Carly at the Movies: This is Coen Brothers Country

Carl Larsen

Column by Carl Larsen Lucky for us film fans, the Coen Brothers march to the beat of their own bizarre drum. Their latest offbeat effort, “Burn After Reading,” is currently playing at the Colonial Mall Cinemas and will soon move to the Dixie in Downtown Staunton. The Coen Brothers, Ethan and Joel, write and direct…

Waynesboro: Credit union wins three state awards

Chris Graham

Staff Report The Waynesboro-based DuPont Community Credit Union has won three community service awards in competitions sponsored by the Virginia Credit Union League and the Credit Union National Association. DCCU earned a first-place award in the Desjardins Youth Financial Education Awards, which honor credit unions for their commitment to teaching personal finance basics to young…

Local Politics: A view of the ’08 election from BRCC

Chris Graham

Story by Riley Murray blueridgedata.blogspot.com In the swing state of Virginia, the deadline of Oct. 6 for voter registration is fast approaching. Across Virginia, voter registration efforts are breaking records. With the race for the White House entering its last full month, the focus is on the Shenandoah Valley region. This rural region, in the…

White House ’08: McCain has to stick with Palin

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] I wrote a piece yesterday about the growing sentiment among conservatives that it might be best for John McCain’s sinking campaign if Sarah Palin would volunteer to step aside as the GOP vice-presidential nominee in favor of another more seasoned candidate. Here’s what I think – that would be the…

Carly at the Movies: Pretty dreary ‘Nights in Rodanthe’

Carl Larsen

Column by Carl Larsen “Nights in Rodanthe” is the fifth novel by Nicholas Sparks to be adapted for the screen, and it’s a natural disaster in more ways than one. Diane Lane and Richard Gere star in a film that’s light on believability and heavy on emotional baggage. And the fact that they were so…

White House ’08: Obama nearing biggest lead of ’08 cycle

Chris Graham

Item by Chris Graham [email protected] Two national tracking polls have Barack Obama opening the biggest lead of the fall campaign and close to the biggest lead of the ’08 campaign cycle over John McCain. Gallup’s tracking poll has Obama ahead of McCain by a 50 percent-to-42 percent margin. Those numbers are based on interviews conducted…

William Owens Jr.: Obama’s speeches don’t talk much about history

AFP

Column by William Owens Jr. History is rarely reflected upon by Obama or included in his stump speeches unless it is biographical. Why? Obama thinks we need to redistribute wealth, and history has shown it does not work (just ask Eastern Europe). Should Obama cite Marx or any other socialist philosophers he subscribes to, history…

W.R. Marshall: The new McCarthyism of the anti-intellectual right

Letters

Column by W.R. Marshall “A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now.” – Thomas Pynchon Why Pynchon? Because he appeals to the intellect. And because it’s literal. There is a screaming across the sky, a constant shrill chorus filling the air. And it has…