Today there will apparently be a historic second vote in the House on the bailout bill for Wall Street and some say Main Street. Like everybody else, we have no idea if the bill will do what supporters hope it will, but we do know that if it passes, the Poobah, as a result of donations to his Congressperson, will get to write off 100% of the cost of a shiny new red Hummer he’s always wanted really, really badly. And, it will come with a handful of children’s wooden arrows made in Oregon and a couple of cases of Virgin Islands rum.

"Why shouldn’t everyone else in the United States pay for the Poobah’s new car, after all, he’s been a good friend of mine?" says the Poobah’s Congressperson. And it’s not like the Poobah is selfish. "I think," he says, "that everyone in the United States ought to get a free new car, paid for by somebody else."

We don’t know about the rest of you, but when it comes to times of national crises, we’re glad to know our country is in the hands of the best Republicans and Democrats that money can buy.

P.S.  If you don’t understand the attempt at humor here, please review highlights of the proposed bill.

Nearly 11 months to the day since adventurer Steve Fossett disappeared, the remains of the single engine plane he was flying at the time have been found in the Eastern Sierra’s Minaret Range near Mammoth Lakes. Remains of the Bellanca Super Decathlon were located three days after a local day-hiker found Fossett’s pilot’s license, a glider license and a membership card for the National Aeronautic Association. The area where the plane was located was flown over 19 times by the California Highway Patrol in last year’s search.

To sailors, Fossett was probably best known for his Morelli and Melvin-designed, 125-ft Cheyenne, which held the Jules Verne ’round-the-world record at 58 days and 9 hours, and the West-East Transatlantic Record of 4 days and 17 hours until 2007. In the roughly twelve years Fossett spent chasing sailing records, he racked up an impressive list of records that included nearly every major passage record around the world. Indicative of his aptitude for the sport, Fossett’s first-ever solo offshore race was the stormy 1994 Route du Rhum, where despite having way less than a year of large multihull sailing under his belt, he finished fifth in his ORMA 60 Lakota, just behind some of the most storied names in French shorthanded offshore sailing. To see a comprehensive list of Fossett’s achievements whether terrestrial, nautical or aeronautical, visit www.stevefossett.com.

If you enjoy sailing up to the Delta, a proposed project to improve water quality and fish habitat may affect your future plans. "The Franks Tract Project . . . involves installing operable gates to control the flow of water at key locations to limit the movement of fish and higher salinity water into Franks Tract during certain times of the year," a project newsletter from the Department of Water Resources explained.

Project Manager Ajay Goyal noted that it’s likely only one gate will be installed, but there are five possible locations for it — four on Three Mile Slough, one on False River (though Goyal said recent analysis has shown that a gate at False River might not "provide benefit"). Goyal confirmed that whatever its final location, the gate will not restrict boat traffic.

As Goyal explained it, the gate would be closed on either a flood or ebb tide, whatever is most beneficial to the Delta’s ecosystem. During those times, day or night, boats — including sailboats with normal draft, say six feet — would lock through the gate. When the gate is open, regular boat traffic through the channel would resume.

It seems likely that the gate will be located on Three Mile Slough. As a popular shortcut between the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, the construction of the gate will undoubtedly impede traffic at some point, but it sounds as if the agencies involved really value the public’s input. To that end, there will be four public scoping meetings next week to field questions and concerns about the project:

• Monday, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in Sacramento at the Federal Building, Room C-1001/1002
• Tuesday, 6-8:30 p.m. in Rio Vista at the Memorial Building
• Wednesday, 6-8:30 p.m. in Antioch at the Contra Costa Library
• Thursday, 6-8:30 p.m. in Stockton at the Memorial Civic Auditorium, North Hall

For more on the Franks Tract Project, go to www.water.ca.gov/frankstract.