Sun-Sentinel: Really, Really Bad

A Real Front Page Okay, the newspapers had some ‘splaining to do this morning for overhyping Ernesto — and the Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald had exactly the same idea. Blame the science — and don’t even mention that the newspapers and TV stations and governments behaved like this was a…

In Cord Blood

Under bright white lights, several pairs of hands reach into a gaping red gash in the very pregnant belly of Rosa Simmons. With a squelch, her seven-pound daughter Emily, gray and wriggling, appears. It is June 6 at Northwest Medical Center in Margate. Rosa Simmons’ cesarean section has been swift…

The Fantastic Four

In the crowded field of political candidates in this electoral season, there are four who have emerged as great hopes for our democracy. They have overcome character issues and moral deficiencies that would have crippled ordinary people. They have shown, in heroic fashion, that they aren’t encumbered with — and…

Campaign Noir

The phone on Tailpipe’s desk rang. There was something haunting about the sound, like a troubling memory of lost innocence, a dark trill of foreboding. The ‘Pipe let it ring a few more times, reluctant to pick up. It was Dennis Macilwain. Yes, that Macilwain, “The Sign Guy.” Macilwain has…

Like a Karaoke Virgin

My friend Kim’s “bitch switch” was set abnormally high the night we hit the Red Lion Pub in Boca Raton for Thursday-night Frank-E-Oke. The event is named for the intense karaoke host, who discourages other people from taking things too seriously. “I really dislike American Idol wannabes,” Frank E (for…

Letters for August 31-September 6, 2006

Betty Oops At least she’s no longer behind the wheel: Although Betty Bowen’s lack of any sense of personal responsibility, disregard for human life, and lurid racism is certainly revolting, the gentle treatment she received from law enforcement is no surprise (“Driving While Demented,” Ashley Harrell, August 24). Driving in…

Now The Dogs Have Turned

First alligators, now dogs. Evan S. Benn and Breanne Gilpatrick report on a fatal attack on a 56-year-old man by a boxer in southwest Miami-Dade. A boxer. Those are great dogs. I gotta think the dog had been mistreated or cooped up in some awful way. The dog killed the…

Ernesto Wreaks Havoc On Headline Writers!

Third-Place Finisher Here’s the thing with the Big Three newspapers this morning: After all the hype of Ernesto, they had to come up with a giant front-page headline about how nothing really happened. And that’s all that was really important, since the stories, well, they were all just filler crap,…

Ernesto, You Slob

It’s a good soak anyway. Forty hours of solid pre-storm coverage and Channel 10 was off the air just about ten minutes after the storm began affecting Lauderdale, in time for Wheel of Fucking Fortune. The TV guys just looked at each other and started stammering. One on Channel 6…

It’s Coming

The birds know it’s coming. About two dozen of them were burrowing in the ground in front of my house before my four-year-old daughter knocked on the window and scattered on them. You can see it now. The winds are starting, the clouds are there, the clockwise rotation already visible…

Fidel Does Us A Solid

In the battle of the hurricane blogs, I have to give the edge to Bob King. The Palm Beach Post storm-meister informs us in his most recent post that the National Hurricane Center gave big props to Fidel: “SPECIAL THANKS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CUBA FOR PERMITTING THE RECON AIRCRAFT…

Sun-Sentinel: Get the Hell Ready

As Tropical Storm Ernesto zeroes in on and takes aim at and draws a bead on South Florida, the Sun-Sentinel, showing true Help Team spirit, gave us two pages of instruction on the storm inside the Local section today. Among its indispensable orders: “If you have a TV antenna or…

Karl and Me

Y’all may not know about South of the Suwannee. It’s a blog done by an anonymous character who lives in north Broward. He also goes by Gator and has frequently commented on the Pulp in the past. Gator has reasonable intelligence, but he’s definitely compromised in some way. You can…

Okay, Now I’m Scared

Broward County Mayor Ben Graber just led a press conference from the emergency management building in Plantation. It was startling, not because of the blah-blah-blah that was uttered, but Graber’s tremorous, almost breathless delivery. Graber was clearly nervous — and that does nothing to instill confidence in the populous. It…

Che’s Revenge?

I’ve got bad vibes about Ernesto. I call him Che — and if the guerilla revolutionary has revenge on his mind, there’s only one place to go: Miami. And it’s not just for the Cuban exile community that reviles him, but former CIA spook Felix Rodriquez, who tracked him down…

El Nuevo Herald Writer Resigns in Protest

DJs Santos and Ferrero El Nuevo Herald arts writer Jose Antonia Evora tendered his resignation to Miami Herald Media Company President Jesus Diaz, Jr. today — just days before his 10th anniversary with the company — saying that the newspaper “left him out in the cold” and that a recent…

Gangs and Politics

Gotta check out this story in the Palm Beach Post by Stephanie Slater and Dianna Smith about a deadly war going on between two Haitian gangs. It all stems, apparently, from a small-time music label called Top 6 Records. The B-Town Boys, one of the groups involved in Top 6,…

A Trumped-Up Tempest

Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne won’t testify in Donald Trump’s case against the developers of the Seminole Hard Rock after a judge admonished the real estate tycoon’s lawyers for hyping the case in the press and ordered them to name the Sun-Sentinel reporters to whom they had leaked information. That’s the…

Florida Press Club Results Pouring In

The Florida Press Club contest results are streaming in. Check out the results here. Lots of categories to go, but plenty of winners there already. Congratulations to all of them. Myself, I pulled two first place finishes already, in the commentary and sports column categories. So I should be pretty…

Trump Team Ordered To Name Reporter

The judge in Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino ordered the real estate and reality TV magnate’s legal team to reveal the name of the reporter to whom it leaked information on the civil case. It really shouldn’t have been such a difficult deduction for…

Sundancing In Boca

(L to R) Mamaux, Johnson, Wexler, Katz, and Sofer The debut of the Sundance Channel’s documentary series “The Hill” delivered at least half of what it promised last night, especially the part about offering us a “glimpse inside Capitol Hill.” First, we got a good taste of Robert Wexler’s staff,…

Sun-Sentinel Drops The Bag

Pulp Reader Alert The Sun-Sentinel has its latest Help Team special today: A giant front-page package on … what to do when an airline loses your bags. This follows yesterday’s hard-hitting front-pager on the ever-controversial subject of contact lens care. Diane Lade’s article, titled WHERE’S YOUR LUGGAGE, and is just…