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

The Napa County Historical Society serves the public in a way that no other organization does. The Society is the only non-genealogical based research facility in Napa County. We continually add to our collection to remain the premier source of Napa County history to the world.

Times are really tough now and with the continual hike of monetary costs, people are struggling just to make ends meet.

I am writing in response to Georgiann Kite’s letter to the editor regarding her opinion that Sarah Palin does not represent the American people (“Palin’s a poor choice for the presidential ticket,” Oct. 1). I believe she does.

For the first time in a while McCain sounded like he used to, a normal person instead of a shrill, screaming negative campaigner yesterday. I actually started to like him a little bit again yesterday. Instead of slamming Obama for these fringe issues like Ayers and Acorn he is starting to talk about his own views. When a campaign devolves into nothing but screaming about how bad the other guy is you know it is over.

Today the credit markets showed the first sign of unfreezing thanks to the massive government intervention going on. The rapidly becoming famous TED spread, which is the spread between US government Treasury securities (T) and eurodollars (ED) which is now actually measured by London's interbank lending rate (LIBOR), is a measure of how much banks are charging each other for short term loans. This is the critical measure of how liquid that market is, and it dropped significantly this morning. Technical perhaps, but very good news. If there is no money flowing between banks, there is no money flowing between businesses either, for your non technical definition.

Yesterday, Jesse Jackson got some air time from saying that under an Obama administration, "Zionists" would lose influence. Pretty rich having Jackson sticking up for Israel, huh? Protecting them from an Obama administration and all.

In years past, the race for Napa City Council has drawn many a participant This year, only three candidates are running for two spots.

Dear editor, I’m afraid your Sept. 28 editorial analysis of McCain’s health plan overlooked a critical detail. John McCain wants to tax health care benefits you receive from your employer. He says this will be offset by a tax credit of $2,500 per individual or $5,000 per family, paid directly to your insurance company. For a lot of not-so-rich families, that tax will cost more than the credit.

Dear editor, I’m outraged at the $110 billion in Reid/Pelosi “pork” that was added to the so-called $700 billion bailout bill. Congress certainly deserves their low approval and no confidence rating given to them by the American people. The incompetence of Congress is only exceeded by their arrogance!

Dear editor, I have never been so concerned about the future of our country. The election of a president and vice president will not solve all the problems we face, but as the past eight years have shown, the election of the wrong people can have dire consequences — economically, environmentally, socially and internationally.

Dear editor, I always read your paper when visiting the beautiful Napa area. For many reasons I, like many other responsible voters, was very disappointed with the lack of sound judgment Sen. McCain showed in picking a running mate.

Dear editor, A couple of points in the debate which make me lean toward the McCain/Palin ticket: McCain considers health insurance a “responsibility.” Obama considers health insurance/care a “right.” Obama also considers home-ownership a “right” and not a privilege.

Dear editor, Upon returning from a business trip abroad, I enjoyed very much reading Natalie Hoffman’s “Praying and protesting” on Aug. 20. I would like to comment on Shanie Scott’s statement, “... chemical abortions, they comprise less than 4 percent of the organization’s total services,” at Napa’s Planned Parenthood, which is “a health care provider for tens of thousands of people.” That means to me that likely up to 400 abortions are occurring here in Napa annually, the killing of 400 innocent babies, as far as I am concerned.

Dear editor, I was surprised to read what has transpired at this venerable estate since my father Walter Schug joined Joseph Phelps Vineyards as its first wine maker and vice president from 1973 to 1983.

Dear editor, Do people stop to think that the power and money they give to the government when those they like are in place remain when those they don’t like get elected?

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)