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.

California has a seemingly endless number of fascinating nooks and crannies, places where human history touched down for just a second or where some natural feature is the only one of its kind — or spots where the natural and the historical came together to make a location memorable, like the James Dean Tree near Cholame, Captain Jack‘s Stronghold near Tule Lake or Scotty‘s Castle in Death Valley.

What you post is there for everyone to see, and it stays there for everyone to see.

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.

The fates of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are chief among the many issues that are still unresolved in the war between Georgia and Russia. What’s clear, however, is that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili ordered his country’s military to assert his authority over South Ossetia by force.

Dear editor, My wife and I bought a yellow Lab in May of this year. We have a 4 1/2-year-old son and thought it would be great for him to have a dog to grow up with. This dog is five months old now and is an amazing member of our family. He can’t stay away from our son no matter what he does to him, i.e. sit on his head, etc.

Dear editor, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article in the Aug. 15 Register about Sequoia Grove, the winery I founded many years ago. However, rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated. In lieu of flowers I will gladly accept donations to my retirement fund! I am alive and well — and completing a novel about that same period of time that I lived in your article about Sequoia Grove. Glad I was able to enjoy it!

Dear editor, After the publication of his book in 2004 smearing John Kerry, Jerome Corsi is at it again — pumping out lies about the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee. Corsi’s new book, “Obama Nation,” is full of the deceptions, contradictions and distortions that characterize his writing. Mr. Corsi has, in the past, alleged that George W. Bush is trying to dissolve our borders with Mexico and Canada, that oil is inexhaustible, and that the government caused the Twin Towers to fall on 9/11.

Fareed Zakaria, one of the most insightful and interesting writers on issues of general political importance to Americans, has recently written a follow up book to his last one, "The Future of Freedom.” The new book is called, "The Post American World.” Both books are outstanding and I would recommend them to anyone.

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.