Is Virginia’s FY 2008 budget picture bleak enough to justify dipping into the state’s $1.3 billion rainy day fund? Apparently, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine wants to keep that option on the table. Last month the Governor announced that Virginia was facing a cash shortfall of $641 million and ordered state agencies to cut their administrative…

The Washington Post editorial page was in fine form Sunday, beaming with moral superiority as it criticized House Speaker William J. Howell for his stance on illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration is a complex issue that cuts many ways and the WaPo is more than entitled to point out flaws in Howell’s proposals. But there is…

Forrest “Frosty” Landon has retired… again. He first stepped down as executive editor of the Roanoke Times (where, among his other misdeeds, he helped shape me into a journalist), only to join in launching the Virginia Coalition for Open Government in 1996. There, in the words of the Sunday Roanoke Times, he “led a crusade…

A lot of unsettling “news” as we approach 11 September but there is a WaPo item some may miss in the Travel section. “Operation Vacation” is a stinging condemnation of the US of A health care system masquerading as a way to mix surgery with sightseeing. Also here on Bacon’s Rebellion Blog the 4 Sept…

The liberal Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis projects a $1.2 billion shortfall in the state budget in the upcoming 2008-2010 state budget. The problem, according to authors Michael Cassidy and Cory Kaufman in a Times-Dispatch column today, is not excessive spending but insufficient revenue. Despite Gov. Mark R. Warner’s 2004 tax increases, they write, “Virginia…

In the course of human evolution, first came hunting-gathering, then the agricultural revolution and then the industrial revolution. Arguably, the United States has evolved into a post-industrial society, though no one seems quite sure what to call it — perhaps the knowledge economy. But what comes after that? The Singularity, according to entrepreneur-author Ray Kurzweil…

Larry: Good to have you back. I did not pay attention and did not realize how far north you were going. 200 miles west of Ft Simpson is just a few miles from the end of the earth. I suspect the forest fires have not gotten up there yet. While you were gone Groveton asked…

For once, I agree with a Roanoke Times editorial writer. What do the families of seven shooting victims killed at Virginia Tech think they can accomplish with the lawsuits they are considering?

The relocation of the Volkswagen of America corporate headquarters from a Detroit suburb to Fairfax County is an undeniable economic development coup for Virginia — Northern Virginia in particular. The deal will bring 400 high-paying jobs to the state. Average annual salary: $125,000, high even by Northern Virginia standards. Another major headquarters adds to the…

It is conventional wisdom now that the massive influx of out-of-staters, mostly northerners, into Virginia is altering the state’s political complexion — challenging the once-invincible power base of the Republican Party. House Speaker William J. Howell allowed as much when speaking yesterday at a gathering of the Virginia Foundation for Research and Economic Education. Howell…

Jeff Zaslow’s Wall Street Journal column continues a discussion about how society is teaching kids to fear men. As the father of an eight year-old boy, this topic hits close to the mark, doubly so once I read Zaslow’s piece, which is based on feedback he received from readers regarding his first column on this…

“The most important and precious resource in the world today is not oil. It’s not water. It’s brainpower,” Gov. Timothy M. Kaine told business leaders in Harrisonburg yesterday as he stumped Western Virginia in support of his pre-K expansion initiative. “Strategies that increase our brainpower are going to keep us on top.” (See the Daily…

(Governor to taxpayer: Cough it up, you little twerp!) While Gov. Timothy M. Kaine talks up his bid to expand pre-k funding for disadvantaged children, Northern Virginia localities have a different priority: expanding their kindergarten programs from part-time to full-time. Fairfax County, home to one in seven Virginians, is spending $5.6 million this year to…

As all good readers of the Bacon’s Rebellion blog know, Nathaniel Bacon, instigator of Virginia’s first rebellion against the English crown and inspiration for 21st-century Virginia rebels against outmoded institutions, was a genuine hero. Representing the common man against the minions of the monarch, he championed the rights of free-born Englishmen in 1676, long before…

Vacation season is over. It’s back to serious business — like catching up on the latest profundities found only in Bacon’s Rebellion. The Sept. 4, 2007, edition is now available online. If you don’t check the Bacon’s Rebellion blog religiously, you might miss the next edition. Take no chances, sign up here for a free…