Bigger Picture

I AM A lifetime resident of Philadelphia involved in animal rescue. The stories about the animal-control shelter are especially sad and ironic since, only a few weeks ago, the Alliance for Philadelphia Animals formed, pledging to bring about "no more homeless pets" in Philadelphia. The trouble is that all the negative energy and criticism will be directed against PACCA. If people give it any thought, they would see that they need not to boycott these institutions but to adopt as many animals as possible from them to lower the appallingly high death rates.

I think I understand why the United States has so much trouble dealing with China. Americans react to China like the blind men reacted to the elephant. Remember John Godfrey Saxe's version of the Hindu fable about the six sightless "men of Indostan" who tried to observe a pachyderm by touch? One felt "his broad and sturdy side" and thought the elephant was like a wall. Another grabbed his trunk and imagined a snake. A third felt his ear. The others grasped, respectively, his tusk, knee and tail.

A federal advisory committee on Tuesday unanimously approved over-the-counter sale of a rapid HIV test, acknowledging public health workers' pleas for a new tool against an epidemic that is driven largely by people who don't know their status and infect others. If the Food and Drug Administation agrees with its advisers, the oral swab screening test made by OraSure Technologies Inc. of Bethlehem, Pa., would become the first infectious disease test approved for home use. The panel overcame considerable unknowns and concerns that the test cannot pick up newly-acquired infections to focus on a bigger picture.

I believe that it would be in the best interest of New Jersey and its citizens for Gov. McGreevey to serve out his term of office. Since McGreevey has frankly confessed his sexual orientation, he can no longer be compromised by it. He has an opportunity to free himself from political shackles and become an even better, more honest politician and governor. The governor's allegedly unethical behavior of placing a sex partner in unmerited government positions is of deep concern, as are the unsavory connections of some of his campaign associates and political appointments.

Sally Menke, 56, director Quentin Tarantino's longtime editor on films such as Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown , and the two-volume Kill Bill, was found dead early Tuesday morning by searchers in Los Angeles after she went hiking in the severe heat the day before, authorities said. Search dogs, helicopters, and patrol officers searched Griffith Park after friends alerted authorities Monday afternoon when Ms. Menke failed to return home. Police said her body was found just before 2 a.m. in a rugged area; her severely dehydrated yellow Labrador retriever was sitting next to the body.

Recent research indicates that two-thirds of phone users admit they regularly lose their temper as a result of being put on hold. This new phenomenon of "phone rage" should give us pause for thought about the quality of progress in the technological age. One of the great cliches of what we call modern society is that time is money. But this is misleading.. . . The culture of time-is-money is based on a peculiar and invisible form of selfishness, which conceals from the selfish the damage it does them.

The Philadelphia Human Relations Commission reached the correct decision on the "speak English" sign at Geno's Steaks. What took so long? The HRC spent 21 months determining there was insufficient evidence of bias. That's after the HRC's chairman filed the complaint since nobody from the public ever complained in the first place. What an embarrassment. Geno's owner Joey Vento called the decision a "good victory. " Not so fast, Joey. There's discrimination, and then there's just plain wrong.

BERNARD PIERCE doesn't like to bring himself back to those days when everything around him seemed to be collapsing. To the time in the courtroom when his teary eyes barely could look up at his mother, and back further, to when he balled his hand into a fist that one afternoon, momentarily staining a life he felt was spinning beyond control. But it's part of the Temple tailback's life. It's what started the current path the gifted, 6-foot, 212-pound freshman is taking. He never thought about going to college, let alone being the nation's top freshman running back.

JOSH BUNDY wanted to play "big-time" football. But his lone Division I-A offer was from Temple, where his father worked at the time as an assistant athletic director in charge of Student Services. "That was my dream, since I can remember," he said. "To compete at the highest level. " Of course, there's no shortage of folks who might have pointed out that the program on North Broad Street didn't necessarily meet the criteria. Nevertheless, it's where he wanted to be. "I sent my highlight tape to Coach [Bobby]

Flyers goalie Robert Esche, who has missed eight games with a small ligament tear in his left knee, may be able to return to game action as early as Tuesday, coach Ken Hitchcock said yesterday. Hitchcock said that he hopes Esche will get medical clearance tomorrow or Monday. In the meantime, Sean Burke will start in goal this afternoon against the Atlanta Thrashers at the Wachovia Center. Help for the depleted corps of forwards arrived yesterday in the form of center Alexei Zhamnov, acquired in a trade Thursday with the Chicago Blackhawks.

