" I think that's great. Surely you can still write within the comments of a particular article/opinion letter, right? Best of luck to you "

" Thanks Hear Ye- I've greatly enjoyed your comments and convictions over the last few months...and yes, I should be able to join in the comments as John Q Citizen like everyone else "

" Hear Ye:
Yep, Matt can comment on any article, column, letter or blog, he just can't have his own forum until after election day passes, then we hope he comes right back blogging!

There are elected officials who do respond to stories by adding their comments. You see Supervisors Bill Dodd and Mark Luce chime in at times, as do Napa councilmembers Peter Mott and Mark van Gorder.

Matt, thanks for all the blogs and columns, we look forward to seeing your chosen topics back here the first Wednesday in November.

--Dan "

" I think the NVR should CONTINUE to have Matt blog and also ENCOURAGE any of his opponents to ALSO submit blogs if they so desire.

I can't think of a better way to evaluate their mettle... "

" Thanks Kevin- can't say that's a bad idea, as far as I'm concenred, but I suspect the folks-in-the-know at the NVR probably have some pretty good legal and logistical thoughts as to why that might not work out.

I'll still be around the comments sections and look forward to 'seeing' you all as the election draws closer.

MP "

" You're probably right Matt. Lawyers can ALWAYS find reasons why something CAN'T be done.

That's another reason why newpaper readership is DOWN all around the country... "

" I am sure all will miss Newspeak, I will and am hoping to have him win that seat on AC city council. All the best Matt. Don't forget when on the trail, you have a voice in NJ. "

" Kevin:

What we cannot do under Equal Time concept is provide an open forum without doing so for each candidate, and as you saw at Bloggermania, we are just not staffed well enough to pull that off ... yet ... but it is a great idea that is sure to come as soon as we can offer it and make it work properly "

" Wonders of wonders...the "MAGE" appears for a brief moment...he is probably under attack soooooooo.... MATT!!!!!!!! Tell the "MAGE" WE ( Bloggers here) WANT ALL CANDIDATES running for office to show up at BM#2!!!!!! At the very least actively post in here in regards to specific comments! If they can deal with that? Then they may succeed politically!...Ok DAN we
( meaning I ) got this! Go back to reading ermmmm FIGHTING Evil emails so you can come back and deliver the mighty smackdowns on us as you do only so well!......


.....Mutters where's that Flamingo and his two henchmen when ya need em? "

" Thanks very much LMW- I am humbled by your support and I greatly look forward to meeting with you and the other good folks at Napa Junction.

Keep in touch and I'll see you soon-
MP "

" Hmmm, OK AD1 you stumped me on that one- "MAGE"? "

" Matt, I will miss your logic and openmindedness. Good luck in your endevor and I wish I could vote for you. "

" Wow, thank you very much Lee- I am again humbled by your comments. Likewise, I have greatly enjoyed reading your perspectives on the many issues affecting our county and our nation.

One way or another, I look forward to restarting the column next November.

Cheers until then
MP "

" Sad to see you go, but here’s whishing you luck. I have found your pieces to be well written, reasoned and interesting as well as informative. I cannot say there was ever all that much dogma in them to object to rather a different view, perhaps more modern than my own. There are broad important systemic questions facing all Americans internationally, nationally and locally and it my hope that sound thought encouraged at the local level will aide all of us in facing an always uncertain future. No one has all the answers to the maladies that ail us but it gives comfort that some one may be willing to try a different road than the one most chosen.

My Candidate appears stuck or rather sand bagged again. Myself, I am stuck with a sack of shade grown coffee beans some where in the wilds of the Lacandón beating my burro with my wooden barreled rifle crying over the drop in Starbuck’s stock, my shattered dreams of joining the entrepreneurial class and worrying about finding an internet cafe. Traction this year will not be about the mundane and serious message of the ominous threat of corporate personhood, possibly the greatest evil, the world and locals face but rather the reinvention of the new new frontier vs. the latest version of an Eisenhower doll.

