www.roanoke.com

Ride Solutions, local political blog Star City Harbinger and the Fork restaurants owned by Roanoke City Councilman David Trinkle (Fork in the Alley and Fork in the City) are teaming up in a get-out-the-vote effort on Tuesday.

Ride Solutions will help get you to the polls if you need assistance. And if you wear your "I voted" sticker to one of the restaurants afterward, you'll get 10 percent off the price of your meal.

Members of the local chapter of Drinking Liberally will be gathering at Fork in the Alley that night - drowning their sorrows if the latest polls are any indication.

I don't know whether to be grateful or not for an item posted on the Richmond Times-Dispatch offering assurance that the flu doesn't have to scare off trick-or-treaters this Halloween. It hadn't occurred to me to regard the little ghosties and ghoulies as a real threat this year, but it should have, given the early flu season and the reported ease with which the H1N1 virus is transmitted between humans. So, to open the door to the kids, and maybe a case of the flu, or not? I'm going to risk it, but follow safety tip No. 1: drop the candy in the bag; avoid direct contract with the visiting humans. Assuming they are humans.

The religious right wants you to celebrate Halloween this year.  No, not in all its pagan glory, in all its damning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to hell glory.

At overturnroe.com, they urge good Christians to download a pdf of the Democratic duo (warning, 4 mb), head to Kinkos to print out a large version, and burn it in effigy on Halloween.

I suspect they would have included President Obama in the fun, too, but there's a law against threatening the president. Then again, as the host says, "No, this is not a threat to their body, but it is a threat to their soul."

I know this shouldn't be funny, but the video instructions and sample are hilarious. Do yourself a favor and watch.

"If you win this battle over health care but you lose your soul, it's a bad deal."

I can't wait to check back next week to see the best videos America's Christians submit. The grand prize is an expenses-paid weekend in Washington during the Roe vs Wade anniversary, Jan 22-24, including pro-life training seminar, and the full Insurrecta Nex television series. With that up for grabs, competition is sure to be fierce.

(h/t: David Weigel at The Washington Independent.)

Google Voice  has a feature that will transcribe voice mail and send it to you via e-mail. I imagine it's handy, when the transcription works. Former Roanoke Times reporter Andrew Kantor shared a transcription from a recent robocall from Creigh Deeds that didn't turn out that well for the gubernatorial candidate, unless there's a hidden vote out there for creepy rapists:

<em>I don’t know what your with creepy. It’s for governor. I know how important this rapist. If you could give me a moving forward and I know the work with you on the ground makes a big difference. The Washington Post and doors creepy. It’s great to get. I have record of achievement as a legislator Election Day, Tuesday, December 3rd. But we need your help in Virginia today. Call me at the polls on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd between 6 and 7 PM. Developer credence for governor.</em>

Shannon for attorney general

The Fairfax delegate promises legal leadership free from ideology, unlike his opponent.

(via Metafilter) I didn't intend or really have the time to read this lengthy, spectacular piece on aging written by a 68-year-old magazine writer. It's a captivating look at the way life changes as you get old.

Here's a brief excerpt, but I recommend the entire piece. Just wait to start it until you actually have the time:

You get old, people don’t notice you. You sit at a bar, sipping your Jim Beam Black, neat now, no water, no ice, when a pretty woman in her 40s sits next to you. You smile at her, say hi. She looks at you and through you around the bar.

You get old, young guys don’t get pissed off anymore that you’re lifting heavier weight than they are on the preacher-curl bench. Now they say, “You sure that weight isn’t too heavy for you, sir?” They used to call you Mack. When you were younger you would have said, “Mind your own goddamned business!” Now you say, “Thanks, guy, I think I can handle it.”

You get old, you lose your anger. It takes too much energy to be angry when you’re old. You have more important things to do with your waning energy, so you hoard it like a dwindling resource.

Talking Points Memo reported yesterday that former President Bush has a new gig. Unlike past ex-presidents, Bush isn't forming a global foundation to address health care, economic issues and education. He isn't getting involved in Habitat for Humanity. He isn't even simply retiring to the ranch in Crawford.

Nope. He's headlining a motivational seminar in Fort Worth, Tex. You can attend - for just $19 (for your entire office).

Other motivational speakers on hand include Terry Bradshaw, Colin Powell and Zig Zigler. Years ago, my brother, then a salesman, went through a Zig Zigler phase, and I was subjected on a drive from Houston to Kansas City to hours of this guy's spiel. The only part I remember is that he didn't call his alarm clock an alarm clock. He called it an "opportunity" clock.

Certainly, Bush should be able to top that.

I really don't know what to make of this, other  than it is entertaining political theater: As part of a stunt put on by The Yes Men - a group I've never heard of, but maybe should have - someone claiming to represent the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held a press conference announcing the Chamber had reversed its position on climate change and was getting behind strong legislation to limit carbon emissions.

It got really interesting when a real Chamber of Commerce representative crashed the party.

The Kaiser Foundation's statehealthfacts.org has posted an updated State Fiscal Distress chart that looks at foreclosures, unemployment and food stamp requests in each state.

Virginia's a tad high on foreclosures but holding its own in the other two categories. Each state has shed jobs, most taking more severe hits than us. Which, I suppose, should position us better to recover more quickly. We can but hope.

When told that health care reform looks like a "train leaving the station with President Obama at the wheel," recently on Fox News, GOP Chairman Michael Steele responded, "I'm the cow on the tracks. You're gonna have to stop that train to get this cow off the track to move forward."

Apparently, Steele isn't too familiar with what happens to cows that go head-to-head with trains.

Follow this link for an example. The video itself isn't graphic, but there is some bad language from the engineer.