LETTERS: Where was NSA during Target hacking?
To the editor:
The National Security Agency is a huge, heavily funded, clandestine government agency with the apparent mission of protecting American citizens from terrorism.
And yet 70 million credit card and debit card holders have been subjected to economic terrorism, after their card information was hacked at Target stores. If it can happen at Target, it can happen anywhere.
With all of its supercomputers, spying software and information technology experts, why does the NSA not have the responsibility of protecting Americans from economic terrorism? That would include preventing the mass theft of credit and debit card information in addition to stopping the ever-growing crime of identity theft.
Americans would then at least know the NSA is performing a task that is actually useful.
LARRY COLE
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Gratitude from postman
To the editor:
Jim Guynup’s letter on the U.S. Postal Service truly lifted my spirits (“Christmas delivery,” Jan. 11).
I have been carrying mail for more than 27 years, and I actually enjoy showing up for work every day.
Sometimes people get upset or complain for whatever reason, but they fail to realize the amount of mail we move seven days a week. Then we make sure it gets into the proper box no matter the extreme weather conditions we encounter.
Sometimes a considerate customer will make employees feel that their job or the service they provide is important, and that there are grateful people who recognize their dedicated abilities within that profession. I’m always proud to serve you.
MICHAEL SLONINA
LAS VEGAS
Talk of a dictator
To the editor:
In response to last week’s remarks from President Barack Obama, “I have a pen and a phone” and “we are not just going to be waiting for legislation”:
The dictatorial translation of his comment is, “I am giving myself the power to make my own laws and discard the constitutional law of the land.” This is all being masked by the smoke screen that it is the “right thing to do” and the American people support his actions.
Citizens, if this in-your-face declaration, given from the highest platform in America, doesn’t sound your alarm, then nothing will.
Congress needs to put a halt to this type of subversion that is eroding our Constitution’s checks and balances or we will forever suffer the consequences.
Soft totalitarianism in this country is in the process of rapid petrification. Past presidents would have been long gone if they had racked up all the scandals this administration has on its scoreboard.
However, it appears that debilitating political correctness combined with a spineless Congress is allowing the ideological colonization of the United States. As I am sitting here writing this, I am listening to the president use his trademarked propagandistic repetition that has proved so effective. I was trying to keep track of how many times I heard repeated themes that related to helping the middle class, job creation, etc.; the same old, worn-out rhetoric.
The crowd cheered at being told exactly what they wanted to hear, without questioning the truthfulness or feasibility of what was being said.
GEORGE STEWART
HENDERSON
