So my first BR column is up. And of course, there’s a lot more I’d like to add to it. Like a different photo of me. One where I don’t look like Garrison Keillor’s bastard son. But more to the point, after doing some additional reading on conservatives and their discontents, I stumbled across this…

In past posts, I’ve highlighted the systemic problems in Virginia’s educational system — an industrial-era model laboring to keep pace with a knowledge-era economy. The problems run deeper than the bureaucratic, top-down funding and administration of our public schools, which answer to masters at three levels of government: local, state and federal. The problems run…

The April 2, 2007, edition of Bacon’s Rebellion has been published. You can view it online here. Never miss an issue — sign up for a free subscription here. The Rebellion has fallen into temporary torpor, as several regular columnists were unable for a variety of personal and professional reasons, to deliver a column this…

Have your Republican member of the General Assembly take this test. 1. Fill out this form for Hampton Roads. Year $millions of taxes and fees Total Miles of Congestion Reduced (from 2007)200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025202620272028 What is the url for this source of information? 2.The difference between a tax and a user fee to the taxpaying citizen is?a.…

There is a scene in the movie “Wayne’s World,” in which Wayne and Garth saunter into a back-stage party held by rocker Alice Cooper and his band. In the presence of their idol, they fall prostrate on the floor, bleating, “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!” That’s how I felt last night attending a fund-raising…

Following up on yesterday’s post on Claire Ward’s travails with the Richmond bureaucracy in the wake of the pit bull attack that claimed the life of her dog and left her with several injuries… …Claire tells me that a half dozen nuisance warrants were served on the dog’s owners yesterday. This is good news, because…

For all of our talk on this blog and elsewhere about the larger themes of government and public policy, there’s not a lot of space devoted to government on the micro-level. Here’s one. It begins with a pit bull attack on a friend of mine, Claire Ward, in her own driveway. Her dog, a Corgi…

“Had it been a stand-alone vote, I don’t think you would have seen Bill Howell voting for the gasoline tax down in Hampton Roads,” he said. “The idea that a local government can be drawn into this transportation authority in Hampton Roads even if it doesn’t want to, that doesn’t sit well with me, either.…

Is Virginia swinging from a red state to a blue state? Despite high-profile victories in campaigns for Governor and U.S. Senate, Democrats aren’t likely to take control of the General Assembly any time soon, writes Jeff Schapiro in the Sunday Times-Dispatch: Even with John Chichester, Vince Callahan and five other GOP legislators retiring, Democrats may…

In our current column at db4.dev.baconsrebellion.com (“Size Really Doesn’t Matter: Autonomobility”) we profile the wisdom of WaPo Car Culture columnist Warren Brown. For more good Brown see today’s Column “Free to Speak Truth to Power.” Giving the editors of Outlook their due, Tilman and Hill do a nice job in “Corn Can’t Solve Our Problem:…

Media General Inc., owner of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and newspapers in Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Danville, Bristol and other Virginia communities, has been placed on S&P credit watch following an announcement that it would post a 1Q loss this year. Writes the Associated Press: The ratings agency said it would keep the newspaper and TV broadcast company…

Well, better late than never. I didn’t get back from vacation until late Sunday night, and I’ve had a devil of a time getting the e-zine published. But it is at last: the March 21, 2007, edition. Earthship WesterdamThe Westerdam isn’t as self-contained as a spaceship, but it’s as close as anything you’ll find on…

The Supreme Court will hear a property rights case out of Wyoming that some in my libertarian cohort believe could be worse than Kelo. …in 1993…[Robbins] bought a ranch in Wyoming, not knowing that the previous owner had agreed to give the Bureau of Land Management an easement over the land. BLM agents, however, had…

Yes, I’m back from a weeklong cruise in the Caribbean. I was way too mellow for way too long, and reconnecting to reality will do me good. All sorts of nonsense has transpired during my absence, and I can see that stern measures are called for. I’ll commence blogging again as soon as I manage…

Anyone who has followed Virginia’s political blogs for the last few of months is aware of former Commonwealth Conservative publisher Chad Dotson’s appointment to the bench for Virginia’s 30th judicial district. His swearing-in ceremony was yesterday, and both Steve Minor and Brian Patton were on hand. And I know I’ve said it before, but congratulations,…