Category: Politics
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Where the Poor Are
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, UncategorizedBy Peter Galuszka With expanding Medicaid about to become a major issue with the incoming Terry McAuliffe administration, it is curious to see exactly where the poor people in Virginia live. An intriguing New York Times interactive graph provides clues and allows one to draw some rather disturbing conclusions. The single worst pocket of poverty…
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Redneck Chic
By Peter Galuszka One of this country’s most popular past times is the constant spinning and re-spinning of cultural stereotypes for profit. I’ve actually only seen snippets of “Duck Dynasty” and have noted the cheap goods on sale under its brand in convenience stores. But it fits the bill. The supposed patriarch of the A&E…
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Are the Feds Going Soft on the McDonnells?
By Peter Galuszka There is something unsettling about Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, being allowed to have a possible indictment on federal criminal charges delayed after senior U.S. Justice Department officials went along with requests from their attorneys. Federal prosecutors reportedly told lawyers for the McDonnells on Dec. 9 that they planned…
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Behind a Massey Energy Lawsuit Settlement
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Money in politics, Politics, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & TechnologyBy Peter Galuszka It might have otherwise gone unnoticed, but Bristol-based Alpha Natural Resources, one of the country’s largest coal companies, has agreed to settle a leftover securities fraud lawsuit for $265 million involving Massey Energy Co., the notorious, formerly Richmond-based firm that Alpha bought in 2011. The settlement with the Pension Reserves Investment Management…
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Mental Health: McDonnell’s Small Gesture
By Peter Galuszka It seems so little so late. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, apparently trying to get some 11th hour positive spin, has announced that he wants to put $38.3 million over two years to improve the state’s mental health system. He also wants to expand the amount of time an individual can be held…
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The Zany, Crazy Cold War Days Return
“Give me back the Berlin wall give me Stalin and St Paul I’ve seen the future, brother: it is murder.” Leonard Cohen By Peter Galuszka The other night I watched Dr. Strangelove, one of my favorite movies. Then I read the headlines. China is cracking down on U.S. journalists, especially those representing The New York…
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Rise Up and Strike, Abused Adjunct Profs!
By Peter Galuszka Despite the common view on this blog that college professors are lazy, closed-minded louts always out on sabbatical, the reality may be something quite different. Cash-strapped colleges across in the country, and in Virginia, are relying increasingly on low-paid adjunct professors to close the gap, especially when they increase the number of…
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ObamaCare: Sound Idea, Bad Private Contractors
By Peter Galuszka With all the bloviating one reads about the introductory failures of ObamaCare, a big, big point is being missed. It could very well be that the concept of ObamaCare is viable if not admirable, but the government badly bungled how it hired an under-performing, private lead contractor for the system. That raises…
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Pope Francis Slams “Trickle Down”
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in Abortion, Feminism, Women’s Rights, Business and Economy, Children and Families, Consumer Protection, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Government Finance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlements, TaxesBy Peter Galuszka In a sharp rebuke to traditional conservative economic thought, the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics says he wants the church to rethink its strategies towards addressing income inequality and poverty and shun “the idolatry of money” and “trickle down” philosophies that give the rich far too much influence. Pope Francis outlined…
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NOVA’s a Mess? Blame the CIA
By Peter Galuszka Northern Virginia, the economic engine that drives the rest of the state, has always been strongly linked to the federal government. By extension, that means tied to the Pentagon, and, as a recent book shows, the Central Intelligence Agency and today, all its antecedents. Author Andrew Friedman, a history professor at Haverford…
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Big Koch Brothers Are Watching You!
By Peter Galuszka Steve Serrao of Midlothian found something strange in his mailbox this summer. It was an official-looking letter in “report card” form from the conservative Americans for Prosperity Foundation claiming that he had not registered as a voter and that the group intended to inform his neighbors. According to reporting by Jim McConnell…
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Who Watches the Watchdog?
by Stephen D. Haner The Virginia Public Access Board of Directors is out with its five-point ethics reform proposal and it underwhelms. During my term on that board it became quite clear that the group would never advocate any change that created angst for the General Assembly members or the lobbyists who to seek to…
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Why Mental Health Care Shouldn’t Be a Budget Cut
By Peter Galuszka The tragedy experienced this week by Sen. Creigh Deeds and his family is drawing attention to how Virginia and the rest of the country mistreat the mentally ill by cutting funding for their care and denying them treatment. Deeds was apparently stabbed by his 24-year-old son, Gus, on Tuesday. Gus, who then…
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Cuccinelli Pouts After Loss
By Peter Galuszka The latest from the parallel universes of Virginia politics: failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Cuccinelli is pouting like a child while planning his next step. According to an hour-long interview he gave to The Washington Post, Cuccinelli is lying low and eating dinners at home several nights a week which he finds…
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The Electoral Implications of Smart Growth
by James A. Bacon Marc Tracy conducts an interesting thought experiment in the New Republic: Would increasing the height restrictions on Washington, D.C.’s buildings turn Virginia back into a red state? His logic runs like this: The District of Columbia is running out of developable land under current height restrictions, which is driving up real…