To begin, let’s read some insightful words from one of America’s great leaders.

Mankind — that word should have new meaning for all of us today.

We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore.

We will be united in our common interests.

OK…so that was Bill Pullman’s presidential character in Independence Day, but regardless… It’s July 4th! One of my favorite holidays - the truly American celebration of America.

CNN.com presents this 10-question quiz. I scored 50 percent. Don’t judge just yet - you determine how many states declare fireworks as illegal. But others, there are no excuse to get wrong.

Let’s just see how you do. Feel free to share.

You’re given one answer above. I’m kind of disturbed that our national anthem is based off an English drinking song.

Apparently, Alex Rodriguez is getting a divorce.  Let’s not go there.

Instead, let’s go to his kids. He and his wife have two daughters, Natasha and Ella, who was just born in April.

But let’s not yet dwell on the children, either. Rather, let’s dwell on the egotistical, self-serving Alex Rodriguez.

It’s by reading this article that I learned of the Rodriguez children. The middle names of both of his daughters - note: daughters - is Alexander.  Not Alexandra.  Not simply Alex.  Alexander.

Since having a boy whom he could call Alex Jr. isn’t a possibility right now, he gave his daughters his very male name.

Get over yourself. And shame on your wife for going with it, too. It seems you’re too afraid of being forgotten that you need to remind everyone - through your daughters - the enormity of your success.

And that’s my Yankee rant of the day.

Poor Dan Gross. He must be bored.

The Daily News columnist recently posted a gossip blurb first reported by CityPaper.  The next stars of Eyewitness News of our Lives haven’t officially been separated yet.  At least, according to the Palm Restaurant.

The eatery, known for throwing caricatures of famous Philadelphians on its walls, has a pairing of Larry Mendte and Alycia Lane posing near each other.  Still no word on plans to either separate or remove altogether.

In the cell phone image on the left, I think we can make out CBS3 sportsguy Beasely Reece. And is that Kathy Orr on the right? Maybe Michael Colleran next to Larry?

In related news, rumors abounded that Mendte would be appearing in federal court today. But that’s the magic of gossip. Not all of it’s true.

In more related news, I find out in three weeks if I made the cut for Wheel of Fortune. That is not a rumor.

Don’t worry.  Brangelina has not yet given birth.

The Associated Press covered a French doctor’s announcement that Angelina Jolie checked into the hospital for normal baby reasons.  No emergency, no pinching a baby’s bottom.

However, one small graf from the AP stood out in my mind…

“Mrs. Angelina Jolie and her husband, Mr. Brad Pitt, told me to tell you that she is doing absolutely fine,” said the doctor, apparently unaware that the actors aren’t married.

Well, excuse me.  Not even I, a person who wrote an entertainment column for a year and keep up to date on the entertainment page on cnn.com, could keep track of which Hollywoodites are married and which ones aren’t.

Granted, the AP should have made a correction if they used that quote. Another solution? Don’t use that quote.

Now I’m taking much less (to no) offense to this than I may be portraying, but it’s humorous the doc made that mistake and the AP pointed it out.

The solution?  If you’re dating in Hollywood, get married.  That makes things easier for when you get divorced, as well. No?

So, apparently, our beloved fruit known as watermelon has uplifting effects other than just tasting scrumptious.  I think that’s all I need to say.  The reporter and interviewees can say the rest.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/07/02/napp.watermelon.new.viagra.kens

Two movies are coming out this weekend of interest to me.  The first is WALL-E.  I hear the first 30 minutes or so have absolutely no dialogue.  That’s my kind of movie.

The second, as depicted above, is Wanted.  I’d compare it to a father-son version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  Angelina Jolie is in it, after all.  So is Morgan Freeman.  And if Morgan Freeman’s in it, you know you’ll at least smile when you see him.

Inquirer movie critic Steven Rea brought up a good point in his review today.  He said the movie is like “gun porn” because of its violent nature — lots of assassinations, lots of gunfire, lots of overall violence.  His thoughts:

The film’s fetishization of firearms should win it the NRA’s seal of approval. Maybe if the murder rate in Philadelphia wasn’t so sickeningly high, Wanted’s senseless adoration of assault weapons wouldn’t be so off-putting.

This is an extremely valid point.  I never thought that living in a city with such a situation would have an effect on how I watch and enjoy a movie.

Perhaps that’s why I wasn’t to keen on M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening.  The gratuitous violence — especially the scenes from Rittenhouse Square, just blocks from my apartment — didn’t make the movie for me.  Shyamalan topped this off by a random newspaper with a headline that read, “Killadelphia.”  He likely intended to have a double meaning, but as Philadelphians look at it in context, the double meaning isn’t necessarily understood immediately.

But something to think about.  Does your living situation have an effect on how you watch movies?  I was always interested in seeing Wanted based on the previews, and then I read Rea’s thoughts.  Now I’m a bit skeptical.

Then again, there’s always WALL-E.

The North Carolina DMV needs to get a clue.

More than 10,000 people in the state have license plates that begin with the letters WTF.

LOL, right?

I was ROFL when I heard this.  Because thanks to one little video that came about just a few years ago, those three simple letters can never be used in that order in a generic sense again.  All because of some damn Australian.

A woman’s grandkids tipped her off that the license plate on the back of her sedan had deeper social context.  And now, the DMV is offering free replacement of said license plates - if the drivers choose.

And…the sample license plate on North Carolina’s DMV Web site also included those first three infamous letters.

Maybe N.C. is more liberal than we originally thought…

L8R.

It’s on Drew Carey.

