Bloggermania 2 is around the corner... Are you coming?  

I want to respond to the letter “The election choice is clear” (Sept. 5) and other comments I have heard along the same vein.

I find there to be several strong facts amongst the propaganda that we should beware:

Several weeks ago the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The decision was 5 to 4. Five justices supported the Second Amendment as written.

Although I did not think the email about Palin I posted yesterday was entirely negative about her, I recieved several complaints from Republicans that the letter was b.s., as it is colloquially called. In fairness to them I point you to one of the supporters emails coming out of Alaska, which I have no doubt is basically true.

It has been a disastrous weekend, no pun intended. Houston and southeast Texas is a mess, and there may be a number of deaths, but the devastation is so widespread that they can't even get in to look yet. I was slated to go there in two weeks, wonder if my trip will be holding up. Most people got out of there, but a huge number did not. This is starting to look like another Katrina.

After seven years, are Americans tired of reliving the memories and images of Sept. 11 on each anniversary of the attacks?

Congress expended a lot of energy debating how to solve the energy crisis before running off for summer recess for five weeks. It ended up accomplishing nothing. Now Congress is back and seemingly ready for more of the same.

In his 10 years in Congress, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, has worked hard for constituents in the Napa Valley and around his district, has climbed the congressional ladder and earned the opportunity to have voters return him to Washington, D.C., for the 111th Congress.

Dear editor, I am writing in response to the letter, “The election choice is clear,” that appeared in the Sept. 5 editorial page. Writer Chelsea Crown’s letter was short-sighted and downright mean regarding John McCain’s vice presidential choice, Sarah Palin. What does it matter what a candidate’s children are named? How can this even come into play when you are considering a candidate for public office?

Dear editor, who would have thought Rep. Mike Thompson possessed the power to destroy America? In an Aug. 7 Register letter (“Apologies for Thompson”), a conservative Republican letter writer sought to “hang” Thompson, listing all his impeachable crimes: supporting a resolution apologizing on behalf of white Americans for the transgressions of previous generations for slavery and Jim Crow laws; going on an Iraqi-funded fact-finding mission to Iraq just before the Bush invasion (while over there, did Thompson help Saddam hide his weapons of mass destruction?); failing to provide for the defense of America in a time of war (just like President Bush’s two daughters and son-in-law, Thompson did not enlist in the U.S. military and engage in Bush’s neocon Iraq war); raising taxes (this must be a misprint: I only remember Bush’s enormous tax cuts for the rich in a time of war); failing to increase California’s foreign trade (just look at the Bush Administration’s wonderful “free trade” results — the U.S. is now the world’s biggest debtor nation); and preventing oil drilling off the California coast (so what if a majority of Californians opposed off-shore drilling before the rigged increase in gasoline prices? Oil rules: under the Bush presidency, you could get a $30,000 tax rebate if you purchased a $40,000 gas-guzzling SUV).

Dear editor, I am writing to voters in Ward 3 of the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District, which includes Calistoga, Angwin, Pope Valley, St. Helena, Lake Berryessa and northeastern Napa.

Dear editor, I am troubled by Sen. Maverick, um, I mean, McCain’s trumpeting of “victory” in Iraq as if some game-ending whistle will soon blow with our team in possession of the ball and the scoreboard lights showing “invading team” leading the “home team” by a convincing margin.

Barack Obama chose Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate ... what do you think of the choice?

(Editor's note: The comments on this crashed about 9:30 a.m Friday, right after McCain's announcement. We were able to rebuild most but not all of the comments)