Gov. Bob McDonnell, playing to his mostly-white, Conservative base, restored Confederate History Month to Virginia’s Hall of Shame recently, reversing an eight-year trend of relegating the history of the ill-fated Confederacy to its well-deserved place in the dustbin of historical mistakes. For some, dedicating a month to remembering the Confederacy is akin to declaring a [...]
Continue reading …
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate is alive an well in the Commonwealth. A report by SPLC lists 22 “hate groups” operating in Virginia to promote racism, white supremacy, black supremacy, bigotry and anti-government paranoia. In addition, the SPLC found six “Patriot” groups, including a self-styled “citizens militia” in Roanoke. That’s a lot [...]
Continue reading …
Dan Casey of The Roanoke Times resurrects a column from last year today to — once again — propose tolls or a fee for use of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Casey points to the crappy condition of some sections of the Parkway — especially the section between U.S. 460 and U.S. 220 — which many [...]
Continue reading …
Give me a gorgeous Spring day, a full gas tank on my Harley Super-Glide and an open road and I just go where the whim takes me. After breakfast with friends at the North Star restaurant south of Buchanan, I headed up U.S. 11 then up Virginia 43 to the Blue Ridge Parkway and looped [...]
Continue reading …
Anyone who rides a motorcycle knows we need all the help we can get, what with careless drivers on cell phones, wayward deer, loose gravel, potholes and God-knows-what else on the road. So several area motocyclists took the opportunity to get a little help from God over the weekend, getting their bikes blessed at the [...]
Continue reading …
Friday’s incredible weather and record-high temperatures make for great riding weather and I celebrated the day with a motorcycle ride through the Mt. Rogers Recreation Area of Jefferson National Forest from Damascus to Independence, capturing this image of white water from the rain-swollen creek along U.S. 58.
Continue reading …
In 2008, I sat with a group of local government officials in a Georgia city and listened to some of them predict that if Barack Obama won the Presidential election, he would be assassinated before ever taking office. “There’s no way the racists and extreme right-wing will let him serve a day as President,” said [...]
Continue reading …
The problem with doing an April Fool’s joke on Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is that it’s impossible to come up with anything fictitious that is more outrageous than what he will do in real life. The AG whose antics have gone so far off the reservation that even uber-right-wing Gov. Bob McDonnell has had [...]
Continue reading …