So long for now from “The Other Campaign.” "

" Thank you Bill- A.K.A. Napa County's very own "Delegate Zero".

Take it easy on the burro. As for crying about Starbuck's stock- for some reason that brought to mind a corruption of the seminal anthem from the muscial about Evita Peron: "Don't Cry for me Frappucino..."

I certainly hope you recognized yourself in the third-to-last paragraph of this week's column (beginning "Others have been something of a conscience...").

Please pardon the sandbagging at the national level- I think this year fatigue is at an all time high and that 'change' message has alot of oomph.

Hope to 'see' you on the trail- I'll just assume you're the guy with the ugly rooster. "

" The long goodbye, Thanks for the complimentary nod. I would hope you will or do realize that politics is the art of the possible and that losing is sometimes more productive than winning. Your words do not strike me as a person suffering from political naiveté rather a person attempting a willing and thoughtful response.

I was looking forward to hearing more about Stearns, as I haven’t read his book yet, and a few other matters you appear to have some expertise on. Your experience should certainly serve you and Napa well in the future especially in such a changing economic environment.

Napa is no longer a truly rural agricultural community rather one better characterized as an urban single product agricultural appendage to the San Francisco Bay. The City of Napa has rarely been a community with an identity of its own and has become rather jealous of other areas with a greater claim to industry and history. AC may not have such historical significance but it certainly has the opportunity for industrial significance especially should the City of Napa place all its eggs in the tourist basket.

My campaign to promote an American EZLN is of course going nowhere but then the EZLN is more about the recurring return from oblivion and the fight against amnesia than a dogmatic promotion of a discredited economic theory. In America and the world amnesia increasingly centers directly in the corporate board room where it is nurtured to the detriment of all peasants, indigenous or not.

The world forgets that there are more would be capitalists’ in the teeming masses than exist in any corporation, whether they are indigenous peoples suffering oblivion in the mountains of Chiapas or working peónes in the Napa Valley. "

" I took a guess to who that is in that paragraph...I was correct:))) "

" The race "for" the AmCan city council? From what I read the rats are "leaving" the sinking ship. Who would want a position on the AmCan city council? But if anyone is going to run for AmCan city council, it should be you Matt! Its kind of like when Bill Clinton was elected president. There hasn't been a lack of comedy and tragedy to compare to it. Bill Clinton spawned the wildly successful conservative radio and tv and I can only imagine what you will contribute. So, go ahead you'll fit right in and I'll be rolling on the floor laughing at your contributions to the craziness of AmCan. "

" Looks like Musikluvr read your second to last paragraph and was offended. "

" Yep, as usual, always a target on Musik's hit list. Actually his posts on AC, they have become my laugh of the day. "

" Good call Hear Ye.

I guess you're right, I must have offended him- muskiluvr must be a very sensitive soul b/c it looks like the NVR moderator also censored my response to him last night- I guess he's been deemed to be ok for dishing it out, but perhaps too delicate to take it.

Yes, he's in the textbook example of that negative 10% determined to be unhappy about everything, even if he has to make facts up to sustain that surliness.

He's also closely tied to the group that's going to try to convince us that a half-penny sales-tax to fix our roads is somehow run-away government abuse, and that if we do nothing, everything will just magically work out....so bear that in mind this fall.

Thanks to the rest of you who are actually interested in doing something positive- I look forward to working with you all.

MP "

" so musicluvr - will you be voting in AmCan's election?

Matt - you have a website up for your campaign yet? "

" Hi Sicko- not just yet, but should have one up in the coming week or two. Thanks for asking. -MP "

" You will be back after the election, right Matt? I enjoyed your input and hope to see you return to this board in the not too far future. Maybe you will consider attending Bloggermania 2? Also, good luck with the race! "

" Thanks V-D-L, I've enjoyed your input too. Yup, that's my plan right now- to come back after the election and, hopefully, to be free for Bloggermania2.

See you then
MP "