Last week, it felt as though the  California fire season for 2008 was well in the rear-view mirror.

For the newer residents of American Canyon and the special 5th District residents in Napa, I would like to let you know some of the background of the candidate from American Canyon who is running for the 5th District seat. In 1951 when the section began to be developed with its first two large subdivisions, it was an unincorporated area dependent on services from the county of Napa. Fire protection was based in Angwin, 20 or more miles away. It was apparent to the new residents that they had to provide safety for themselves.

People are getting pretty nervous, and a lot are in shock looking at their pension accounts. One friend has been saving for twenty years in a brokerage account which lost 40% of its value in the last two weeks. We own two rental houses and over the weekend found out one person hadn’t paid the rent in two months, the other was already vacated two months ago with no renters in sight. It feels like the clock is ticking on a big economic collapse and recession that is hanging over our heads and no one knows where it is going to go and how it is going to affect them. My sense is that there are a lot of nervous people out there right now, including me.

Somalia, a chronically failed state that the world wants to ignore, is back on the international agenda thanks to the quaint-sounding but deadly serious problem of piracy. Forget the Jolly Roger jokes: This year alone, bandits based on the Somali coast have attacked some 60 ships in one of the world’s busiest and most important sea lanes and have collected up to $100 million in ransom. More than a dozen vessels and 300 seamen are being held hostage. For years the United States and other Western powers have mostly ignored this scourge, even though an American-led antiterrorism naval task force has been operating off the Horn of Africa.

In the hurly-burly of a presidential campaign, voters can get caught up in distractions from attack ads to zingers delivered during debates.

Dear editor,

Dear editor,

Dear editor,

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)