Victoria Ayotte Brown: Palin announcement sets online world abuzz

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1. Sen. John McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for Republican nominee for vice president is bound to be a lightning rod, judging by the responses of Journal Star commenters. The story was the most-commented of the week, with 127 opinions published. The Sound Off question “Does Sarah Palin’s candidacy make you more likely to vote for John McCain?” garnered even more responses: 189.

“She is an amazing woman. I find it ironic that Obama preaches ‘change’ and getting rid of the old Washington way, yet he picks a Washington veteran as his VP choice,” HuskerFan45 commented. “For the record, as a governor she has more executive experience than Obama.”

From Moppel: “The choice of Sarah Palin as VP absolutely mystifies me. Does the McCain campaign really think they can please women voters by picking a woman who is not just pro-life but super pro-life? And what about her less than two-year experience as governor. Before that she was mayor of a small town with a population of under 7,000. Is this really enough experience to qualify her as VP? If you think so, then you can’t argue against Obama’s qualifications either.”

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2. Council to Peter Rabbit: Hit the trail; 89 comments published.

The Hickman horse story continues to have legs, and this time more defenders of Hickman officials’ position chimed in.

“Why does everyone think that this horse should be grandfathered in? The ordinance was passed in 1988. The property was annexed by the city in 2006. Clearly the horse was not part of the city before the law was in effect, and there is nothing for the horse to be grandfathered in on,” Tired of Whining wrote.

Hickman Resident said: “This whole situation is a waste of time, effort and money. The amount of negative coverage this has received has hurt the potential for our town’s growth far more than an aging horse ever could. Although the council claims that they have not heard much in the way of support for Peter Rabbit, I believe that public opinion favors the horse.”

3. Vise-Grip plant in DeWitt to close; 55 comments published.

“My heart goes out to those employees who have lost their jobs,” kevin cooksley said. “It flies in the face of good business sense to dismantle a successful business with a high-quality, proven product and ship it overseas where it will become something less.”

An American that supports DeWitt wrote: “First off I grew up as one of the 598 that the DeWitt population sign has posted for what seems like forever. It is true that everyone has had this fear that this day was coming, but that still doesn’t make it any easier.”

4. Census: More Nebraskans without health insurance; 52 comments published.

Many commenters had little sympathy for those lacking health insurance.

“Why is someone else’s choices on health care spending our business?” Mark asked. “I’m shocked that it’s only 13 percent. I thought we were in some sort of a crisis. Don’t mess with the best care in the world by turning it over to the people that run the DMV so efficiently.”

But Ed said: “More uninsured … that is not a measure of success; it is a failure. There are critics who would let others suffer, that has been the outcome of having (Rep. Jeff) Fortenberry and (Gov. Dave) Heineman supporting cuts in taking care of the poor, those in need, and children. If we are a moral nation, then we need to start applying Christian values, and if churches aren’t providing coverage, then we have an obligation to assure government is doing its part.”

5. Letters, 8/27: Let drivers decide; 46 comments published.

Sara Graham’s letter spoke against a proposed law to make not wearing a seat belt a primary offense. Many commenters seemed to favor the proposed law.

“Ms. Graham, of course the law is being ‘pushed for cash.’ What is wrong with that? What is so terrible about wearing a seat belt that you can’t even manage to do it for the public good? Perhaps the state should just increase everyone’s taxes to pay for highway maintenance,” Laurie commented.

“Do we need to be policed on this? No,” We all know wrote. “We are smart, and most people wear their seat belts. So why do we need to feel someone must tell us this? Make zero sense. If anything this insults my intelligence.”

Reach Victoria Ayotte Brown at 473-7338 or vayotte@journalstar.com.