Sarah Palin is obviously an attractive woman, and a devoted wife and mother. She is also obviously not very well educated nor well read (as evidenced by her many confused TV interviews) and is clearly unprepared for higher office. Nevertheless many (including myself) often found her charming, and fun to watch on TV (where she often winked right at me!).

But I fear that she has become more than somewhat unhinged. Her ludicrous charge (set forth in the IR on 8/8) that Obama is preparing to establish ";death panels" to pass sentence on the likes of Ms. Palin's parents and children is beyond comprehension, and bears no relationship to anything being proposed in any of the several bills being mashed up in Congress, nor discussed in the White House. Some bipartisan proposals would let Medicare pay for optional living wills. How the far-right nut cases have managed to convince Ms. Palin that filing an already widely used document such as a living will amounts to the establishment of ";death panels" boggles the mind.

I hope Ms. Palin's misguided comments do not further inflame those angry shouters who seem to prefer violence and death threats to rational discussion.

Jerry Funk

2801 Colonial Drive