Letters to the Editor

by the Readers

For Dancers in the Dark

(Re: News, “The Philadelphia Pork-estra,” May 2)

I wanted to provide a note of clarification for your readers. The Rock School's after-school programs referred to in Daniel Brook's article are not affiliated with Pennsylvania Ballet's outreach and education programs and services.

Offered free of charge, Pennsylvania Ballet's main outreach and education program, Accent on Dance, has touched the lives of over 50,000 children in its first six years of programming. Any readers who want information about Pennsylvania Ballet's outreach and education programs should contact Phil Juska at 215-551-7000, ext. 1309.

Michael Scolamiero
Executive Director,

Pennsylvania Ballet

And You Voted For…?

(Re: Slant, “Ed Rendell for Governor,” May 16)

You say that Rendell "took on the unions" or "stared down a union." You are only kidding yourself. Sure, he tried to bust the city workers' unions. They have no political clout. But he also just about sucked the collective dicks of the building trades unions who still own him today. He gave away much of the city's coffers to ensure jobs for the carpenters and electricians, etc., who reside in South Jersey or Philly's suburbs. Ed also never met a problem that he didn't think could be fixed with more gambling.

After denying city unions any type of fair contract due to the budget, Rendell turned around and gave all of his city lawyer buddies a 20 percent raise. His reasoning: "You have to pay to keep good people." What a slap in the face to the average city employee who is really trying to make a difference in his or her job. Why waste the effort?

His successor is falling right in line. They have never met a patronage position they didn't like.

I wouldn't vote for Rendell if he were running against Adolf Hitler.

Patrick C. Frazer
Fishtown

Nuclear Fiction

(Re: Slant, May 9)

Stupidity reigns! Hugh Jackson’s rant about “Radioactive Roads” is a clear example. America has been placed in a state of terror over splitting atoms to make electricity by today’s anti-nuke dimwits. The Law of Nature, and nuclear physics, clearly shows NO DANGER POSSIBLE!

Absurd ideas based on nonsense dominate anti-nuke hysteria. “High-level radioactive waste is about the meanest material humans have managed to create so far,” writes Jackson. What a joke! A milligram of plutonium is less toxic than caffeine. “In fact, it takes five years for waste to ‘cool’ enough to be handled,” continued Jackson. This is nuts. Six months after removal from a reactor, more than 99 percent of its excess radioactivity has disintegrated and the “waste” can be filled in your bathtub while you roll in it, and it will have the same effect as the original fuel; i.e., there is nowhere near the 250,000 millirems of radiation present to cause biological change. Put another way, the radiological effect is about the same that emits from a color TV.

When the actions of alpha, beta, gamma radiation, nuclear waste and meltdowns are scientifically calculated and its possible effect on humans is comprehended, it becomes self-evident: NO DANGER POSSIBLE! We stopped building the only MAJOR-CLEAN-AIR-BURNING energy source available because of the emotional chants of anti-everything morons. They may have the best of intentions, but so does the road to hell.

Bill Dunn
South Philadelphia