Breaking: Bus Crashes Into House

Leftovers: Friday Makes Us Happy

• BREAKING: BARBARO INFECTION TREATED; HORSE NOW ON FOURTH CAST. DETAILS TK. [NBC 10]

• One time, a long, long time ago — okay, 1999 — we saw Gabriel Byrne’s character from End of Days cut a promo for the movie on some wrestling program in character. His character in that film was, of course, Satan. So… it was a little weird. We were reminded of this earlier today when we started speaking in the royal we and read an article in Metro where a Rick Santorum impersonator answered questions in character. “I think the increase in crime is a lack of godlessness in this country and a lack of spirituality and an open embracement of gay love.” You see, this is weird. Prolly not as weird as cutting a promo as Satan, though. [Metro]

• Casinos could open by nightfall. Duh! They can’t just say, “Hey, casino inspectors! Start workin’ and we’ll pay you when we sign the budget.” That would make too much sense. [CBS 3/AP]

• Crime log quickie: “2 juveniles, 9, 10, no addresses given, 7:26 p.m., Mon, retail theft at Electronic Boutique, no value given, released to family members.” Tee hee. Someone got caught trying to steal a video game. [Bucks County Courier Times]

• This story about the ridiculous bus crash on the way back from a field trip gets weirder and weirder with each read. The strangest line is still, though, is the 18-year-old driver saying something like, “[I] used to flip cars over for fun.” [Daily News]

• And, finally, the story of the week: If Pennsylvania had a budget crisis similar to New Jersey, which it doesn’t have, and if it had slots, which it doesn’t have, those hypothetical slots would be shut down. And the King of Mexico would have to be called in to solve the problem. [BCCT]

The Public Has Spoken, And It Likes Severed Heads

Wow. We’re disgusting, aren’t we?

Not that I didn’t click to find out what was up.

Wife’s Severed Head Flies From Truck When Man Crashes [AP/NBC 10]

Philly Worst For Big City Drivers?

Congratulations, Philadelphia! In a recent list of the top cities for driving in America, Philadelphia was nowhere on that list. That, of course, makes sense; it’s a big city, and big cities tend to have more accidents.

But it’s not only that. The company that did the study, Allstate, also ranked the top cities over one million people, and Philadelphia managed to finish last in that, or 186th overall.

While the average American driver gets into an accident every 10 years, drivers in Philadelphia get into accidents every 6.6 years.

And drivers who take the Boulevard (that’s it above) daily, well, they get into accidents at least once a week.

Who Ranks Best Behind the Wheel? [Allstate]
Image via Pennsylvania Highways

Quickies: Fly, Flyers, Fly

• Last night, the Flyers rallied with four goals in the third period to win, 4-1, over the Islanders and seemingly win the Atlantic Division, since the Rangers had lost and the Devils were down, 3-0. But Jersey scored four goals in a row and won, moving the Flyers into second place. They play Buffalo in the first round. The NHL playoffs are roughly the length of a two-term presidential administration, so get ready and dig in for the long haul. [Inky]

• This morning, an SUV crashed into a Dunkin’ Donuts at Walnut and Juniper. It happened just before 7 a.m.. My question: How did I walk by at around 7:30 and not notice anything? [NBC 10]

• There’s a rumor going around that Jada Pinkett Smith has a lesbian lover, but I’m not going to touch it. But, linking it, that’s okay. See, you can have your cake and eat it too! [Best Week Ever Blog]

• Far be it for me to criticize ESPN.com suggesting you should take in a Penn game and an Eagles game in one weekend. But I, Penn alum, don’t even think I want to do that. In fact: No, no, I won’t be doing that. [ESPN.com]

• Sadly, the replacement Press Secretary doesn’t appear to be the hot one. Why do you curse us, O government! [Wonkette]

Quickies: Blogging Just Can’t Win

• Money magazine lists the Top 50 Jobs and… blogger isn’t among them. Damn anti-blog dead tree media! [CNNMoney.com]

• A local auto dealership in Doylestown has had three tragic accidents, two fatal, in the past three years. Seriously, yikes. [Bucks County Courier Times]

• If you haven’t read the New Yorker piece about President Bush possibly attacking Iran with nukes — no, I don’t possibly think he could do that, could he? — you should give it a lookover. [The New Yorker]

• Just in time for the holidays next year, a kids’ book about the War on Christmas will be coming out. Ahh, yes, move over, you liberal Choose Your Own Adventure books! [Inky]

It’s The Real Thing, People!

