LETTERS: Core values, guest workers and more

Time to get back to core values, together

I enjoyed your balanced editorial "How much government?" , which points out the danger of excessive criticism in responding to our fears about America's future. By keeping the majority in this country divided, the powerful stay in power. Serious reform is needed, not name calling. Let's talk and stop pointing fingers.

The world is upside down with money at the center of many lives. Not until our individual worlds get turned right side up - with core values of integrity, trust, honesty, love and spirit at the center - will we be right again.

We have met the enemy and it is not government, Wall Street, liberals, Republicans or Democrats; the enemy is truly us.

We are the individuals in these institutions, and we must get back to acting and believing in the values that interconnect us. What is our vision of the America of the future, and what do we need to do to get there together?

Carol McNally

Central Islip

Editor's note: The writer is executive director of the Center for Restorative Practices, affiliated with Touro Law Center.

Let's limit government and reduce taxation

"How much government?" depends upon your point of view concerning the proper role of government in our daily lives. Many of us still cherish economic and civil liberties. We believe that what consenting adults consume, inhale, perform, read or view in the privacy of their own home isn't the concern of government. Individual economic and civil liberties prosper best when government stays out of both the bedroom and marketplace.

We do not support massive deficit spending. We oppose the thousands of congressional earmarks supporting billions in pork-barrel spending. We are no fans of corporate welfare.

Too many members of Congress have morphed into inside-the-beltway career politicians who spend as if it were Monopoly money.

Why not return to limited government, with minimal taxation to support only essential services, along with pay-as- you-go budgeting, means testing for all government assistance programs, no pork-barrel spending, balanced budgets and actual surpluses to reduce long-term debt?

Larry Penner

Great Neck

Instead of walls, try guest worker visas

We seem to believe that by "declaring war" on a problem, we can eradicate the problem without addressing the underlying social issues .

America's economy provides both motive and opportunity for illegal immigrants, and all of the laws, walls and impassioned rhetoric we can muster won't stem the flow. What we need to do is "go with the flow."

We need to create a "guest worker" visa that allows both the monitoring, and just as important, the taxing of these "guest workers." If we want a good model, we need only look at how our neighbors in Canada deal with the issue.

Alexander J. Kelly

Smithtown

Gulf oil disaster a wake-up call

If the deadly inferno and subsequent sinking of the drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico - and now the very real potential for the biggest ecological disaster since the Exxon Valdez - is not a gigantic wake-up call as to why we should not "drill, baby, drill," as Sarah Palin keeps reiterating, what is?

Maybe Palin should change her spiel to "spill, baby, spill!" Do you think we'll remember her stand on environmental issues if she runs for president? You betcha!

Karen Thomas

Garden City

Raise remark rankled

I have been a teacher on Long Island for 40 years, and I understand people's frustration with the cost of education. However, I take offense at Fred Gorman's quote, "Do you think these people deserve a raise more than you deserve a tax break?"

Does Gorman think Long Island's teachers drop in each morning by parachute from some idyllic place where there is no school tax? "These people" are your neighbors, with all the same problems you have. I have a son in college and a daughter who just got married. My husband is out of work, and because schools are excessing young teachers, my son-in-law will soon be out of work. I pay school taxes, too, and higher gas prices and utilities.

I have been excessed in the past and have lived through wage freezes in previous times of economic difficulty. I keep working because I need to and because I still find it rewarding to walk into my classroom every day.

Do I deserve a raise? Yes, I do, but I would forego one if it would save jobs. Would you?

Judy Burton

Bay Shore

Teacher givebacks show 'they get it'

It's nice to see that some teacher unions are starting to get it by accepting freezes or other givebacks and even taking small pay cuts, even though they will get them back at retirement. It's nice, but it really is a short-term measure for a long-term problem.

To really stop the insane rise in school costs and, therefore, property taxes, two things need to be done. First, teachers and administrators need to start contributing to their health care plans, as this is one of the areas where costs are rising the fastest.

Second, get rid of defined benefit retirement plans and instead have teachers and administrators contribute to 401(k) plans like the rest of the nonunion world. In a typical school budget, a large part of the money goes into funding retirement plans, instead of funding teaching and activities for your children.

Robert W. Edwards

Bay Shore

Nassau police make hate crimes a priority

"Inaccurate picture" left the impression that inaccuracies in reporting from local police agencies were the reason behind the state's failure to produce annual reports on hate crime.

Although I cannot comment on the data provided to the state by other law enforcement agencies, I can assure you that the Nassau County Police Department has supplied accurate data on hate crimes to the state since 1994. The NCPD has recorded hate crime statistics since 1979 and was the first in the state and second in the nation to develop procedures for responding to hate crimes.

The NCPD has a proud record of being in the forefront of efforts to report, investigate and educate on hate crimes. We were the first agency in the state to send all of our police recruits through the training program at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove. Last year we produced "Hate - Crossing the Line," a hate-crime training DVD, and distributed copies free of charge to every middle school, high school and private school in Nassau County.

Hate crimes will not be tolerated in Nassau County. Our residents and visitors can be assured of our commitment to enforce all of the applicable laws, as well as our commitment to prevent hate crimes through education.

Lawrence W. Mulvey

Mineola

Editor's note: The writer is Nassau County police commissioner.