Victoria Ayotte-Brown: Drinking age is hot topic

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1: A proposal by college presidents to lower the drinking age to 18 generated a spirited debate among JournalStar.com commenters, with 91 published comments.

“Eighteen-year-olds will be a major force in the election for president this year. They are also the ones dying overseas in Iraq. Saying that they can do these things but can’t legally drink a beer is ridiculously hypocritical,” as said. “Look at Europe where kids as young as 16-18 are exposed to drinking and believe it’s normal to have wine or some other beverage with a meal. Of course kids here will see how much of a keg they can down in one drink when they are consistently pushed away from it by the do-good nanny state we have become.”

Pete wrote: “This is the solution from our highest educated faction? Help! Talk about tunnel vision. All this would do is make the problem someone else’s. Glad to read UNL didn’t sign on.”

“I would say if they are going to lower it, make it 19. We don't need high school seniors boozing during the school year,” K commented.

2: Letters, 8/20: President is not to blame; 65 published comments.

Judging from the comments on Richard Pullman’s letter, many people think President Bush is at least partly to blame for budget troubles.

“Richard, when Republicans vote in lock-step with everything Bush decrees, and there is a 50-49 Dem. majority in the Senate (Lieberman doesn't count, and that's not enough to break filibusters), that means Bush has tremendous powers in dictating budget numbers to Congress,” JT wrote.

Ray-J was one defender: “Richard, you my friend have hit the nail squarely on the head. Of course it is always easier to blame the president rather than to take on the real culprits. Just look at the Democrat-led Congress we have now, a 9 percent approval rate, but you don’t hear the liberal whiners and press saying anything about that, do you.”

3: Affirmative-action ban gets enough signatures; 64 published comments.

Many commenters hailed news that the proposal to ban affirmative action garnered enough signatures to get on the ballot.

“If this passes it will show that Nebraskans are tired of being duped into reverse discrimination,” Eric said. “Yes, affirmative action is discrimination in its purest sense. You are given something based on your gender or skin color. That is wrong no matter how you look at it. It is time to stop this practice and even the playing field.”

But John said: “After over 200 years of discrimination, it only took 40 years for the discriminators to feel we are all now equal. Someone must be very average to feel that they are now the ones being discriminated against.”

4: Beutler’s home stimulus plan laid out; 56 comments published.

All but a handful of people slammed the mayor’s revised program to stimulate home sales.

“You've got to be kidding me! If you can afford a $325,000 home, you don't need a $5,000 rebate. If the city can find $600,000 to benefit a handful of people, why are we cutting city services, jobs and letting our parks and roads fall apart? That $600,000 of my tax money should be used to benefit everyone in the city,” DA commented.

“You want to stimulate the market, bring in more companies and jobs,” Beaker wrote. “Moving people from home to home is just churning the money pool. It doesn't create a long-term solution to current issues. It only works to artificially prop up a weak market.”

5: Letters, 8/22: Don’t feel sorry; 47 comments published.

Bruce Trautwein argued in his letter that people should not feel sorry for the town of Postville, Iowa, site of an immigration raid on the meatpacking plant there.

“I think you need to include the nation in people not to feel sorry for,” Hey Bruce wrote. “After all, we are outraged at illegal immigrants, yet we turn a blind eye when we enjoy the benefits of their labor.”

Also drawing many comments was Robert Kay’s letter that the goal of the war in Iraq was not oil: “How profound is anyone’s ignorance who thinks we weren't after oil in Iraq. That is the main unspoken reason the oilman in charge invaded Iraq. He was afraid the terrorists would get a stronghold on the country and cut us off,” Oh Robert commented.

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