This morning, a tractor-trailer crashed on the on-ramp to the Walt Whitman Bridge, blocking off the I-95 North entrance.

The truck then spilled 40,000 pounds of flour onto the highway and area below. I think the police missed a big chance here, though: Flour? Please, you say it’s 40,000 pounds of coke, you catch every drug addict in the city, just like that!

Truck blocks ramp from I-95N to Whitman Bridge [Inky]

A PSA: Look both ways before crossing the street

Former Bucks County State Representative Thomas Druce was paroled today from prison after serving two years. The ex-Republican wunderkind, then in his 30s, pled guilty to charges stemming from an incident in July 1999 where his SUV struck and killed a man — 42-year-old ex-Marine Kenneth Cains — in Harrisburg and kept going.

Druce claimed that he thought he had hit a street sign, and he got his SUV repaired before police could inspect it and lied to his insurance company about the accident’s time. One might think a rational person who strikes a street sign might stop anyway, but apparently Druce was just too good for that.

What he also claimed he was too good for was prison, as (after his guilty plea to leaving the scene of a fatal accident, tampering with evidence and insurance fraud) he spent about three years trying to appeal every last minute detail. He finally went to jail after exhausting all his plea attempts.

And now he’s back out, and eventually probably back on the road. The man Druce hit was drunk and stepped out in front of the SUV, so Druce couldn’t have avoided him, but if you’re crossing a street anytime soon, you might want to look both ways — especially if you’re a down-on-your-luck vet. Or, you know, a street sign. Neither can get any justice.

Druce Released [AP/CBS 3]

Blogicized: Ride or die

• Yay! Ecstasy doesn’t make you depressed! It does have the unfortunate side effect of usually making you look like a total jackass, but, hey. [The Trouble With Spikol]

• Philadelphia photobloggers Brad of Phillyskyline and Mark of All Proper had an opening for their show at Day by Day last night. It’s fantastic, you should check it out.

• When your house is hit by a car twice in a year, it might be time to move. Stay away from the infield at Daytona when picking a new place to live, too. [Metroblogging Philadelphia]

• Ladies and gentlemen, a guy who’s both nerdier and cooler than all of us. Enjoy. [Joystiq]

Twelve-year-olds, dude

Okay, you guys probably know that every week I tend to pick on the Northeast Times. Obviously (or maybe not), it’s all in good fun. The Times does a fine job of covering the Northeast. And, really, who can dislike a paper with headlines like “For pervs, laws are no longer picture perfect” and 406-word articles titled “Castor Ave. security gets new uniforms“?

There is another Northeast Philadelphia paper, though, and it’s a broadsheet called the News Gleaner, and way back in, oh, sophomore year of college, I did a few articles for them. It’s generally smaller than the Times, but it does a good job covering Northeast Philly nonetheless. The paper doesn’t have the letters page that the Times does, unfortunately.

Well, the Gleaner finally has their website back up — there had been an editorial about Pope Benedict since about April — and this week there’s an editorial about Sister Paul Mercedes Perreca, the nun who was killed by a hit-and-run driver Jan. 9. Very sad. But the Gleaner thinks we can learn some lessons from her death, and perhaps we can.

The Gleaner editorial says we can learn three lessons from her death. The second two are kind of all over the place, but pretty sensible: “Don’t slander the innocent” — regarding the owner of a Ford F-150 who was shown (with his face scrambled) on TV — and “Cottman Avenue is dangerous.” But lesson one is a little strange:

All deaths are not equal. We’ve heard some justified grumbling that hit-and-runs before Sister Paul’s death received far less media attention. Consider the 12-year-old struck and killed Jan. 5 in West Philadelphia. Isn’t Royale Harris’s death as tragic?

Sure. But Sister Paul touched far more people. By mid-week, many reporters reminded us that we lost Harris under similar circumstances and her killer is still at large. Yet, they still couldn’t avoid the hundreds of mourners who absorbed Sister Paul’s death as a personal tragedy.

Uhh… I’ll just leave you with that.

Lessons from the life of beloved Sister Paul [News Gleaner]
For pervs, laws are no longer picture perfect [Northeast Times]
Castor Ave. security gets new uniforms [Northeast Times]
PWD on The Northeast Times