Opinion

LETTERS

Hanukkah

Michael Starr’s article about Hanukkah’s absence on TV speaks volumes. “(Why No Hanukkah Shows?” Dec. 22).

We say “enough” to the brain-dead TV executives. Christmas shows clog the screen, and all we get is a lousy candle on the weather schedule.

They trade well-written dramas and comedies for “reality” shows, and they ruin BRAVO network with dreck.

Not to mention that they ignore 5,700 years of our proud heritage. L’Chaim.

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Butch Dener, New Paltz

Self serve

If you check out the people who are supposed to be serving us, they are actually serving themselves (“Nobody Home,” Peggy Noonan, PostScript, Dec. 21).

Being in offi ce has its advantages: free mailings, connections, fund-raising, etc.

Today, we have “we can do anything we want” politicians. Because of this attitude, corruption is rampant. It won’t stop if we don’t change the system.

Peggy Noonan wishes for confidence in government, but wishing won’t do it. Term limits will.

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Chris Michaels, Morganville, NJ

Next month, I will have a new president with more shady characters as friends than a “Sopranos” episode.

I have a mayor who has decided, despite popular opinion, that he is entitled to a third term, and I have a governor I didn’t elect who wants to tax everything I have and who will most likely appoint a novice to the position of US senator by virtue of her family history.

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When did I move to a Third World country?

Donna Pallante, Staten Island

I agree wholeheartedly that this was the year that politicians ran amok (“The Year of Living Scandalously,” Robert A. George, PostScript, Dec. 21).

So many of them think that they are above the law. We deserve more from our elected officials than we are getting.

Remember this: Evil thrives when good men and women do nothing. Now that’s true audacity.

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Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village

Body of work

Please, we really don’t want to see the next president in the buff (“Fit for Office,” Dec. 23).

Then again, I never saw that “Bubbalicious” that everyone saw in Bill Clinton, either.

One has to wonder though, is this hard body really from working at it, or from two packs a day?

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Jane Ellen Isabella, Johnstown

Local fix

I wholeheartedly support the proposal to consolidate local governments by Attorney Andrew General Cuomo as outlined in “Smart Way To Save” (Editorial, Dec. 22).

As someone who worked for more than 40 years in government, I feel I speak with experience and knowledge on the matter.

The Division of Local Government Services, within the Department of State, has a shared-services grant program that encourages local governments to develop projects that will result in savings and efficiency through sharing and consolidating.

Hopefully, the proposal will be acted on and provide localities another method for reducing costs and saving taxpayer money while, at the same time, maintaining needed services.

The timing couldn’t be more appropriate, considering the state’s fiscal plight.

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Michael R. Houseknecht, Delmar