Author: Peter Galuszka
-
Virginia’s Energy Fantasies
By Peter Galuszka Plans to mine uranium in Southside Virginia did not get the boost some had been hoping for now that a 22-month-long review by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering has been released. Far from rubber-stamping the plan, the independent analysis reported that there are “significant” health and environmental…
-
The “Cooch” Makes Things Really Interesting
By Peter Galuszka Kenneth Cuccinelli’s announcement that he will run for Virginia governor in 2013 presages some very interesting days ahead. The controversial and hard-right Attorney General has been a highly polarizing figure in state politics. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, he stubbornly insists that humans have little to do with climate change and…
-
Elephants Squeak By
By Peter Galuszka Virginia’s Republicans failed to replicate their national party’s success in last year’s mid-term national elections and barely squeaked by to win both houses of the state General Assembly. The 20-20 split in the state Senate hung on a spare 222 votes in a Spotsylvania County race. By conceding his election race Democratic…
-
What’s McDonnell Up To With Transportation?
By Peter Galuszka The McDonnell Administration is taking a chain saw to policies that promote smarter, more efficient growth by axing reforms to make neighborhoods connected and pushing design contracts that fast-track road construction and discourage public input. Such are the conclusions drawn from two blog postings by David Alpert of Greater Greater Washington and…
-
They Attack By Night
By Peter Galuszka It may go without saying that propaganda campaigns only tell part of the story. So it was in Richmond’s downtown Kanawha Plaza where a small band of “Occupy Richmond,” an offshoot of the national protest movement, had been camping since Oct. 15. This little group was protesting abuse of democracy and financial…
-
Occupy Bacon’s Rebellion!
By Peter Galuszka It’s tear gas and bean bags in Oakland. Cops in Atlanta. And now, the time has come to OCCUPY BACON’S REBELLION! We must do this to protest the indulgences and sense of entitlement that the libertarians who write here present. They are strict and pure capitalists — the worst kind. They must…
-
Obama’s Undeniable Foreign Policy Successes
By Peter Galuszka You can say what you want about embattled President Barack Obama, but the fact is that he’s had a number of foreign policy successes. Here are a few: After years of failure, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was finally surrounded and killed by U.S. special forces — something the Bush Administration…
-
McDonnell’s Energy Pep Rally
By Peter Galuszka One conceit of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell is that he magically wants to transform Virginia into “The Energy Capital of the East Coast.” The idea smacks of Alice in Wonderland. An example is “The Governor’s Conference on Energy,” that began in Richmond on Monday. I dropped by today and noted that the…
-
Can Japan Keep Pitching?
By Peter Galuszka (Last of a series) TOKYO, Japan — “Technology is like water, it runs down hill.” My old Japanese friend and I are chowing down on delicious fried oysters and sashimi in a downtown Tokyo restaurant. We had just had drinks at the Foreign Correspondents Club Of Japan which offers a spectacular, 20th…
-
And the Band Played On
By Peter Galuszka (Fourth of a series) FUKUSHIMA, Japan — About an hour and a half north of Tokyo by bullet train, the city of Fukushima is enjoying a fall festival. A brass band (see photo) belts out tunes while two young policewomen in sky blue uniforms have their pictures taken with children sitting atop…
-
Yet Another Mongolian Crossroads
By Peter Galuszka (Third in a series) ULAN BAATOUR, Mongolia — Flying into this capital city nestled among treeless, light brown mountains brought back memories of a grimy, industrial Soviet city from 30 years ago. Along the tarmac are rows of cannibalized Antonov 2 biplanes used as crop dusters after World War II along with…
-
China’s Very Fast Trains
By Peter Galuszka (second in a series) SHANGHAI — As the soggy countryside zipped past, my eyes were fixed on the speedometer of the maglev train hurtling towards Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The instrument hanging over a passenger door shot up from 150 kilometer per hour, to 247 kph and finally to 300 kph or…
-
The Old Boy’s Still Around
By Peter Galuszka (first of a series) BEIJING, China — Red and gold emblems flap around Tiananmen Square in celebration of 62 years of the People’s Republic of China. This holiday, the sprawling square area is thronged with Chinese families of all ages on this warm and sunny fall afternoon. I am here on a…
-
Wilder’s Last Hurrah?
By Peter Galuszka Doug Wilder has always marched to a different drummer. A major force in Virginia politics, he became the state’s first black state senator in 1969, the first black lieutenant governor in 1985 and then the nation’s first elected black governor in 1989. In the last post, he defied fellow Democrats by slashing…
-
Back to the Future
By Peter Galuszka Virginia’s “no tax” governor is on his way to sticking the state’s motorists with a tax by another name. Robert F. McDonnell has won preliminary federal approval to stick drivers with a toll of from $2 to $4 on parts of Interstate 95 supposedly to help the cash-starved state fund “safety” improvements.…