Lining up already for Hooters

Brooklyn: For once I have to agree with Denis Hamill (“Everybody loves Hooters,” column, May 3). The pinheads of nouveau Park Slope are trying to stop Hooters from opening near the Barclay Center, while just a few years ago they were heralding the opening of Babeland, a sex shop, just a few blocks from the proposed location for Hooters. Tom Prendergast

Belle Harbor: Kudos to Denis Hamill! Hooters would be a welcoming place in Park Slope, considering all you see now is hipster places owned by out-of-towners who think they’re from Brooklyn and look at me like I’m a tourist when I was born and raised here. Bring it on, Hooters! I work in the area and would definitely go. Grace Crehan

Woodhaven: When will these holier-than-thou, not-in-my-backyard types realize that they don’t get to decide what does and does not “belong” in “their” neighborhoods? Tom Turro

Hurting his cause

Manhattan: Who can possibly disagree with state Sen. Ruben Diaz when he says abortion is killing (“Pol uses Hitler vs. abort law,” May 2)? If not a life, what on earth could a fetus be — a yellow submarine? However, when he compared Hitler “choosing” to kill Jews with women “choosing” abortion, he crossed the line into bigotry. What’s next a Nuremburg trial or a burning at the stake? Suzy Sandor

Hitting a Wall

Seaford, L.I.: What did the Occupy Wall Street marchers accomplish? The same as before: nothing. Margaret Rogers

Barking up the wrong tree

Clifton, N.J.: Voicer Art Kiernan’s feedback on Denis Hamill’s April 29 column (“Vile mutts nip at Prez”) typifies conservative Karl Rove syndrome: misunderstand, mislead and misstate. Hamill was calling someone who would shoot his dog if it were named Obama an ignoramus; one can champion free speech and expression without condoning ignorance. It was clear that Hamill has the conscience to walk away from hate speech without denying a citizen the right to free speech.

Ronald K. Samuel

Oval Office blame game

Middle Village: Thanks, Voicer Elena Andrusezko, for reminding us of what President Obama lets us know every chance he gets: that it’s former President George W. Bush’s fault. When Obama was running for President, I’m sure he knew what he was getting into, and now that he can’t fix it, it’s easier to just blame the other guy. Robert Hagon

Don’t tread on me

Staten Island: The only person who can dance on Osama Bin Laden’s grave, since he was buried in the ocean, is President Obama, because he walks on water. Salvatore Oliva

Dream on I

Yonkers: So unctuous Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver believes the tuition aid bill for children of illegal immigrants is “a matter of human dignity” (“Yes, dream,” May 2). This is a detestable piece of legislation and a slap in the face not only to the families of American citizens struggling to pay college fees, but also to those immigrants who came to America legally who likewise find extreme difficulty meeting those costs. This is shameless vote-pandering and represents the odious, but typical liberal, orthodoxy: Play by the rules, and you’ll be fleeced; break the rules, and even the law, and you’ll be rewarded. The state Senate must halt this outrage.

James Mccaffrey

Dream on II

Brooklyn: Paying tuition for illegal immigrants is topsy-turvy. Let’s concentrate on the families in our city who are here legally and have children who need college tuition. Why encourage illegal immigrants to come to our country to get their children a free education? Rita Leslie

Life in the fast lane

Oceanside, L.I.: To stop cars from running off the Bronx River Parkway, they’re putting up concrete barriers. So now, instead of being flung off the road, cars will be bouncing around like a cue ball on a pool table on the road. How about enforcing the speed limit, or maybe lowering it?

Anthony La Land

Weighed down by anchor

Peekskill, N.Y.: I think Ann Curry is the main reason the “Today” show has lost viewers. She’s a lovely presence to report occasional news stories, but she doesn’t work as Matt Lauer’s co-anchor. Annie Becker

Strange bedfellows

Belleville, N.J.: To Voicer Michael Murphy, who feels that NBC News and the Democrats are in bed together: If that is the case, then how would you describe the relationship between the Republicans and their propaganda machine, otherwise known as Fox News? Michael Schnackenberg

Harsh lesson

Manhattan: I retired as an assistant principal from The Mohegan School, PS 67 in the Bronx, in 2006. During my tenure, the new library was completed and I was able to convert the old library into a much-needed science lab. As an award-winning science teacher, I was so excited that I literally washed dirty windows before our grand opening. We were able to reduce the number of lunch periods so some children no longer had to eat lunch at 10:30 a.m. Locating a sixth- to ninthgrade school at PS 67 (“Little kids, big fears,” May 2) after eliminating the sixth through eighth grades because that wasn’t working makes no sense. Neither does using the beautiful new library to hold classes in. I retired at age 58 because I could no longer tolerate change for change’s sake.

Gail Bernstein Paris

Ode to the ELA

Brooklyn: I hope that I shall never see/a talking pineapple, yam or a talking tree./or a dog who likes to dig/maybe next year the story will be a talking fig/students sat for three long days/for 90 minutes, 2 hours and 15 minutes, or 3 hours/aren’t you amazed?!/during the test teachers circulated/will their walking also be evaluated?/using “sound words” audible to an ear/maybe next year, the test will be fair.

Deborah Knutsen-kontos

Hard to swallow

Long Island City: Re “A dangerous attack on school breakfast” (Op-ed, April 25): Regardless of family income, all 1.1 million New York City students can eat a free breakfast in school every morning. We introduced free universal school breakfast eight years ago to ensure that every student has a healthy, nutritious meal at the start of the day, and every year we have seen an increase in the number of breakfasts served. We have continued to expand breakfast in schools by giving principals the option of making it available in classrooms.

Eric Goldstein Department of Education CEO, School Support Services

For the good of the public

Manhattan: I applaud Chief Judge Johnathan Lippman’s decision to require applicants for admission to the New York Bar to perform 50 hours of pro bono work. Not just the poor, but middle-class families have been priced out of the legal system. More and more parties are going unrepresented even in very complicated cases. This can rob our civil justice system of equal protection under the law. In fact, though the new admission mandate is likely to produce at least 500,000 pro bono hours a year, it will only begin to address the need. Ben Flavin

This was only a test

Valley Stream, L.I.: I just saw another test of our so-called emergency alert system, and it was a failure, to say the least. The transmission, over cable TV in my own living room, was about as audible as an announcement on a subway platform. The system has been in operation for years, yet it was never used when our nation was attacked 9/11. I believe the millions spent on this system are just an appeasement to taxpayers and emergency workers.

John Esposito