NSA surveillance program has merit

To the editor:

For all the conspiracy folks who worry that their privacy is being compromised, get a grip. Nobody is trying to hide anything from you about the ongoing national security effort to track telephone calls. What’s happening is all out there, in print and on the news, about the database of billions of calls collected since 2006 (which preceded President Barack Obama).

The data collected includes the phone numbers involved, the time, date and duration of calls. It has been emphasized over and over that the current program doesn’t include listening to conversations.

The National Security Agency stores the data and can use it to detect patterns of calls that might provide intelligence about terrorist activity.

The ongoing operation was started by President George W. Bush, with the sole intent of protecting you, me and the country.

RON LOWE

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.

Domestic enemies

To the editor:

Regarding your Thursday editorial, “Government way off-balance on privacy,” who’s doing the surveillance is the real problem.

There’s a pattern here. In the last Democrat administration, terror bombings — the Khobar Towers, the USS Cole, United States embassies in Africa — were treated like shoplifting. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton’s FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives murdered the administration’s domestic enemies at Waco and Ruby Ridge.

It was only through the intervention of alert private citizens that several terror attacks were prevented on President Barack Obama’s watch, while others slipped through unimpeded. National Security Agency surveillance so far cannot identify millions of illegal immigrants, nor has it prevented Chinese and Iranian hackers from stealing military and commercial secrets.

Under Mr. Obama, Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers ignored the Bernie Madoff scandal, and Fast and Furious ATF agents shipped guns to Mexican gangsters. Mr. Obama isn’t interested in the slightest in fighting foreign enemies. Mr. Obama’s NSA is a tax-funded opposition research arm of the Democratic National Committee.

LYNN MUZZY

MINDEN

Save money, learn English

To the editor:

I just read that Gov. Brian Sandoval signed the $50 million bill to improve the academic performance of second-language students (“Bill to aid English-language learners signed,” Thursday Review-Journal). I’m assuming that most of these students speak Spanish, and their parents are probably here illegally. So once again, as taxpaying American citizens, we are footing the bill for this program. Does anyone else see the hypocrisy here?

This country already spends billions of our tax dollars each year to print a plethora of government documents in English and Spanish. You can’t dial a customer service number without getting an annoying greeting in both English and Spanish. I can’t even go to the self-checkout at my local grocery store without having to select English or Spanish. Every government agency now has to have Spanish-speaking employees to provide service for those who cannot speak English. The list goes on and on.

Our government has made Spanish a second language in this country, and then our legislators wonder why these children aren’t learning English. Are these politicians that stupid? Wake up and smell the coffee. Our illegal Hispanic immigrant population doesn’t have to learn English because everything is available in Spanish. This article points out that this spending is necessary to “prevent the loss of English skills that students often experience over summer break.” Gosh, what do you think causes that? Maybe the fact that their parents and family members all speak Spanish because there is no incentive for them to speak English?

Instead of us paying another $50 million over two years, we could save billions of dollars each year by eliminating the dual-language system in this country, which is the root of the problem. If people in this country must learn English to survive and prosper, they will. English has always been our national language, and that’s in jeopardy. We shouldn’t let the influx of millions of illegal immigrants change our language.

R.J. PALYO

HENDERSON