Rift

David SHAW'S columns are thoughtful and intelligent, but I think he really showed a failure to grasp the basis of the polarization in the U.S. ("A Polarized Society Leads to Polarized Journalism," Oct. 24). It's not about a single issue (Iraq) or a list of issues as such, like abortion, civil rights, etc. The reason most Democrats believe this is the most important election of our lifetime is that we think that the Republican leadership has firmly grasped all three branches of government, has ended the separation of powers, and is well on the way to eliminating the democratic (small "d")

For my bohemian parents, Christmas raised disturbing philosophical conflicts. Should the family that subscribes to Psychology Today, Avant Garde and Mother Jones really celebrate Christmas at all? First there was the stress of realizing that Yuletide expectations are usually born to be dashed.

"You are my baby," Nam Tran Tran Van Chuong told her then-60-year-old son one evening in the summer of 1986, kissing his hand at the dinner table. Then, pulling out a sketch of her burial plot, she pointed to the place where her husband would lay beside her, and, on the other side, the spot where their son would join them someday. It seemed a portrait of tranquillity, after years of upheaval, for this prominent Vietnamese family.

With its open floor plan and sparse contemporary furnishings, this stone barn in the vineyards of Napa Valley looks more like a city loft than a country house. Which is exactly the point, say architects Elizabeth Ranieri and Byron Kuth. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake made a mess of the 116-year-old structure, the owner took the opportunity to open a gallery and office for a small private art foundation in what had been an antique shop downstairs.

BEIRUT - They were close friends and shared a singular lineage: Both were blood royalty of the Syrian leadership caste, birthright beneficiaries of their fathers' stranglehold on the nation. But the conflict tearing Syrian apart also opened a deep rift between President Bashar Assad and Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas, a brigade commander in the country's ultra-loyal Republican Guard. On Friday,France's foreign minister confirmed that Tlas had defected. Tlas' departure from the Assad administration is the highest-profile to date, and many read the move as a sign that even Assad's inner circle is losing faith after 16 months of fighting, a savaged economy and international opprobrium.

If you love a mystery, you'll want to stay tuned to the little thriller they have going on over at the Forum. The Kings, depending on whom you believe, are either in a state of near mutiny against Coach Robbie Ftorek, or are innocent victims of an overzealous, rumor-mongering press. I tend to go with the former theory, because it's more fun. If there's one element that has been missing from the Kings the last decade or so, it's fun.

Los Angeles Auto Show co-owner Lisa Kaz and filmmaker Jonathan Yudis have their work cut out for them as producers of a proposed $12-million movie about the life of Indian mystic Paramahansa Yogananda, who introduced America to yoga in the 1920s. Kaz attends Ananda Worldwide and Yudis the Self-Realization Fellowship, California-based religious organizations that have long been at odds, although they share the same meditation techniques and spiritual master: Yogananda. "Since our master was all about harmony and compassion, it's a shame that there is still so much bitterness between Ananda and the fellowship," Kaz said.

A primary campaign, of course, is not a civil war. But the Hillary Rodham Clinton-Barack Obama contest did pit brother against sister. J.B. Pritzker backed Clinton. His sister, Penny S. Pritzker, backed Obama. But this was not just any brother-sister rivalry. This was a public split between two Chicago billionaires who are among the city's most prominent businesspeople. Now that Clinton has lost, the political rift between the heirs to the Hyatt hotel fortune is closing. J.B., also known as Jay Robert, was a national co-chair for Clinton's campaign, for which he figures he raised more than $1 million.

The Roman Catholic Church on Friday ended a schism that had divided it for three decades, as followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre were welcomed back into the fold. Vatican representative Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos declared the dispute officially over during an evening ceremony in Campos, 430 miles northeast of Sao Paulo. Followers of the ultraconservative Lefebvre, known as "traditionalists," rejected the liberalizing reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council.

Re "Political Wind Shifts in S.F.'s Chinatown," July 18: I agree with Rose Park's comment that the continual fighting between KMT [Kuomintang] in Taiwan and Communist China to win over the San Francisco Chinese does not advance causes of the Chinese community. Overseas Chinese communities have been used as battlegrounds in the past. This extension of the civil war in China since 1911 into major cities in North America has drained much-needed resources in the Chinese community to deal with local issues.