A lot of strange people are hopping into bed together with the recent passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill to let the U.S. Food and Drug Adminstration regulate tobacco. Richmond-based firms Philip Morris USA and parent Altria favor FDA oversight while tobacco competitors Lorillard and R.J. Reynolds do not. Ultraconservative Congressman…

Brace yourself for the onslaught of the Aug. 4, 2008, edition of the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine. As usual we, loot, plunder and burn the conventional wisdom. And we take no prisoners. If you’re not a regular visitor to the Bacon’s Rebellion blog, you can subscribe to the e-zine for free and make sure you never…

I’ve done some long-overdue house cleaning on my blog roll, deleting some 20 or so blogs that have gone stale or shut down completely. My rule of thumb, if someone hasn’t posted in the past six months, the blog has nothing new — and isn’t likely to any time soon. A number of bloggers have…

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has unveiled the Bush administration’s plan, “Refocus. Reform. Renew,” for reforming transportation funding and construction. It’s clearly a step in the right direction — designed to reduce Congressional pork peddling, focus federal involvement on the Interstate highway system, and level the playing field between highways and transit. Whether a plan from…

This is the written ‘ government’ speech from an Act of the General Assembly passed in 1786. Written by Thomas Jefferson. “An Act for establishing religious Freedom. Whereas, Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacitations tend only to beget habits…

(From Larry O’Dell, AP, July 23, 2008) “A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected the Rev. Hashmel Turner’s lawsuit challenging a nonsectarian prayer policy adopted by the council in 2005. The court said the policy does not violate Turner’s rights because the prayer is “government speech,” not individual speech.…

Many Northern Virginians soon will get to experience a key feature of the congestion tolling on the Interstate 495 HOT lanes: variable speed limits. The Virginia Department of Transportation is deploying variable speed limits to help manage congestion on the Capital Beltway when lanes are closed for construction in the approaches to the Woodrow Wilson…

The Virginia State Rail Plan is a dangerous document. The Kaine administration report, prepared by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, lays out an intellectual justification for aggressive expansion of state planning and funding not only for commuter rail, as one might expect, but for freight rail. The plan is dangerous because, if…

So much to blog about and so little time… Unfortunately, my wife suffered a death in the family, and we have to travel to South Carolina today to attend the funeral. I will have no time to blog today. If I did, I would dearly like to turn my attention to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s…

Someone has to ask the question: Has Eugene Trani stayed on too long as president of Virginia Commonwealth University? I have enormous respect for Trani, who has done an extraordinary job building VCU as an institution and will no doubt go down in Richmond history as one of its great, visionary leaders. He has transformed…

It looks like Peter beat me to the punch on the latest developments at Virginia Commonwealth University (see “A Tale of Two Outrages.”) Rather than repeat the points he made, I want to amplify his comments about the “neo-Stalinist” atmosphere at VCU. I wouldn’t choose that particular, highly loaded adjective to describe the Trani administration…

The drumbeat of bad news continues at Virginia Commonwealth University. The latest is that four top officials have resigned as part of the controversy over former Richmond Police Chief Rodney D. Monroe’s improperly awarded VCU undergraduate degree. According to news accounts, one of the reasons for one of the resignations was that when VCU officials…

Fluor Corporation and Transurban (USA) Inc. formally broke ground on the Capital Beltway HOT lane yesterday. Patrick Flaherty, head of Fluor’s infrastructure business, touted the project as a model for similar partnerships nationally. A press release from the P.R. firm for the project reminds readers of the benefits of the public-private partnership: Fourteen miles of…

It’s summer, the air is sweltering and tempers are flaring. A most propitious moment for the latest edition of Bacon’s Rebellion… the July 21, 2008, edition. (Never miss an issue, have the e-zine mailed directly to your in-box. Sign up for a free subscription.) Here are this week’s manifestos: No Salvaging the Mill TownsTen years…

I know it has been mentioned, but don’t know of a separate post here for Virginia’s Civil Rights monument. I look forward to seeing it when I am Richmond. This $2.6 million memorial is worth every penny. It’s exactly what the Commonwealth should do to elevate and perpetuate the best of our civilization. From one…