Stu Bykofsky

THE HEADLINE on Stu Bykofsky's column ( "Bike-commuter Numbers a Bit Inflated" ) is as limp as the argument he makes. He mocks the city's citing a "record number" of bicycle commuters by taking issue with the notion of a census tract rather than the fact, left uncontested, that bicycle commuting is indeed at record numbers in Philadelphia. Stu has been calling for the need for enforcement. The city announces the biggest traffic-enforcement plan in decades, with planned enforcement for bikes, cars and pedestrians, and Stu's response is simply scorn.

ALUMP OF COAL the size of the Liberty Bell was dumped in D.A.-elect Seth Williams' stocking by the Inquirer about two weeks before Santa slipped down chimneys. In a four-part series, the paper exposed the maggots of Philadelphia's criminal-justice system, in which most violent criminals get kicked out and most victims just get kicked. It landed on Williams because, as the D.A., he's the newest law-enforcement executive in the city. The Inquirer reported that among America's 10 largest cities, Philadelphia has the highest rates of homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and gun crimes, but the lowest conviction rate.

THE ATTACK on Philadelphia came yesterday, predictable as the sunrise. (It was almost as predictable as the coming collapse of the wet-behind-the-ears, error-prone x-Rays.) The attack came winging north from fetid Tampa Bay, launched by a Tampa Tribune columnist by the name of Ruth. That's the last name. The first name isn't Babe, it's Daniel. I knew him as Dan when we were both TV critics more than 20 years ago. I lived in Philly then and now, while Fate exiled Ruth to a city with dedicated parking for Rascal Scooters.

TO COLUMNIST Stu Bykofsky: I've been following the issue regarding the city of Philadelphia considering denying the federal immigration service access to local arrest records. One of the bloggers campaigning for the city's withdrawal attacked you personally for your column about illegal immigrants working as carpenters. After reading those comments, I read your article - and you were right on mark. Unfortunately the open-borders/amnesty crowd will stoop to personal attacks to silence any opposition.

THE SCOTTISH poet Robert Burns wrote about the gift "to see ourselves as others see us. " Let's take a look-see around Pennsylvania. When was the last time you thought about Elk County? How about Westmoreland County? Pike? Lycoming and Wyoming? Do you even know where they are? They know where we are and they don't always like what they see. How do we see them? We repeat James Carville's line about Pennsylvania being Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between, and we chuckle over President Obama's casual remark about how "they" cling to their religion and their guns.

IN 2008, CITI was among the banking walruses whose incompetence and avarice plunged them into a mine shaft from which it took billions of taxpayer dollars to rescue them. Once saved, you might think the financial geniuses would show a little gratitude to their rescuers and help those having trouble meeting their mortgages. Think again. Along with you and me, one of the taxpayers who helped save Citi's sorry carcass was William Whiting, 60, who was scheduled to sit down this afternoon for a conciliation conference, known in Philadelphia as the Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program.

I could get used to the cheap paper and changed layout, but I have one major complaint: Harriet Lessy's Buzz is gone. Buzz told us what was new in Center City. Unlike Stu Bykofsky's column, Buzz was informative, not gossip. I'd go to Wawa to see what was in the paper. If Buzz was in, I bought it. Philip Lubaroff, Philadelphia Where are those listings? Yo, guys, bring back the weekend TV listings. Who's running the ship - Captain Queeg? Bill Shanahan, Philadelphia Editor's note: They ARE back.

I'VE BEEN truly insulted by what was said about the president and those of us who voted for him. Am I really so terrible for going to church, as Ronnie Polaneczky thinks? I've never heard any gay-bashing sermons. What about TV? Ellen Gray thinks the new shows are too complicated for me to understand like that new hip show, what's it called, "Depraved Housewives"? Stu Bykofsky assumes I'm as nuts as a rabid ferret. And just what does John Baer think that bulge in the president's jacket was?

WHILE I MUST compliment the city of Philadelphia's acknowledgment of MOVE's 1978 victims and Stu Bykofsky's reportage of the event, I would be remiss not to mention that the MOVE organization is still very much alive and is still continuing in its pattern of disdain for society. This is the very same kind of behavior that led to the 1978 confrontation and 1985 disaster in the first place. It would be a double tragedy if the victims of MOVE nearly 30 years ago suffered in vain, but it seems that this might be the case.

THANK YOU, Stu Bykofsky, for your column on the Mummers and B Love Strutters. My husband is a longtime Murray Comic and my sons are B Love Strutters and none are racists. I appreciate you defending the tradition. Pam Hershman, West Chester Stu, you're dead right regarding the editorial on the "racist" Mummers. Do you need to be a knucklehead to qualify for the board? This is one of the reasons I stopped reading the DN years ago. Bill Yurkow, Philadelphia Stu: What a surprise - the self-loathing idiots who preach tolerance are the most narrow-minded intolerant Kool-Aid drinkers, always playing the victim.

