This whole situation with Keith Caldwell and the improper educational bonuses stinks to high heaven, and now the American Canyon City Council has added to the mess by failing to do their Democratic duty to the public and tell us the truth about what went on. It shows real gutlessness on the part of the American Canyon City Council and couldn’t be a more undemocratic decision.

I have agreed to be on the board of the Napa Valley Greenway, or as it was referred to in the paper yesterday, Napa Valley Vine Trail.

McCain is in real trouble after this debate and I feel he is handling his campaign all wrong. Tonight he was snarly and snide, and seemed frantic the whole time. Obama was smooth, relaxed and empathic and fairly specific in his proposals. He imparted the feeling that we know what he is about, like it or not.

The excellent three-day series on gangs in Napa that reporters Carlos Villatoro, Marsha Dorgan, Jillian Jones and others produced last week was so well received that the biggest concern of the online staff never materialized.

Californians will decide the fate of two energy-related initiatives next month.

Dear editor, Partisan politics during this time of year is expected on national and state issues, but rarely do we see those strategies in the local arena as was portrayed on the Opinion & Letters page on Sept. 29. And why not? Because it can be viewed as divisive and exclusive.

Dear editor, The proposal to borrow and spend $700 billion to bail out struggling Wall Street companies is precipitous, unethical and dangerous. Instead of asking taxpayers to pay those on Wall Street who created this situation with their unlimited greed, money should be spent on Main Street, for example, by helping homeowners who are struggling to stay in their homes. Surely the financial benefits of such an action would “trickle up” to help the economy as a whole and would demonstrate that our lawmakers truly do have the best interests of the public in mind.

Dear editor, I think that with or without the bailout the citizens are going to feel this recession cut them to the quick. I do not want to bail out Wall Street from its own mess. If we burn, they burn and let’s start all over. The root of the problem is the reliance on people living beyond their means and banks making money on interest rates — very much like the Mafia and its protection money. Just say no to bailout!

Dear editor, At least three years ago you invited a number of your regular opinion page contributors to a meeting to introduce us personally to key members of your staff and especially to meet the then-new publisher, Brenda Speth. I recall making a reference to the overwhelming majority of political cartoons, which were obviously slanted by demeaning our administration and our war effort. One of the cartoonists, Tom Toles of the Washington Post, had been publicly reprimanded for his ridiculing our troops by the head of our joint military chiefs of staff.

The economy is on fire and Congress, the Media, and the voters are all fiddling while it burns. We need this bail out, and we need it fast, and it is bailing out not just the big money interests, it is bailing out you and me, it is bailing out everyone. Not enough people seem to get that urgency, and we need to, fast.

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)