Hillary voters won't be swayed by Palin

In selecting Sarah Palin to be his running mate, does John McCain think he can sway some of the pro-Hillary voters to his ticket?

It seems that he thinks these women (and perhaps women in general) are so misguided and superficial that they will disregard all the issues important to them just to vote for another woman who happens to be the polar opposite of Hillary Clinton. Why else would he select a running mate with so very little of the experience that he himself deems necessary to be president?

I guess when Mr. McCain was criticizing Mr. Obama for his inexperience, he was just pandering for lack of anything to say. Or maybe he was for experience before he was against it. In underestimating pro-Hillary voters and his blatant pandering on the experience issue, Mr. McCain has shown considerable lack of judgment.

MELANIE KLAPUT
Monroeville

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Laughable criticism

Democratic criticism of Gov. Sarah Palin's experience compared to Sen. Obama's is laughable.

When a governor has to decide whether or not to sign legislation into law, develop a budget, address a natural disaster, make a decision affecting the health and welfare of the state's citizens, etc., voting "present" isn't an option. Neither is reporting "absent."

From media reports, Mr. Obama has exercised the latter two options with great regularity.

WILLIAM CASEY
West Mifflin

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A reckless choice

Is John McCain out of his mind, or is he so obsessed with winning that he would place the country at risk by his selection of a running mate who is completely and totally unqualified to serve as president?

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may be a rising star among Republican neocons, but her experience, at the level required by a serious presidential candidate, is somewhere between meager and nonexistent. I am appalled by John McCain's recklessness.

In selecting Mrs. Palin as a vice presidential candidate, the Republicans give the American public yet another reason to throw the bums out of office in November.

BYRON GOTTFRIED
Monroeville

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Insult to women

The 2008 presidential election has been historic in many ways, not the least of which is in the fact that the candidacy of Sen. Hillary Clinton, a qualified woman candidate, has advanced the idea that a woman will someday run for and win the highest elected office in the country.

Unfortunately, the nomination of Sarah Palin trivializes that idea. Would any 44-year-old man whose background was a term on city council then mayor of a hamlet of 7,500 people followed by less than two years as a governor of a state with less than 700,000 inhabitants be, under any circumstances, considered for the vice presidency? Of course not.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, Mrs. Palin is an unqualified candidate chosen solely because she was a woman. The Republican attempt at winning the votes of disappointed Hillary supporters is an insult to the female electorate. Those Hillary supporters who would vote for the McCain-Palin ticket because of that selection diminish Mrs. Clinton's candidacy and the aspirations of woman who aspire to elected office based on their qualifications and not their gender.

TOM MAY
Churchill

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Support McCain?

Please, please, will somebody please explain to me how in the world anyone can support John McCain, a man who supported the country's most inept president 95 percent of the time?

The working-class has been pummeled for the last eight years by an administration that has sent our debt skyrocketing, killed thousands of soldiers in the name of oil, pillaged our health-care programs and stripped away the rights of the middle-class workers while the big corporate honchos make so much money that they can't even count it all.

It's about time that people in this country get off their behinds, listen to other news outlets besides Fox and KDKA and quit being led around by politicians whose sole interest is in making big money for big corporations while shafting the rest of us.

And, by the way, John McCain, if you think that you can condescend to us female voters by placing Sarah Palin's name on the ballot, you are sadly mistaken. She is nowhere near qualified to be vice president and is nowhere near as qualified as Hillary Clinton to help run this country.

Shame on the American voters for letting it come to this.

MARIAN TOMICHEK
Swisshelm Park

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Gaming pays off

The public should be aware that legalized slots gaming is no longer a pilot program but a proven success in our state, even in down economic times. This fact was recently highlighted in an article in a national casino trade magazine titled, "Souring Economy Hurting Gaming? Not in Pennsylvania." It stated, "This has not been a good summer for the nation's gaming capital. Or, for that matter, just about every other gaming destination in the country. Except for Pennsylvania, where the slot parlors continue to buck the trend."

The seven operating casinos in Pennsylvania collectively generate $2.7 million per day in revenues to the commonwealth, money that not long ago flowed into other states with legalized gaming. These facilities also employ 6,200 persons while providing an additional 14,000 jobs to construction workers. In addition, these operating casinos spend a combined average of $62 million per month for goods and services provided by hundreds of small Pennsylvania businesses.

With the resumption of work at the Pittsburgh casino site, your region can look forward to a construction project that employs 1,500 workers and a facility that will, when fully operational, create 1,000 casino jobs and $335 million in annual tax revenues. The casino will also increase opportunities for businesses to supply services and attract more tourists.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board knows that the stakes are high and we accept the scrutiny that comes with our work in a new and sometimes-controversial industry. At no time, however, has this agency and board done anything except carry out the gaming law as written, and we believe these tangible results bode well for Pittsburgh.

DOUG HARBACH
Director of Communications
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
Harrisburg

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Not in the bag

I am trying to change my ways and develop more responsible habits, but I often forget to bring those woven brown bags to pack my groceries in. That's OK, Giant Eagle doesn't care.

The cashiers clearly are uncomfortable with the recyclable bag -- they don't seem to know what to do with it. One cashier picked up the bag, tossed it away and opened a blue plastic one instead. Even the self-scanner doesn't want those things around. They set off the blinking alarm because "they're too heavy." At least that cashier only punched the override button and not me or the bag.

Giant Eagle should sell recyclable bags in the aisle with household items like garbage bins, brooms and other things they don't want to see again.

TIM McGOGNEY
Morningside

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The way we were with rail service

While I laud Brian O'Neill's excellent advocacy for a New Kensington-to-Pittsburgh rail commuter route ("Track to the Future: Commuter Rail Redux," Aug. 24 column), I would like to provide some amplification regarding the entire scope of Pittsburgh rail commuter service.

The Pennsylvania Railroad commuter service, as late as 1964, extended not only to New Kensington but to Beaver Falls, Elrama, North Trafford, Steubenville and Schenley (Freeport). Besides the PRR, the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie line had service to College (Beaver) until 1985, and the PATrain (ex-Baltimore and Ohio line) to Versailles until 1989. Commuters could also board long-distance trains at Greensburg and Johnstown for the ride into town.

With the exception of a segment of the B&O from Glenwood to Downtown (now a bike trail), the tracks are still extant. Even a few station buildings remain at locations such as Wilkinsburg, Tarentum, Versailles, Homestead, Greensburg and Johnstown, the last two still in railroad passenger use.

Specifically regarding the proposed Allegheny Valley service, the original PRR commuter routes did not terminate in the Strip District, but veered away from the river, paralleling Washington Boulevard to rejoin the PRR main line just east of East Liberty, terminating at Penn Station Downtown (now Amtrak) with interim stops at East Liberty, Roup and Shadyside.

As to the sharing of lines by commuter and freight traffic, some examples of such cooperation exist in Miami; Chicago; Oakland, Calif., and other locations.

Although it is difficult to imagine a return to widespread rail commuter service, a limited demonstration project such as Mr. O'Neill advocates, might -- if successful -- provide the spark for a renaissance in Pittsburgh-area rail commuting.

PAUL F. ROTH
Squirrel Hill
The writer is the author of "Railroad Vistas: The Rail Landscape of Western Pennsylvania."

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