Here are letters to the editor from Daily News editions of Nov. 23, 2009:

Letter of the Day: Understand?

Editor, Daily News:

When I take my daily walk, and children are waiting for the school bus, and I say “good morning,” and they turn away and their mothers give cowering looks, I understand.

When people are losing their homes and unemployment is over 10 percent, and I turn on the TV and they want me to send $25 a month to save polar bears, I understand.

When you’re more likely to die in the emergency room if you don’t have health insurance, I understand.

When we don’t give our veterans the proper respect and health care they deserve, I understand.

What I don’t understand is how this could happen in America.

— Gabe DeRogatis

Naples

So what’s next?

Editor, Daily News:

Well, well. Finally, several of the terrorists who planned the attack on the World Trade Center’s twin towers, on that unforgettable date, Sept. 11, 2001, have been escorted out of Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp and returned to the city of their merciless attack, to stand trial.

Questions:

What was the reason for the delay in bringing these animals to justice?

Will the lawyers defending enemies of our homeland be allowed to request a change of venue? Will their motion be granted? Will all the weight of the law as specified in the book be cast upon them? Will the trial be handled properly and efficiently so as not to allow the possibility of a mistrial? How long will the trial last? Financially, what will be the final cost?

Will the monsters be found guilty and sentenced to “pay” for their hideous crimes via the electric chair?

And, when will our justice system, and the people elected or appointed to carry out the sentences to the extent of the law, stop feeling pity for people who forfeit their right to walk among us?

Last but not least, when are we going to get back on track and be once again respected by our allies and feared by our enemies?

America, wake up!

— Evelio A. Rodriguez

Naples

That does it

Editor, Daily News:

I’m fearful. Are you?

Two shocking and disturbing tidbits of news greeted me Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal: “Feds mull rules, fees to spur net access.” Washington — “Federal regulators are considering whether the government should take greater control of the Internet and ask consumers to pay higher phone charges in order to provide all Americans with cheaper access to broadband Internet service.”

Daily News: “Poll: Tax rich to pay for health care.’’ Washington — “Americans don’t want to shoulder the cost of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul themselves. They think the rich should pay for it.”

You know, I mean, why not? If they have that much money, it should be taxed ... .

When the uneducated and undereducated masses are able to elect leaders who pander to the underperforming, we are setting ourselves up for disaster. Granted, we have our share of problems in the current economic environment, but the policies being proposed seem to indicate further retraction rather than economic expansion.

One can only hope and pray that the Obama administration continues to fail miserably and becomes a one-term, do-nothing administration similar to the former President Jimmy Carter disaster.

Hopefully the voices of the productive, responsible, hardworking, tax-paying citizenry will be heard above pleas for handouts from the dependent underperformers and those they have elected, and we will again reward hard work, risk and responsibility.

I certainly hope so.

— Tom M. High

Naples

Bright idea?

Editor, Daily News:

So what’s with all the glitter in our new, improved Interstate 75?

Was the cost so high because iROX embedded diamonds in the asphalt?

Drive it for yourself. It’s really a distraction.

And you need more than just sunglasses to tone it down.

— Lori Belmont

Naples

Write and wrong

Editor, Daily News:

This is a response to Dick Duggan’s letter published Wednesday.

A safe rolling stop is still illegal — safe or not.

Perhaps every driver in Florida who doesn’t understand this concept should go to their blackboard and write the following line 100 times: If I’m driving any vehicle and there’s a red light in front of me, no matter whether I’m going straight, turning right, turning left or upside down and backwards, I must stop!”

If the idea doesn’t sink in after the first 100 times at the blackboard, perhaps a chat with any deputy/police officer to further explain the law may be required.

— Steve Crouch

Naples

Blessed be the council

Editor, Daily News:

I would just like to say whole-heartedly thank you to the Naples City Council members and anyone else who was involved with deciding the fate of Celebration Community Beach Church.

We are so blessed to have the park for five more years! That will bring joy, happiness and the love of Jesus to many Naples residents and people who come to visit from all over the world!

Our church is a unique Naples attraction, and it is involved in doing good for the people in our community and all over the world.

— Denise Godfrey

Naples

Bias bared

Editor, Daily News:

After canceling our subscription in February we still are compelled to pick up a copy of your paper after a “major story” breaks just to see the placement of the article.