No, not the pressure to uphold a daytime tradition that’s been around for more than 35 years.  Juts the bill from Antonio’s.

The host of The Price is Right is treating everyone to pizza - 45 of them to be exact - to celebrate the end of his first season of the show.  The pizza hails from his Ohio hometown joint, Antonio’s.

There must be a lot to celebrate.  After all, the bill is $450 (not including delivery).

Not too long ago, I saw a commercial during CBS primetime for TPIR.  This concerned me.  During Bob Barker’s tenure as host, commercials for the daytime TPIR didn’t exist.  And now, it seems CBS needs to advertise watching the show.

Uh oh…

Thank you, philly.com.

The Web site that is Philadelphia assembled for us an archive.  An archive entitled “Alycia Lane in the News.”

Don’t worry.  Larry’s on there, too.  It might as well be called “CBS3 in the News.”

And the latest story comes from the columnist who is Philadelphia, who assembled for us her thoughts defending Alycia.

Jill Porter wrote a column that many people will laugh at.  Many people won’t take it seriously.  It’s questionable if she even takes it seriously.

In a nutshell, her column says that we, the news-crazed Philadelphia public, never gave Alycia a chance.  Maybe she’s not the ditzy diva the Philadelphia media has made her out to be.

We ought to believe that, Porter says.  But we probably won’t.

That’s because this long saga that began December 14 after an incident involving a news anchor, a New York City cop and a taxi cab (sounds like the setup for a joke) is finally coming to an end.  There are only two more milestones to come - the future of Mr. Mendte’s federal investigation and the outcome of Lane’s lawsuit against KYW.

Well, unless Mendte files a wrongful termination lawsuit.  But let’s pretend that’s not an option.

But these outcomes aren’t what we care about.  We cared about the public destruction of two beloved news anchors - those whom we loved to watch and who will likely not be on the Philadelphia airwaves anymore.

And you know what?  We’re going to miss them.  I already do.

Way to go, Philadelphia.

But the big story tonight is…

Larry Kane coined a variation of that title phrase on WPVI’s Action News in the 1970s. Afterward, he moved on to KYW-TV in 1993 and retired 10 years later. His replacement?

Well…Marc Howard. He lasted at the 11 p.m. anchor desk for about eight months before moving to 4 p.m. His replacement(s)?

Larry Mendte and Alycia Lane.

It seemed like a beautiful partnership. Mendte, stolen from NBC10, and Lane, wanting cooler temps than Florida, began to liven up a recently rebranded station that had been sinking in the ratings.

I was one of those who “Made the Switch” with Mendte and meteorologist Kathy Orr. And I haven’t gone back since. CBS3 hasn’t given me reason to.

Last night’s 6 p.m. announcement of Mendte’s dismissal came before any other press. No Web site, not even CBS3’s, had the news up there. As soon as she uttered those words – “effective immediately” – it was the lead news story on 6abc.com and nbc10.com.

(On a side note, neither ABC nor NBC aired a copy story about Mendte’s firing at 11 p.m. as the story remained on their sites. Funny, since ABC wasn’t shy to announce the introduction of a federal investigation of Mendte on the air June 1.)

There is a long tradition of local news anchors in Philadelphia. Philadelphians are simply not only obsessed with the news, but also those who deliver it. It’s up to the newspeople themselves to handle it.

6ABC has a tradition of longevity. Turnaround at the station, at least in terms of on-air talent, is fairly low. Jim Gardner, Gary Papa, Cecily Tynan, Dave Roberts, Vernon Odom – these are tenured people you automatically associate with the station because they’ve been there so long. But you never see Michael Klein or Dan Gross writing about them in the way they have with Mendte and Lane.

I first learned about Lane’s legal issues from the blog of The Temple News, of all places. Since learning of it, I had been checking the Web site multiple times a day – accounting for a large percentage of the site’s hits, I’m sure – just to see if there were further developments. I didn’t care too much about the outcome, but I was satisfied on Jan. 1.

So, since May 29, I’ve been doing the same. I remember watching the news on a Friday and seeing Susan Barnett anchoring solo. “Where’s Larry?” I thought. 6ABC told me the next night.

Thus, here we are. Another anchor down, another hole to fill, another story to feed the gossipers and news junkies for months to come, undoubtedly.

As I mentioned in a previous post, CBS3 has had a lot of turnover in the last year. It’s like the summer interns of 2007 left a curse behind so we would have jobs when we’re ready. I wasn’t planning on having the curse act so quickly.

Marge Pala, Marc Howard, Alycia Lane, Dick Standish, Tom Lamaine, Larry Mendte. They’ve all disappeared from CBS3 airwaves, and soon-to-be-retired Robin Macintosh will be joining this summer.

They’ve added Chris May, Nicole Brewer (though she’s not on-air), Elizabeth Hur and Ben Simmoneau. But that doesn’t exactly make up for what was lost.

What CBS3 needs to do is become the new Philadelphia transition. Undoubtedly, 6ABC will be seeing a lot of turnover soon since many reporters are reaching retirement. CBS3 should groom their current group of star reporters and encourage them to stick around (and not become news themselves). Maybe they can one day reach synonymy with Philadelphia as 6ABC has done for the past x-decades.

As expected, the number of hits to my blog have skyrocketed after writing about Mendte’s outcome. I blogged by 6:18 p.m. last night, just minutes after hearing the news. I’d like to think I broke it first after CBS3.

And those numbers will continue to climb. People still search for info on Mendte and Lane. They’re still my most popular posts.

This proves that Philadelphians care about tradition. And at the moment, we’re waiting for some stability so a new tradition can form.