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Trashed (Sept. 29)
Dear Cardella:
What are the chances you could spend an eight-hour day riding the route in a trash truck? A columnist/reporter who has lived in the city his whole life and knows people in City Hall should be able to make such an arrangement. That person would quickly find out what a thankless and frustrating position garbage collector is, what the possibly justifiable causes are for late or delayed pickups, and how useless and lazy it is to simply complain from one’s ivory tower.
Longtime Reader
Dear Longtime Reader:
As I look out from my ivory tower in my row home at the squirrels attacking my uncollected trash, I am running through the justifiable reasons for the City’s 3–1–1 operation, my City Council representative, and the Department of Sanitation being unable to respond to our neighborhood dilemma. I am also trying to figure out why it is that trash collectors hate SEPTA drivers so much that they refuse to get out of the way at morning rush hour when collecting trash. In addition, I am also trying to justify why someone would accept the paying position of trash collector and then not collect that trash on a sunny 75-degree day during a week when there has been no change in schedule. One more note: When they do collect the trash, why do they spill some of it and leave it lying in the street? I’m still thinking.
Tom
Nightmare On Main Street (July 28)
Dear Cardella:
I agree with your comments about the Black Lives Matter group being rudderless. Without a strong leader, the group sounds like another “wack job” organization.
Burton Knows
Dear Burton Knows:
Lacking a strong leader makes Black Lives Matter less effective and unfocused. But the use of excessive force against African-Americans on the streets of our towns and cities is undeniable. So, no, this is not just another “wack job” organization. Uncle Nunzi tells me that “wack” is spelled “whack.”
Tom
Here come the Dems (July 21)
Dear Cardella:
Geezuz! Please stop using the Uncle Nunzi bit. It is NOT funny; it is NOT a clever journalistic device, and it is becoming increasingly irksome to those who regularly read (and also otherwise enjoy) your weekly column.
Longtime Reader
Dear Longtime Reader:
(Uncle Nunzi dictated this reply to me). Dear Donald Trump. Why don’t you go back to using Twitter at 3 a.m. to trash perfectly respectable women? (My reply). Thank you for regularly reading my column. I also find Uncle Nunzi increasingly irksome and thank you for regularly reading my column. Right now, he is sulking so I don’t think it’s the right time to stop feeding his ego by mentioning him in this column.
Tom
So Much Choice, So Little Time (June 23)
Dear Cardella:
I have asked many forced fluoridation fanatics to tell me how much accumulated fluoride in the body they think is safe. So far not a single one of them has been able to answer the question.
Dan Germuse
Dear Mr. Germouse:
Uncle Nunzi believes you may have already reached an unsafe level of fluoridation in your body. He recommends Tom’s of Maine, without the fluoride.
Tom
Choice (April 14)
Dear Cardella:
I had to go to a lot of trouble to find this page. It is not listed in the regular version of the SPR website. At least not yet.
My first question is why this piece is accessible at all when an early article by Joseph Myers praising his mother’s decision not to abort was removed from the SPR website?
Abortion is a national issue, not just about our community. If Tom is allowed to talk about national issues, then we all should. And both sides of the issue should be debated.
Legalizing abortion under Roe v Wade did not end the controversy because the demand for later and later abortions up to partial birth abortion has continued unabated. What some want is the ultimate “choice’ to commit infanticide.
Gloria
Dear Gloria:
If it is any consolation, I still haven’t figured out to reply to online comments from my readers. I hope you understand that I can’t answer your questions about accessibility or editorial policy, but I have never seen this newspaper shy away from presenting both sides of an issue.
Obviously, Roe v Wade did not end the controversy about abortion nor is any Supreme Court decision meant to end discussion. But what that decision did do is end the question of constitutionality, something pro-life politicians tend to ignore when proposing legislation in the guise of protecting women, but designed to just make it difficult if not impossible to receive a legal abortion. My column merely pointed out the inconsistency in the pro-life position that abortion is “murder,” but for political reasons places the doctor in legal jeopardy, but not the woman. Donald Trump found out about that inconsistency (I call it “hypocrisy”) when he proposed to punish the woman and brought the wrath of pro-life politicians down on his head. Trump has since walked back his position.
For the record, if I haven’t done it before, “thanks, mom, for not aborting me.” Some of my readers might disagree.
Tom
(Tom Cardella can be seen along with Paul Jolovitz on Monday Night Kickoff from 6 to 7 PM Oct 17th with video streaming at wbcb1490.com)