The Daily News never lets us down. Evidently, Democrat Rep. William Jefferson, being found guilty of taking bribes and sentenced to 13 years prison time, is such a major story that it rated Page 18A, while “Joe the Plumber” asking President Barack Obama during the campaign if he was going to raise his taxes, thereby affecting the welfare of his family, is rated Page 1A below the fold.

We learned that Joe was late on his taxes and wasn’t a licensed plumber. (He worked under his company’s license as do the majority of the plumbers in Naples.)

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) scandal, after a week of the Daily News ignoring it, finally rated the same treatment as convicted Jefferson, buried deep inside.

All the while, Republican Mark Foley rates Page 1A for weeks for risque e-mails to a congressional page.

Republican Larry Craig is arrested in a washroom for tapping his foot? You guessed it, Page 1A for days.

Also, the deaths of our soldiers must have stopped as there is no longer the daily body count on Page 1A above the fold, and the $1.4 trillion debt pales in comparison to that massive $570 billion debt that former President George W. Bush left piled up, with every writer complaining their great-grandchildren would be paying it off for eternity.

Nary a word about the debt now.

Mr. Editor, your slip is showing.

— Robert T. Athanas

Bonita Springs

Dreadful decision

Editor, Daily News:

The day that Attorney General Eric Holder announced that four terrorists would be brought to New York to be tried in civilian court, he was asked a simple question: “Is it possible that these terrorists will receive a not-guilty verdict and be freed in the streets of Manhattan?”

Holder avoided the question, saying something like, “We have a very strong case.” He was asked three times and refused to answer each time.

The answer to this question is important. If the answer is no — it is not possible that the terrorists be found innocent — then the legal system is rigged beforehand and a farce. If the answer is yes — they could be found innocent — then these terrorists could be walking the streets of Manhattan, to the horror of the entire country.

Congress has already acted to design a military tribunal system for this purpose, so why is it being bypassed? In fact, this whole exercise is like a horrible self-inflicted wound that is totally unnecessary and will last for years.

What could Holder be thinking?

— Lee Anderson

Naples

Be careful out there

Editor, Daily News:

Deception and chicanery are the new integrity and honesty.

On a morning TV show recently there was a presentation on a matter which has reached the Senate Commerce Committee level (there’s a laugh).

The technique is in using a legitimate Web site to ensnare you in a monthly charge on your credit card which is small enough to escape the notice of many of us. If you make a legitimate purchase online, using your credit card, you may then be presented with a coupon to “save $10 on your next purchase.”

If you follow this link, which sounds good, it may lead you to a $10 saving, but it may also lead you into a deceptive sign-up which charges $10 or more per month on your credit card to retain “membership” in a club you did not know you were joining.

Since you already submitted your credit-card number, it gets forwarded to the club and you get billed every month.

Beware the small print.

This type of activity is expanding and it is making deceptive marketing practices the rule rather than the exception.

Please be careful in your online purchases.

— Charlie Berry

Naples

Paling by comparison

Editor, Daily News:

It is astounding the response to Sarah Palin’s book, or, for that matter, to her appearance anywhere!

We are repeatedly told she would not be a good candidate for the GOP: she is “dumb,” “divisive” and “hurt the ticket” during the last election. Certain voices can find nothing good to say about her.

But who are these voices? The vast majority are biased Democrat advocates! What a surprise? What is obvious is that these Democrat “experts” don’t really feel she would be a bad candidate, but, to the contrary, are absolutely terrified that she would attract an overwhelming majority of voters because she is downright “ordinary” in her appeal.

If they actually thought she would be a bad candidate, they either would be silent of would even talk her up!

In addition, when the many voters who have only been hearing all this media “tear down” actually begin to listen to the woman, her majority will further increase.

Here is a woman who has accomplished much more than President Barack Obama ever had when he ran for president, took on corruption, took on big oil, and has been found innocent of a huge number of phony ethics charges by her opponents, mainly Democrats dying to soil her name.

She is down to earth and this confuses the “intellectuals” of both parties, but it’s perfectly OK with the “ordinary” electorate.

— Donavin A. Baumgartner Jr.

Naples

The boot

Editor, Daily News:

Nice going, Rich Rodriguez.

You threw 40 years of University of Michigan football down the toilet. You hire a has-been head coach to be your defensive coordinator to replace another who didn’t know a yard marker from a magic marker.

You fight with your coaches on the sidelines. What kind of messages do you think you are sending to your players? You should be ashamed and then you should quit.

The future of Michigan football is a Michigan man.

Bring on Jim Harbaugh.

— Fred Scensny

Naples

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