Amateur hour with the NFL subs

Brooklyn: The NFL is doing its best to ruin the greatest game ever. The real refs should not have been locked out. How could the NFL execs not know how difficult it is to ref a game? The skill level required to get most of the calls right and the ability to correct errors with replays is not the same in the NFL as in other levels of football. The Monday night Packers/Seahawks game was tremendous, one of the best I have ever seen in more than 40 years of watching football. The game was a loss for the NFL. The refs not only blew the call, they blew the replay. Had they made that call right, nothing else would have mattered. I bet if the fans for a single week did not watch any games on TV or go to any games in person, this whole thing would be solved in a hurry. Salvatore Luna North Woodmere, L.I.: In light of the atrocious officiating that we must endure, the NFL should institute an award for the worst call of the week. Richard Goldstein

Rule from above

Elizabeth, N.J.: Pay close attention to what Voicer Patricia Gugliemo said about Mitt Romney: Romney wants to change the fact that 47% of the nation is receiving benefits from the government and “paying no taxes.” It’s the absolute truth. Veterans, poor children, once-hardworking retirees on a small pension and a great majority of our elderly are keeping body and soul together with government programs that, for the most part, they have spent their lives paying into. Romney wants to take an ax to these programs to keep tax cuts for himself and his friends.

Stephanie Liaci

Stop the freeloaders

Westbury, L.I.: Voicer Karen McGann is correct. I do not have a problem with Americans who contributed and previously paid taxes (i.e., retired seniors). My problem is with those who did nothing and continue to suck the country dry. The ones who continually take and never give back, the ones who refuse to work or practice birth control and get everything for free. Those are the ones Romney is talking about. He spoke the truth. Linda Gastel

More taxes paid

Newark: Many of Mitt Romney’s 47% are homeowners. We pay municipal and county taxes that are not refundable. Maria Matos

Tried-and-true slogan

Quakertown, Pa.: I am always the last one to jump on the bandwagon, but “hope and change” sounds like a good thing right about now. Scott McGarvey

The tone he took

Alexandria, Va.: In all the talk about Romney’s 47% comment, there’s been no discussion of the disdainful intonation in his voice in his uttering of the word “entitled,” which is what I found most offensive. Vocal tone, along with facial expression and body lan- guage, is also why I was so disturbed by Joe Biden’s recent “chains” comments. At least the Republican hopeful had the good sense not to make his blunder in front of the subject audience.

Karen Ann DeLuca

Easy street for newcomers

Brooklyn: How can new Russian immigrants come to the United States and have a benefit card handed to them when they never put a penny into the system? Meanwhile, Americans who were born here, worked their entire lives here and paid into the system all their lives receive nothing or are put through the ringer trying to get aid. Guess it doesn’t pay to be born in America anymore, you think? Clifford F. Zeman

The guilty parties

Brooklyn: To Voicer Nicole Phipps and Michael P. Wich: We conveniently pick one person to blame when we really have to spread the blame around. The real blame should fall on Wall Street, the House and the Senate, most corporations and special-interest groups. Keep in mind that Europe is in even worse shape. Sure, George W. Bush deserves some of the blame. However, the real power and blame belong to Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Karl Rove, whom most of the media conveniently left out. Dexter Davis

Not our problem

Staten Island: I am sick and tired of hearing people complain that the city is not doing enough to accommodate them when they and their many children are turned away from shelters. Whatever happened to not having kids that you cannot support? When is someone going to stop worrying about hurting people’s feeling and address the real problem? Why does the burden of supporting the ever-multiplying families of people who can’t support themselves fall onto the hardworking people of this city?

John L. Patane

Common ill, special people

Rockville Centre, L.I.: I know that there are hundreds of thousands of people who fight bulimia every day. However, I do look with a critical eye at those like Katie Couric and Demi Lovato who are seemingly held in higher esteem, thinking that their disease is more horrific than the common man’s or woman’s. Their problems are a story to tell, but please. Demi’s admission that while she was 3 years old and in a diaper, she was rubbing her hand over her stomach and thinking in her head whether one day, “this will ever be flat.” Come on, a 3-year-old? Tom Kershis

Don’t stop for abuse

Jamaica: In response to the recent and ongoing attacks on city bus drivers, I suggest all bus drivers on the route where an attack takes place skip the stop where the attack occurred for a week. This is a city that does not care about transit workers until people really see that this is a problem. Only the squeaky wheel gets the grease in this town. Torin Reid

Eat smart

Washington: As a physician, I applaud Mayor Bloomberg’s efforts to pull candy bars, soda and greasy tacos from hospital waiting rooms. A new study in the American Journal of Medicine finds women who consume seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day decrease their heart attack risk by 25%. Why not stock vending machines with fresh fruit like apples, oranges and bananas? These foods help you stay alert, energized and out of the emergency room.

Ulka Agarwal, M.D.

Capt. Hook’s revenge

Brooklyn: Why would Voicer Alice Alter want the Daily News to print a picture from 2009 as though it was recent? Shiver me timbers! She was hornswaggled by those scallywags at Fox. No booty for her! Methinks she needs to needs to walk the plank. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! Mona Smith

Zoo invaders

Lodi, N.J.: David Villalobos claims “he loves animals,” yet the fool put the tigers at the Bronx Zoo in danger of losing their lives because he “wanted to be one with the animals.” Twenty-five years ago, another idiot caused the deaths of two polar bears at the Prospect Park Zoo because he climbed into their enclosure. We should protect the animals first. These jerks are not worth saving!

Angela Calais

Crime wave

Bloomfield, N.J.: Crowded cities with undesirables roaming the streets cannot expect the authorities to have control over rapists, needle injectors, subway pushers onto tracks and store holdup artists, especially when the Police Department is forced to reduce staff to make budget cuts. You have to expect crime to increase. Vote out the politicians who cut the budgets, or you may one day become a victim of this type of government.

Frank C. Evangelista

Bikes and the law

Bronx: It is just too much. I have always said that bike lanes were nothing more than a money grab by this mayor. If the police are going to enforce the laws, they should do it equally. If I get a summons for riding my bike not even 30 feet on a sidewalk, then they should ticket another rider who passed a red signal. Also, our Police Department should try to be nicer, instead of trying to intimidate people.

Vincent Edwards

Cussing cops

Jackson Heights: On Sept. 23, about 4 a.m., my 20-year-old college student son entered the NYPD’s 110th Precinct stationhouse. One of New York’s Finest, an African-American sergeant at the desk, muttered under his breath loud enough for everyone to hear: “Look at this m*** f*** walking in!” So much for the department’s courtesy, professionalism and respect. One of the many examples why the NYPD has lost all my faith and respect.

Catalina Canjura

Made in China

Coram, L.I.: Just read that 1.2 million people are employed by Apple in China to make its products. Everyone who buys one of these overpriced pieces of equipment is keeping an unemployed American out of work. Shame on Apple. Arlene Reilly