Author: Peter Galuszka
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Ditch “Boomergeddon!”
By Peter Galuszka It’s been one hell of a week — with an emphasis on “hell.” Thursday, stock markets taken more than 500 points following days of disastrous performance. Congress finally passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling — meaning the U.S. magnanimously agrees that it will pay for money it has borrowed —…
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Drunk on Tea
by Peter Galuszka In early October, Virginia’s tea party movement was on a roll. Hundreds of supporters crowded the Greater Richmond Convention Center for what was grandly called a “Patriots Convention.” Hallways and auditoriums were chockablock with budget hawks, Patrick Henry re-enactors, booksellers hawking Ayn Rand and middle-aged men packing .45-caliber Colt pistols in Velcro…
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The Terror of Elephants in “Must”
By Peter Galuszka As minutes tick by, the behavior of Republicans in Congress, especially Virginia’s ultra-rogue junior elephant, Eric Cantor, becomes increasingly fascinating. They have become, suggests David P. Barash, psychology professor at the University of Washington, elephants in “must,” meaning that the usual rules of rationality and brinksmanship have become moot. Mind you, the…
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Time For McDonnell to Call Cantor
By Peter Galuszka Moody’s Investor’s Service has rained on Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s parade. On the day the Republican governor was proudly announcing a $311 million budget surplus with the prospect of being even $40 million more in the black, the ratings service announced that Virginia could be one of five states to see…
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Moody’s Reality Check
By Peter Galuszka Moody’s Rating Service is about to pull the rug from under U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor and Gov. Bob McDonnell. It’s about time they had a reality check but too bad it will be so expensive. Moody’s says that Virginia is one of five states whose credit it might downgrade if the federal…
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Cantor: “I Want What I Want When I Want It”
By Peter Galuszka The budget drama in Washington is bringing out some disturbing character flaws, namely that of Richmond Golden Boy Eric Cantor. Cantor, the House Majority Leader and a Main Street Republican from Henrico County, has been playing a dangerous game of chicken with Barack Obama and the Democrats over budget deals that would…
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Have the Kochs Opened a Back Door for the Cooch?
Always follow the Koch money. A two-year-old conservative outfit coyly named the “American Tradition Institute” has forced the University of Virginia to “cough up” thousands of emails through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit focusing on Michael Mann, a former U.Va. climatologist who has been hounded for more than a year for his research and…