LANDOVER, Md. – Turn off the searchlights. No superhero is coming down from the skies to rescue these Eagles. No miracle is coming along to save Andy Reid and his dreadful football team. At this point, Reid can only hope the Mayans were right and the world ends before the regular season. It has gone beyond embarrassing, past sad and is on the way to scary. It is bad enough the present is tarnishing Reid's past accomplishments as a head coach. But now we've reached the stage where the present dysfunction is also threatening the future.

UNWAVERING support of Penn State's football program from players and recruits following the announcement of crippling NCAA sanctions was a sign of hope for a university living out its darkest days. For nearly a week, not a single transfer and just one decommitment was announced. Now it appears the dominos are slowly beginning to fall. Junior running back Silas Redd announced Tuesday afternoon that he is no longer a member of the once-fabled program. Redd, who was the Nittany Lions' leading rusher in 2011, will transfer to the University of Southern California and be eligible to play immediately for the Trojans, who are expected to be ranked among the top five teams in the country entering the season.

DAILY NEWS STAFF REPORT Silas Redd announced on Tuesday that he will transfer from Penn State to Southern California. Here is a statement he made to the media: This has obviously been a very busy, emotionally draining week for me and my family. As many of you know, playing football at Penn State has been a dream of mine since I was seven years old, and I will be forever grateful that this dream became a reality. This is the reason that the decision I have made is so difficult for me: I will transfer to USC to complete my education and my college football career, beginning in the 2012-2013 year.

Charlie Manuel established a micro second-half goal of winning series. The bigger picture, he said, was too large to digest. His team took one step forward by starting 4-1 on a West Coast trip, only to lose the next three. They lost another home series with a 6-5 defeat Saturday and will probably play Sunday without their best hitter, Carlos Ruiz, who needs a break after a heavy workload behind the plate. The Phillies have lost seven straight at home, have the worst winning percentage at home (.370)

A federal advisory committee on Tuesday unanimously approved over-the-counter sale of a rapid HIV test, acknowledging public health workers' pleas for a new tool against an epidemic that is driven largely by people who don't know their status and infect others. If the Food and Drug Administation agrees with its advisers, the oral swab screening test made by OraSure Technologies Inc. of Bethlehem, Pa., would become the first infectious disease test approved for home use. The panel overcame considerable unknowns and concerns that the test cannot pick up newly-acquired infections to focus on a bigger picture.

WITH ALL due respect to the writers in the sports departments of every newspaper in Pennsylvania, including this one, Joe Paterno is not their story. They borrowed him for a few decades, making his gridiron triumphs a metaphor for their own particular interests or agendas. They dissected his strategies, his recruits, his awards, his national rankings and even his personality, to fill column space. And in these last weeks, they turned him into King Lear, the man who was too certain of his own importance and too trusting of bad characters in his retinue.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - With all the appropriate hoopla, the curtain will rise on Game 1 of the World Series 243 days from now. That's not forever. It'll just feel like it at times. One more time: Baseball isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. The Phillies, who will conduct their first official full-squad workout tomorrow, have spent a lot of money in hopes of being part of the festivities. Their chances will increase if Chase Utley can bounce back. Even though he started for the National League in the All-Star Game again last July, he had the worst year of his career, batting just .275 with 16 homers and 65 RBI. That, by itself, isn't alarming.

Jamar Nicholas called on his experience growing up in West Philadelphia and Germantown when he illustrated "Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence," a graphic depiction of Geoffrey Canada's tale of growing up in the South Bronx. Social activist Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, first wrote this memoir in 1995. That was before he became famous, interviewed by Oprah, featured in David Guggenheim's documentary "Waiting for Superman," and profiled in American Express ads. When his publisher, Beacon Press, decided this year to re-release the book as a graphic memoir, they took to the Internet to find an illustrator.

Most of Pat Gillick's Hall of Fame resume was built in Toronto, where he built an expansion franchise into the first and only Canadian team to win the World Series. Gillick's candidacy benefited from two other factors. One can be celebrated by Phillies fans, the other should be lamented by baseball fans everywhere. The Phillies' 2008 World Series title gave Gillick a late-career achievement that added fresh sparkle to his already distinguished body of work. There's no doubt it helped Gillick get 13 of 16 votes - one more than needed - from the expansion-era veterans committee.

Sally Menke, 56, director Quentin Tarantino's longtime editor on films such as Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown , and the two-volume Kill Bill, was found dead early Tuesday morning by searchers in Los Angeles after she went hiking in the severe heat the day before, authorities said. Search dogs, helicopters, and patrol officers searched Griffith Park after friends alerted authorities Monday afternoon when Ms. Menke failed to return home. Police said her body was found just before 2 a.m. in a rugged area; her severely dehydrated yellow Labrador retriever was sitting next to the body.