By Peter Galuszka
For that past six (or is it seven or eight?) years, I’m been pleased to pound away posting my peculiar views on Bacons Rebellion.
My stance has typically been that of a liberal or progressive albeit one of the near and not the far left. My opinions have been honed by 41 years of experience as a journalist in Virginia, in other states and abroad.
Now it’s time to sign off, at least on Bacons Rebellion. I’ll be moving over to Style Weekly, where I have been writing for the past six years.
I have a close relationship with the Style staff whom I respect tremendously. In fact, it was a Style story on coal giant Massey Energy in 2009 that morphed into my first book, “Thunder on the Mountain: Death at Massey and the Dirty Secrets Behind Big Coal” that was published in hardback by St. Martin’s Press in 2012 and then in paperback by West Virginia University Press in 2014. In a way, it’s like going home since Style is owned by The Virginian-Pilot, where I first starting working in 1973 when I was 20 years old.
I also have tremendous respect for Jim Bacon, with whom I have been working on and off since 2000. While Jim and I share very different views on most topics, he and I share one common idea – that the free press and deeply reported and analyzed stories are essential if Virginia and the country are to protect individual liberty and have flourishing economies.
Over the years, Jim and I have chewed over such issues as land use and the environment; ethics and energy. We’ve been through such colorful figures as Ken Cuccinelli and the rise and fall of Bob McDonnell, the Confederate flag and health care.
Recently, however, Jim has accepted a sponsorship from Dominion Resources, whom I have covered and written about critically since the mid-1970s. Although Dominion has had absolutely no impact on my recent postings, I am uncomfortable with continuing on a blog that embraces stories that do seem, in some cases, to be push Dominion’s interests in ways that are far too one-sided. This is not healthy given the gravity of such issues as global warming, renewable energy, coal, natural gas, the rights of landowners who decline to let Dominion survey their property for a pipeline route and so on.
Another reason for my decision to leave is that a venomous gas seems to be suddenly choking the Rebellion. Rather than arguing my points with wit and facts, as I have been enjoying for years, some of the more recent commenters have resorted to snark and bitter personal assaults. I have donated thousands of hours of my time for free on this blog. Commenters might not agree with me, but now some seem not to respect my efforts at all. So, I say goodbye and good luck to them.
If you want to find me in the future, look for me at styleweekly.com and at The Washington Post, where I will continue to contribute to the All Opinions Are Local section and to other parts of the paper. I will still be free lancing for various outlets.
I hope you will continue to read and support Bacons Rebellion. It is fantastic resource that has served as much-needed forum for information, ideas, debate and analysis as journalism continues to undergo the tremors caused by the Internet.
All the best to Jim!
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