In the news about the all-electronic toll plazas in Florida, there is no information about the elimination of toll-takers' jobs in this perilous job market or whether any stimulus funds, which are to increase or save jobs, are being used.

With the elimination of those salaries and the ever-increasing application of SunPass on I-95, the public needs to know the plans for the windfall of funds.

WILMA FELDER, Aventura

Skip the trial

The reason given by Democrats to justify the trial of the 9/11 terrorists in New York is that this action will demonstrate to the world the fairness of our judicial system.

Then in Senate hearings Attorney General Eric Holder said, ``Failure is not an option.'' That was reinforced by our president's statement that the mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, will be convicted and ``the death penalty applied.''

It's point, set, match. Why bother to conduct a now-impossible fair trial? Let's save the money and execute them.

FERNANDO J MILANES, Miami

Fanatics empowered

According to their attorney, the defendants in the 9/11 trial will plead not guilty in order to have a platform on which to air their views. We should also provide them with Twitter accounts so they can really disseminate their poison.

Thanks, Attorney General Eric Holder. This will surely empower the Islamic fanatics around the world. Whose side is he on, anyway?

JOSEPH BILSTEIN, Surfside

Rejecting the plan

The American people have flat-out rejected government-run healthcare. Is that perhaps why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi railroaded her so-called healthcare plan through the House of Representatives? Is that why Americans who resist purchasing an inferior government-approved health plan may be subject to fines and prison?

Americans will not accept legislation that will raise taxes, ration healthcare and place the heavy hand of government between patients and doctors.

FLORINE GOLDFARB, Pembroke Pines

Much too costly

U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart should be congratulated for having the courage to vote against the more than trillion-dollar House-passed healthcare reform bill. It is 2,000 pages of costly new federal requirements that clearly violate major campaign promises. The measure will not reduce healthcare costs and instead will add to our nation's burgeoning deficit, severely impact small businesses and cost millions their current coverage.

The Lewin Group found that the public option could cause almost six of every 10 Americans with private coverage, roughly 118 million people, to switch to public insurance. Unlike health insurers, federal insurance programs don't pay state taxes, which will cause a severe dip in state tax revenues.

Congress has rightly set out to both expand insurance coverage and reduce healthcare costs for all Americans. But without real and effective measures to reduce costs, neither goal is attainable.

SILVIA M. ESCALA, Miami

A mix of systems

A Nov. 4 letter said capitalism is the healthcare solution. In many countries -- England, France, Spain, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Australia and Russia -- healthcare systems are a mix of capitalism and socialism.

Maybe the letter writer has never known poor people in this great country of ours who cannot afford health insurance and have to wait until they are old enough to be covered by Medicare, a great idea created by the Democrats under President Lyndon Johnson's administration.