IT WOULD HAVE been an expense-account report to make my editors and the new millionaire owners (how you doing, guys?) very happy. I wanted to take U.S. Rep. Bob Brady out to dinner Wednesday night after his return from Washington, and it wouldn't cost a cent for him. Brady would not eat because he's on the weeklong Greater Philadelphia Food Stamp Challenge, organized by the Coalition Against Hunger and the Jewish Federation. The gimmick: Enlist celebrities to help illustrate how hard it is for the poor (including children, elders, the disabled)

MARCUS PEREZ had another day in court Friday and it did not go well, but it did result in the D.A.'s office admitting to a mistake. That's a start. Perez pleaded guilty to a 1989 homicide in exchange for a 17 1/2- to 35-year sentence that was inaccurately explained to him by then-Common Pleas Judge Theodore McKee. Perez wound up with life without parole, even though McKee told him he'd be eligible for parole after 15 years. For 22 years Perez has been paying for McKee's mistake and filing appeals under the Post-Conviction Relief Act to get the sentence he was promised.

AFTER LAST Friday's column on Gov. Corbett's plan to start means-testing food-stamp recipients on May 1, I conclude there is class warfare in America. Not poor against rich, as some Republicans complain, but by some in the middle class against the poor. The column concerned John Manton, 64, a Roxborough widower with a master's degree in library science. Unemployed for a year, he's jobless because computers have rendered his skills obsolete, and gets $37.25 in food stamps weekly.

NOW THAT the hysteria has subsided about Pennsylvania voters having to produce photo ID at the polls, here's something maybe you didn't know: When you join the (minority of) registered voters who take the trouble to vote Tuesday, April 24, you can do so without picture ID. However, to vote in the biggie November presidential election, you will need photo ID, even if you have voted for decades, in every single election, as I have. It won't be a problem for me, and most of you, because about 90 percent of Pennsylvanians have photo ID. But how about the ones who don't, cry the Democrats?

JOHN MANTON offers me a bowl of potato soup as I take a seat in his tight Roxborough home. He's made a pot that will last for a week. It must. Manton's learned to stretch his food, a frugality demanded by the $37.25 worth of food stamps he receives weekly. He supplements that small amount with $20 from his meager savings. Through no fault of his own, Manton's been unemployed for a year, and Gov. Corbett wants to snoop into his bank account before approving the food stamps that keep Manton from starving.

THIS ONE'S for the guys, and people who love them. Not long ago, I was paid a visit by Mother Nature and Father Time, resulting in a trip to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for a cardiac catheter. There's no surprise ending here. I didn't die. [Editor's note: Condolences to bad bicyclists, illegal immigrants, the Parking Authority and Michael Vick fans.] I get married more often than I go to the hospital - once every decade or so, usually for something minor. I have been blessed with good health and strongly sympathize with those who haven't.

WELCOME TO Taxadelphia. While Mayor Nutter and City Council wrestle over whether adding $90 million to the city's coffers by "reforming" the city property-tax system is actually a tax increase, a flock of other taxes, fees and licenses fly under the radar, sucking up bucks. There are nearly 100 of them, according to a list prepared at my request by the city controller. (Get the entire list here - pdf.) As they reach their tentacles into our personal and business lives, they drive up the financial and psychological costs of being a Philadelphian.

D ISTRICT ATTORNEY Seth Williams ended 2011 with a reluctant, but prudent, decision to abandon attempts to reinstate the death penalty for cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. He seems incapable of making another prudent decision - to stop fighting appeals to correct a wrongly imposed life sentence. For 22 years, Marcus Perez has languished behind the gray walls of Graterford. Now 41, he's been denied justice, in appeal after appeal, first by "tough cookie" D.A. Lynne Abraham and now by mule-stubborn Williams, who remains blind to facts, deaf to questions and mute on explanations.

A GAME OF Executive Musical Chairs in the animal-welfare world has slowed progress toward making this a "no-kill" city. After less than three years on the job, Pennsylvania SPCA CEO Sue Cosby resigned in order to run the Animal Care and Control Team (ACCT), a soon-to-expire subsidiary of the PSPCA, which now is seeking a new top dog - its third leader since 2007. A new ACCT starts as a city-created, city-related nonprofit agency on April 1, which is no joke. There are no laughs for the 30,000 dogs and cats that annually languish in cages in the city's shelter.

The "feeding-the-hungry-in-the-open" controversy has shed light on rights maybe you didn't know you had. Mayor Nutter dislikes "open feeding," wants to move it indoors for health reasons - to ensure the food is sanitary. No doubt, Nutter also wants to shield tourists' eyes from the sight of flocks of hungry Philadelphians, and non-Philadelphians, some of whom are also homeless. It is a heart-breaking sight, and even though the feeding supports our "Brotherly Love" motto, Nutter doesn't want to rub tourists' noses in it. But some of the self-appointed do-gooders (I don't mean that in a bad way)