Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Springtime for the Rebellion

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

The flowers were blooming, the birds were singing and the Rebellion was spreading. There was optimism in the air. And hope, real hope, for fundamental change — an end to Business As Usual. Feel the freedom. Read the March 24, 2008, edition of the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine.

If you don’t subscribe to the e-zine, you should. It’s free. Click here.

Here’s this issue’s line-up:

User Pays

Virginia’s transportation system needs more money. But how we raise the money is just as important as how much. Only a user-pays system can break the political gridlock.

by James A. Bacon


Good News, Bad Reporting

As the economy weakens, you can count on the MainStream Media to defend MassOverconsumption and Business As Usual in a desperate bid to keep the advertising dollars flowing.

by EM Risse


Learning from Big Boxes

Consumers love big box stores for their “bargains” and “everyday low prices.” What they don’t see are the costs imposed by hidden subsidies and the scatteration of human settlement patterns.

by EM Risse


Extend Foot, Pull Trigger

The unilateral rewriting of the Dulles Greenway legislation sends a bad signal to potential investors in Virginia roads: When times turn tough, lawmakers renege on deals.

by Leonard Gilroy


Pork and Transparency

The Commonwealth is slowly, grudgingly opening up its books to citizen scrutiny. Putting credit-card bills on a Web-accessible database is a big step forward, but it raises more questions than it answers.

by Norm Leahy


The War Bill Comes Due

The hidden costs of the Iraq war are a bigger economic debacle than the sub-prime mess.

by Peter Galuszka


Juice Junkies

The Day household is addicted to electricity. Our careless consumption has consequences beyond the light bill: pollution, mountaintop removal and greenhouse gases among them.

by Barnie Day


I’ll Take the Two BMWs, Please

Rail to Dulles is so expensive that we could lease two BMWs per rider with the money. The Feds were right to turn down funding, and Virginia Congressmen should leave well enough alone.

by Wendell Cox and Ron Utt


Smokes, