High Gas Prices? Blame NASCAR.

There’s an excellent letter to the editor in the current edition of the Northeast Times, about high gas prices. The letter blames several people and/or groups for the high price of gas, but most notable are these two:

The second is a group of people, who many probably do not even think about: Race car drivers like NASCAR. They use the same gas we do. They have to put gas in the trucks that transport the race cars. If NASCAR did not exist, there would automatically be less demand for gas, and therefore more of a supply. And let’s not forget the fans that expend gas traveling to these events.

The third group consists of store owners. If we lived in a perfect world, we could go to one place and purchase everything that we needed, from groceries to clothes to auto parts, etc. But we do not live in a perfect world and businesses are shuffled all across neighborhoods, towns and cities. In reality, we cannot fault store owners, though. They have to purchase properties where they can.

And what about NASCAR drivers who drive to the stores? Those greedy shop owners, not selling every product imaginable, and instead only having specialty shops that sell “ice cream” or “compact discs” or whatever!

I do like the idea of lowering gas prices by eliminating NASCAR and making every store a Wal-Mart. Don’t they have the same clientele?

Update: Hey, look, NASCAR actually answered this complaint back in 2004 on its official website. Er, well, not really, it just mentioned other ways we Americans waste gas.

5/29 Letters [Northeast Times]

Ashlee Simpson Reduced To This

I laugh at her having to appear at suburban Wal-Marts. Ha!

Ashlee Simpson To Visit Local Wal-Mart [NBC 10]

Target Revitalizing Roosevelt Mall

Today, the Daily News declares the Roosevelt Mall hip.

COULD THE AREA around the Roosevelt Mall, at the heart of Northeast Philadelphia, be the next comeback kid of revitalization? The tea leaves look auspicious. After months of rumors, it’s now official: a new Target department store is going up at Bustleton and Bleigh, where the old Orleans movie theater is coming down.

The Northeast Target will be about the same size as the new one on City Avenue, with a food court and, yes, a Starbucks. [...] “That’s my favorite store, Tar-zhay,” Caruso laughs. “Their paper towels are great. We’ll all be there at lunchtime.”

“Everybody’s talking about the Target,” says State Rep. John Perzel. “They can’t wait for it to open.”

The grand opening of the new Northeast Target is slated for next fall. Meanwhile, the Daily News has been hanging out on and around Cottman Avenue in the vicinity of the Roosevelt Mall, taking the pulse of the Northeast’s heartland business corridor during the calm before its renewal.

My God.

Camden County Town On Verge Of Boom

Mayor Gary Passanante will unveil Somerdale’s new town logo and position statement at noon Saturday. “This is a very exciting time for our community. With the redevelopment of CooperTowne Center (formerly Lions Head Plaza) beginning, Wal-Mart slated to come in to town and our new town logo, this will put us on the map,” Passanante said.

New logo to be unveiled during Somerdale Day [Camden Courier-Post]

Visitors To Learn About Eakins In Disgusting Museum

Late last year, everybody was all up in arms about the sale of The Gross Clinic, one of the greatest American paintings, previously owned by Jefferson University. The hospital sold the painting for $68 million to the National Gallery of Art and the as-yet-unbuilt Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, founded by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton.

Now the Jefferson board is selling another Eakins painting, this one an 1874 portrait of Jefferson professor Dr. Benjamin H. Rand. Crystal Bridges is buying the painting, although this Eakins painting isn’t famous or anything — even though most of Philly probably hadn’t seen The Gross Clinic anyway — so Jefferson was open about the sale with its alumni and staff. Some people are still upset, but it’s not likely to cause a massive fundraising campaign since even fewer people have heard of this painting.

And, yesterday, Brian Harrison, chairman of the board of trustees sent this email to the Jefferson community. (They’re apparently called “Jeffersonians.”)

We are very pleased that many people will be able to see this painting in a pubic art museum and will have the opportunity to learn more about the legacy of Thomas Eakins and his connection to Thomas Jefferson University. Crystal Bridges, scheduled to open in 2009, also announced today that it will lend the Rand Portrait to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for public viewing later this spring.

Ew. Who knew this museum was going to be so weird. I don’t know what a pubic art museum is, but I don’t want to know. Full email after the jump.

More »

Leftovers: Plan A: Go Get Plan B

• If you’re planning on having some sweaty, condom-free sex on Tuesday night, then do the five branches Bucks County Planned Parenthood have a deal for you! The ‘Hood will be giving out free Plan B on Wednesday morning, so you can look just as serene as the official model for the drug. [Bucks County Courier Times]

• With Scott Graham gone in the Phillies’ booth next year — who will do Graham Slam commercials? — the Phils have added a new analyst: None other than Gary Matthews! Welcome back, Sarge! (Apparently I’m the only one who will miss Scott Graham, though. I thought he had really improved over the past few seasons.) Wheels is still around, so the Chris Wheeler Glossary will certainly be expanding. [Beerleaguer]

• Jerry Mondesire, head of the NAACP in Philly, says Jonathan Saidel dropped out of the mayor’s race due to Bob Brady. Then again, he also said that Donovan McNabb was a race traitor or something for not running the ball more, so we all know how accurate he is. [KYW 1060]

• Why are men bigger than women? Why, Faye Flam reports, men are violent assholes, that’s why. However, men, be glad you’re not a deep-sea angler fish, where the woman is 500k times heavier than the man. I bet both genders of that fish have issues. [Inquirer]

• A pair of employees — how surprising — have been arrested in a heist of nearly $300,000 from a Wal-Mart yesterday. If Wal-Mart workers aren’t smart enough to pull off a robbery undetected, then who is? [6 ABC]

• Ex-Phillies pitcher Don Carman found a bunch of old fan mail and recently answered it. Yeah, I can’t think of any joke but “Don Carman got fan mail?!” either. [Slate]

• Pat Croce has been named Wing Bowl Commissioner. He’ll be in charge of making sure all the models (”models”) 610 WIP hires are C-cup or better. [Inquirer]

Wal-Mart Lowers Cost Of Happiness To $4

Just weeks after Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton agreed to in part purchase The Gross Clinic for the new Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, Wal-Mart has brought Pennsylvania cheap drugs.

In a sooner-than-expected expansion of the program, which launched in Florida in September, Pennsylvania residents will be able to purchase 330 different generic prescription drugs for just $4 for a month’s supply. The program only affects older generic drugs, according to a spokeswoman for the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, some of which have “sometimes seven” different manufacturers.

So you won’t be getting any Viagra for $4. But you can get get generic Paxil (Paroxetine) and a host of other antidepressants! (And you can get loratadine, too, which is really cheap for generic Claritin.) A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company is somehow making money from this program, which probably means the suppliers are pissed.

But, anyway, hey, $4 prescriptions! Wal-Mart may be stealing The Gross Clinic, but at least they’re letting us feel better about it by giving us antidepressants on the cheap.

More cheap prescription drugs in Pa. [Bucks County Courier Times]
Wal-Mart’s $4 Generics Program Launched in Final 11 States [Wal-Mart Facts]

Oh, And One More Thing

Miss this tonight and you are missing out. What’s YOUR favorite?

The Gross Fallout

Despite the fact that more people voted in Jefferson Alumni Hall this year than went into the same building to see The Gross Clinic, civic and cultural leaders are rallying to keep the painting in the city.

Philadelphians have 39 days now to match the $68 million put up for the painting by the Crystal Bridges Museum (backed by Wal-Mart heirs) and the National Gallery of Art. There’s been mention of a partnership between PAFA and the Art Museum. Meanwhile, Jefferson has faced so much criticism that it asked senior faculty and staff to come up with other ways to spend the money other than fund the expansion of the hospital.

Look, since it sold the painting to Wal-Mart heirs, here’s a suggestion to Jefferson: Just roll-back the price of The Gross Clinic to $50 million-ish, so then maybe a Philadelphia cultural institution could buy it.

Jefferson seeks input on painting’s proceeds [Inquirer]

Quickies: She Blinded Me With Science

• Will Bunch gets a call from a PR person for Wal-Mart and decides to write an anti-Wal-Mart post in response, with bonus Googlebombing attempts! [Attytood]

• In very, very important news: Thomas Dolby will be on WYSP sometime after April 17. Details to follow! [Thomas Dolby's Blog]

• The Philadelphia Archdiocese has defrocked three priests. But, according to a quote in the grand jury report, the one isn’t “a pure pedophile,” since he also stole money from the church and slept with women. [Inky]

• And pitbulls went on a rampage in Southwest Philly. Dolby, pitbulls, Wal-Mart, defrocking… What a day! [NBC 10]