Graffiti is plain ugly, everybody knows that ... in fact, this week it's been talk of the town ... or at least the bloggers that inhabit the Napa Valley Register's Web site.

With the national gas price average topping $4 per gallon, many Americans, myself included, are depositing more of their paychecks into the gas pump.

The Summer Olympics started in Beijing on Friday, and I’m having some trouble getting excited about the spectacle this time around ... too many pro athletes, too many endorsement deals and too many sports that have passed their prime.

I can save the state of California about $1.1 million every month.

On Wednesday night, Manhattan Transfer was belting out the hits on the main stage, local teens were belting out different hits on the karaoke stage, seniors were targeting their bingo cards in an outdoor parlor and young couples were targeting balloons, floating duckies and metal milk bottles in games of chance on the midway.

Dear editor, We felt obliged to write to express our outrage at the Kimpton hotel situation. We Napans have allowed an outside special interest group to drive decision-making in our own city. Whether you agree or not with the proposal, here is what we are left with:

Dear editor, Regarding “Germans, Obama and discontent in middle America” (July 30). Having just returned from Berlin and the Brandenburg Gate in particular, I thought it was of interest the media is reporting there were 200,000 people in the square. Our tour guide informed us there were approximately 20,000 there as it doesn’t hold anywhere near 200,000. Gee, do you think the media is biased?

Dear editor, First of all I would like to start out by saying thank you for putting the notice in the Napa Valley Register about the benefit for Sky Jackson.

Yesterday the proposed election for a transportation tax died a quiet death in the Board of Supervisors chambers. I was disappointed because I would like to see the roads fixed, and I do not believe they will be fixed without one in any reasonable time frame, but I agree it was the right decision. Taxpayers are scared right now for a lot of reasons, and I think the final blow was our Governor proposing the 1 percent state sales tax.

Proposition 8, the "Limit on Marriage, Constitutional Amendment," on the November ballot, calls for an amendment to the state constitution, declaring that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

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