G-D Bless America.

Breaking: ‘Bulletin’ Editor Quits, Writes About It On Blog

The editor of The Evening Bulletin, John Secor, left his job at the paper this morning. (Full disclosure: I worked there from December 2004 to July 2005 as the Arts & Culture editor. I left on good terms and harbor no ill will at all. If you’re a regular reader, you probably already know this, but I wanted to make sure.)

Now, I didn’t know we were quite at this level in the blogging zeitgeist yet, but, just a little bit ago, he posted about the whole ordeal on his blog. And, to make it even better, it’s his blog hosted on Xanga. (To be honest, I didn’t know people other than Fred Durst used Xanga.)

Anyway, the old editor, John Secor — who replaced former Bulletin editor Kevin Williamson back on March 12 of this year — writes about his last day in the office:

PHILADELPHIA — It all went down today. For weeks, members of my staff and I discussed how we could best approach the “boss.” He has gone through employees like a gambling addict goes through dollar bills in Atlantic City. He has skirted and dodged serious issues (like paying his workers on time, or … paying them period). He has been dishonest and deceitful. In my opnion (and I am not a lawyer), he has violated a spate of federal and state labor laws. A real schmuck, who might have been a decent guy not too long ago. But his impervious ego has created a searing black mark on the staff’s morale.

I turned in my resignation 46 days ago. It didn’t take me terribly long to figure out that this guy and his “business” weren’t legit. But, the loyalties toward my staff and the people we serve, got the better of me. I agreed to stay on temporarily until he found my replacement or until he was willing to sit down and deal with me and my cache of issues. [...]

Then [the boss] looked at me.

“I don’t want to work for you. You’re dishonest. You’re deceitful and it makes me sick to be here.”

A pause, then:

“When’s your last day?”

I stood up, I crammed my balled fist into my pocket and fished for the building keys, which were already detached from my key ring. My fingers found them and I balled my fists again once the keys were in the palm of my hand. Then I took my hand out of my pocket and slapped the keys on his desk.

“Yesterday.”

Whoa, is this a newspaper or Days of our Lives?

Word is the paper’s going to soldier on and the staff’s working on tomorrow’s issue. Secor says he’s looking into grad school.

Update: The Bulletin, minus Secor’s name on the masthead, came out today. Secor has taken down his blog post about his job.

MY DAY OF LIBERATION [Tales of A Recovering Journalist]
Related: Previous editor’s tale of leaving Philadelphia and the Bulletin

Typo Of The Week

The Evening Bulletin