Columnists

Keith Olbermann’s Countdown has its Worst Person In The World award each night. Today we present the Worst Blog or Column Entry in the East Bay. -more-

A familiar American aphorism is “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” In 2000, Karl Rove convinced Americans that a relatively unknown Texas governor could be a competent president. In 2008, John McCain’s Rove, Steve Schmidt, argues that an even more obscure Alaska governor will make a credible vice president and likely 45th president. Are Americans about to be fooled again? -more-

Natural history writers don’t get a lot of perks. But the California Academy of Sciences, which reopens Sept. 27, did invite a bunch of us ink-stained wretches to a mid-afternoon buffet at the newly reconstituted museum in Golden Gate Park on Sunday (tasty microcheeseburgers, samosas, and chicken-on-a-stick) and let us wander among the exhibits, -more-

Legendary lumberman Zimri Brewer Heywood (1803-1879) left behind many legends. Retracing his history through original 19th-century documents (see “Zimri Brewer Heywood: Separating Fact From Myth,” Sept. 4, 2008) reveals that while some of the oft-recounted stories have no basis in fact, there are others, largely unknown until now, that are just as absorbing as the myths. -more-

I built my house from barley rice -more-