In the early 1970s Eugene Ruyle, my Marxist anthropology professor (yes, he really was a self-avowed Marxist) assigned a book, “Who Rules America” by G. William Domhoff, which described the mechanisms by which business elites ruled the country. As one might expect, the book grotesquely over-simplified reality, but it contained elements of undeniable truth. As…

Yes, we’re still blowing the burning embers of rebellion in the hopes of igniting a San Diego-sized conflagration (metaphorically speaking) here in Virginia. Read our latest huffing and puffing in the Oct. 29, 2007, edition of the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine. And don’t forget to subscribe, darn it! Don’t miss a single issue. “Senator” ThomasUber-lobbyist Bill…

Hannon Armstrong, an Annapolis, Md., a financier of private-sector energy conservation initiatives, is teaming up with Virginia Tech to invest $500 million in energy-saving upgrades at 100 or more properties across the Washington, D.C., area. Virginia Tech will oversee, study and advise the efforts, reports David A. Fahrenthold with the Washington Post. The ambition of…

The RTD’s Jeff Schapiro has a write-up on 68th HOD district candidates and the television ads they are now running. There’s nothing too flashy here, as well-funded candidates in tight races are bound to pour some of that cash into TV. What’s somewhat striking about this piece is its last two paragraphs: Meantime, Equality Virginia,…

College of William and Mary President Gene Nichol is in hot water again, this time over his characterization of a revoked alumni pledge. See the story in the Daily Press.

Members of the Coalition on Illegal Immigration agreed that illegal immigration is a big problem, but they didn’t agree on much else. The group, represented by a dozen or more municipalities, assembled in Culpeper yesterday to explore issues, exchange information and possibly press for legislation. But they even quibbled over the proper term for calling…

The Coalition for Reliable Energy, an offshoot of the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, has entered the debate over Dominion’s proposed high-voltage transmission line through Virginia’s northern piedmont. Citing a 2006 Department of Energy study, the Coalition backs Dominion’s contention that Northern Virginia’s electricity infrastructure faces “severe overloads” as early as 2011. The Coalition supports construction…

The old excuse of Virginia colleges and universities for rising tuitions — we’re just making up for past freezes and rollbacks ordered by the General Assembly — is beginning to wear thin. Here are some numbers from a Daily Press article drawing upon a Monday report by the College Board. The average price of community…

Even the New York Times gets it…. Sort of. In reporting on Bobby Jindal’s extraordinary victory — garnering 53 percent in a field of 11 gubernatorial candidates — in Lousiana yesterday, Adam Nossiter wrote: Mr. Jindal, with his decisive victory on Saturday, appears to have overcome a significant racial hurdle that blocked him in 2003,…

A mixed-bag of endorsements for local legislative candidates appears in today’s RTD. Lightly or unchallenged incumbents get the paper’s nod, though there is not a little buttering-up of folks like Jennifer McClellan, Kirk Cox and Ryan McDougal. More interesting is the paper’s endorsement of incumbent Katherine Waddell over former Richmond city council president Manoli Loupassi.…

If you’ve been wondering why Bacon’s Rebellion contributor James Atticus Bowden has been missing in action on this blog lately, it’s because he’s become intensely actively engaged in Hampton Roads electoral politics — first as First District Committee chairman of the Republican Party, then as an activist in getting Republicans elected to the General Assembly…

It’s one ball and one strike on the immigration front. The State Crime Commission has wisely backed away from pushing a 1,000 person jail exclusively for illegal immigrants. Yet supervisors in Prince William County have unanimously approved a county crackdown of what they see as the big wave of illegal immigration. Kudos to the SCC.…

Virginia’s elephant clan may be on the defensive in the current electoral cycle, but elephant candidates are still raising more money than the donkey candidates. Working with fund-raising data provided by Clayton Roberts with the Virginia Foundation for Research and Economic Education, I figure that the numbers shake out this way: Total RaisedElephant Clan candidates…

Hmm… Seems that xenophobic racists on the right wing of the political spectrum aren’t the only ones who have a problem with the behavior of illegal immigrants. Even enlightened lovers of diversity and openness are drawing the line with Rosita Lim Ong Chang. The 66-year-old woman was arrested Friday and sent to jail for contempt…

Just to show what a broad-minded guy I am, I’m going out of my way today to promote a column that skewers Bacon’s Rebellion. Peter Galuszka, a regular contributor to our Road to Ruin transportation news coverage, criticizes blogs generally, tossing a few barbs Bacon’s Rebellion’s way, in his opinion piece this week, “Plato’s Cave.”…