It turns out that victorious Mark Warner’s decision to run for the U.S. Senate bolstered Barack Obama in Virginia and in Stafford County. Our bipartisan hero can now reflect on just how far Virginia has come since his days as the state Democratic Party chairman in the early 1990s.

It’s a strange stock to own. Its shares are traded on the Pacific Exchange and as a rule they don’t go for much.  It’s called the Sixteen-to-One Gold Mine and its located in the desert just outside Sacramento, Calif.

In “Animal House” — the movie, not the legislative body — when the Deltas vow revenge on their tormentors, Bluto sputters: “I’m not gonna take this! Wormer, he’s a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer — “ Fellow frat boy Otter interrupts: “Dead!“

I found out which is my most important finger, and it wasn’t the one I thought. It took nearly slicing it off to gain this knowledge, and, to be honest, the epiphany wasn’t worth the blood loss.

So the election is over. The robo-calls have stopped, the roadside signs are slowly being picked up, very slowly, they’re still littering Route 610, And my mailbox, instead of being full of political mailers, is now packed with Christmas catalogs and store fliers.

Approaching Thanksgiving and the season of good cheer, let’s all be thankful for the many things. Thanks should go to the nice company that recently sent me a free sample of some Extreme Acai Berry Melt Away Tablets.

Approval of Stafford’s road bond referendum was a happy surprise for me. I had expected it to lose because of our county’s worsening economy, a reflection of what spelled disaster for the GOP efforts elsewhere this fall.

Good for the Stafford County School Board. They refused to close any Stafford schools despite budget pressures. They gathered what facts they could from staff and they listened to parents of school children who attend the schools in question.

Unfortunately we humans just don’t “speak dog” very well.  Therefore as a dog trainer and canine behavior consultant, I consider one of my most important jobs to be an interpreter of “doggie language.“

Time marches on, and it’s already time again for my annual Veteran’s Day column.

Political pollsters from Gallup to Harris, from Zogby to Mason-Dixon, use all sorts of sophisticated political polling techniques.

To take on more debt for Stafford County or not, that is the question. Or, is the question, “Do we take action to allow our county to improve roads?”

It’s time for the fall baseball classic. No Washington Nationals or Baltimore Orioles championships, but area residents find other favorite teams to root for, I’m sure.

Merciful heavens, my favorite bank is about to change its name, again.

For Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, economy begins at home.

Presidential elections are an important business with sometimes dramatic consequences, so people can be forgiven for taking themselves a little too seriously.

It’s a wonderful autumn day, and I am taking a break from fishing alongside Aquia Creek, fishing rod propped up against the car, sipping a Diet Coke, and all in all rather pleased with myself at the rather large catfish I just caught.

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors recently pared back severely the county’s capital improvement program in response to bad economic numbers.

The presidential debate season is upon us again. No doubt these TV beauty contests will get the highest viewership ever.

There’s this problem, you see. I can no longer remember many words I want to say while talking with other people, so I went to a doctor. He reassured me that for an otherwise healthy guy halfway through his seventies, my problem was cause for no alarm. He called it MCI — minor cognitive impairment — but offered no remedy. It’s just the aging process.

I got home, checked my computer, and saw this on the Internet:

When I write about certain topics, ones I think are controversial, or at the very least ones I am convinced will prompt a response from our readers, I am sometimes disappointed that I don’t hear from anyone. The silence can be disappointing. But there is one topic, and this still amazes me, one that always gets a reaction and that’s anything to do with squirrels.

I’ve gotta tell ya. I’m up to here with people who are so full of themselves. Exhibit A: Barack Obama. But we’ll get to him later.

Virginia’s very popular former governor, Mark Warner, the Democratic candidate this year for U.S. Senate, had a very humbling experience last week in Denver.

The presidential nominating conventions and the buzz over VP picks have overshadowed another campaign that is also important to area residents: Election for House of Representatives in the First Congressional District, a district that includes Stafford County. A lot has happened since incumbent Republican Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis died last fall.

Campaign 2008 is one of the most significant opportunities in recent history for Americans to choose the future direction of our country. Not only is there a difference in personality and style, but there also are clear differences between the two candidates when it comes to the issues.

You would think so, given the doomsday talk about us endangering Planet Earth and I don’t know what all.

Local governments, the world over, have a lot in common. They worry about school budgets, zoning, tax rates, and attracting new business. This is certainly the case in one of my favorite parts of England, the High Peak. The High Peak is just what the name implies. It’s a mountain, a lovely part of the English countryside, and visitors going back to the Romans have commented on it.

“The American Popular Song goes on and on…” Neil Diamond’s lyrics proclaim. Yes it does. The American popular song industry is huge. Some of the music is great; some is hardly music at all.

Read this selective call to action, from Nobelist Al Gore’s recent energy speech, which contained nary a word about nuclear power.

Garrett Ebling is a married man. As simple as that may seem, the fact is quite amazing considering that just over a year ago, his body was fighting to merely stay alive. Ebling, the former managing editor of the Stafford County Sun, suffered massive injuries when the I-35W bridge in Minnesota collapsed, ultimately killing 13 people and injuring approximately 145 others.