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To most people, a can of soup is an afterthought -- something extra to add to a meal, or a warm accompaniment to a cold sandwich on a winter day.

To Marian Lawler of Salem, it's a lifeline.

"It comes in handy," the 81-year-old woman said Wednesday morning as she stood in the immaculate living room of her trailer home. "If I don't get it, I wouldn't eat."

As the Roanoke Local Office on Aging's Soup for Seniors drive draws to a close this year, the community's generosity has once again fed the elderly hungry and disadvantaged and uplifted their spirits knowing that someone cares.

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Joe the plumber, make room for Beth the mom, Stephanie the small-business owner, Brian the nurse, Jacob the home-schooled teen and countless other Sarah Palin enthusiasts who introduced themselves to the vice presidential nominee Monday by way of homemade signs.

"When I look at her, I see myself," said Beth Thomasson, clutching a bright orange "Moms for Sarah" sign with large, blue block letters as she stood on the field at Salem Stadium. "I see a woman raising her family and running a business."

Thomasson, of Roanoke, was one of 16,000 people at the political rally who represented the different constituencies drawn to Palin and presidential candidate John McCain. Read more »

We take a break from politics to reinforce that long-held, American tradition of parents taking care of their children -- no matter what age. What a novel concept.

On Thursday, the state Department of Social Services got their woMan. One of Virginia's "Most Wanted" deadbeat parents, a mother named Wendy Marie Gentry was arrested on charges that she owes her two adolescent boys $24,878.25 in child support.

A woman making the list is rare, state officials say. Only about 12 percent of parents without custody are women.

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At 6 p.m. Tuesday, the doors opened to the Belmont Community Health Center's monthly clinic.

By 6:15, the place was swarming with people from Southeast Roanoke and a few who had driven from other parts of the city to get a free flu shot or have their blood pressure checked.

Christy Lee, 35, a Medicaid recipient visiting the clinic for the first time, showed up with her 2-year-old son, Robert. Cynthia Johnson, who has no insurance and does not qualify for Medicaid, stood patiently in the flu-shot line.

Tim Strader, who is on disability, ducked in for a flu shot.

They are the faces behind the statistics in a survey completed earlier this year by the Belmont health center with the University of Virginia.

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From hockey mom to clotheshorse?

According to Politico.com, veep nominee Sarah Palin and her family are rockin' $150,000 worth of couture, with half of the bill coming from Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis.

The Republican National Committee is Palin's sugar daddy, picking up the tab for sprees that dropped $49,425 at Sak's Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York; $790 at Barney's New York; and nearly $9,500 at Macy's in Minneapolis. And we can't forget the $4,700 on hair and makeup.

What's up with these people? Do they lose their mind once they reach the rarefied heights of national politics? I teed off on John "Hair Boy" Edwards last year when he pulled that little $400 haircut stunt-twice. Hill Clinton took some heat for two visits to the styling salon at a cost of $3Gs.

As for Palin: Needless Markup, as my friend calls Neiman Marcus, was always out of my league. But Sak's was my store years ago. They used to have great sales! But I'm guessing Her Honor wasn't rifling through the 75-percent-off racks.

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You've probably noticed in the past few days that your responses haven't gone up as promptly as they usually do. Here at In the Flow, we're doing some behind-the-scenes reconstruction. Ya'll know I'm techno-illterate so I'm trying to figure out how to do this thing.  Read more »

Recently, Dotti Bull discovered that fearmongering can be slickly produced, packaged and delivered through the U.S. Postal Service.

After receiving the unsolicited DVD "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" in the mail a few weeks ago, the Roanoke woman learned that some of her friends, co-workers and 28 million other Americans also had gotten it.

As recently as Monday, a news release in my electronic mailbox trumpeted that the DVD also has gone to more than "325,000 rabbis, priests and pastors in every Jewish and Christian congregation in America."

A spokesman for the group behind the DVD said it merely wants to inform the public about radical Islam. But come on, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why a 2-year-old DVD is being heavily distributed a few weeks before a pivotal presidential election in swing states, including Virginia.

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Please share your thoughts on his endorsement of Barack Obama on this morning's "Meet the Press."

Sorry, gang, I've been slow in the saddle this week, so I'm just catching up on the John Lewis brouhaha that caused blog newcomer Jim, er, Joe Crow to brand the civil rights icon a "Black Fool."

Most of you know that John Lewis, an Obama supporter and a veteran of the civil rights movement, last week compared John McCain's campaign tone to that of segregationist George Wallace, the former Alabama governor and 1972 presidential candidate.

Lewis said he was “deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Senator McCain and Governor (Sarah) Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.”

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Glenvar High School students Megan Laughon and Anthony Ratliff chose Barack Obama over class Friday.

Jessica Larson of Salem took a vacation day from her nursing job at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital and pulled her 11-year-old son, David, out of Andrew Lewis Middle School.

Priscilla Casey of Roanoke told the folks at her volunteer job at Goodwill that she felt a case of "Bahama flux" coming on.

Across the Roanoke Valley and beyond, Friday marked a giant "skip day" as students, teachers and everyday workers took the day off to see the first major-party presidential candidate to visit Roanoke during a general election campaign since Sen. John F. Kennedy in 1960.

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