Three Up; Three Down

By The News Virginian Staff

Published: August 23, 2008

THREE UP
Evangelicals flexed their muscles last week to the disdain of lefties who hoped eight years of Bush had sapped this crucial bloc of power. John McCain talked like a conservative in the Saddleback Forum, endearing him to the evangelical base, and subsequently surged in the polls. So much for the separation of church and politics.
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After a year of work, the Jack Higgs Bridge on Fourth Street crossing the Norfolk Southern railroad in Waynesboro is open again. The $375,000 project included structural repairs and fixups to the pedestrian walkway. It’s a fitting tribute to the longtime councilman for whom the span is named.
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Buddy, can you spare a million? Oracle founder Steve Ellison can spare that and more. His compensation in fiscal 2008 tops out at $84.6 million, placing him No. 1 on The Associated Press’ annual list of highest-paid executives. Of course, under Ellison’s guidance, Oracle has money to burn: The company’s profits shot up 29 percent to a record $5.5 billion.

THREE DOWN
John McCain’s memory failed him in a suddenly crucial but ostensibly simple test. Now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee must explain why he couldn’t recall how many homes he happens to have lying about the country. Barack Obama, the celestial junior senator from Illinois, has only one home, which clearly makes him more qualified to be president.
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But if more limited personal means qualifies one to lead, the world perhaps has been enraptured with the wrong Obama. The Italian-language Vanity Fair reports that the Democrat’s half-brother, George Hussein Onyango Obama, is living in a Kenya shanty on less than $1 a day. Here is a man poised for leadership, though some have failed to notice. The senator, for example, last saw his little brother in 2006. Hey, he’s been busy.
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For some, destruction holds allure. hoodlums wreaked havoc at Ridgeview Park over the weekend. The damage included a smashed-up kiosk in the Serenity Garden, recently opened as a respite for cancer patients and survivors. Wow, what fun.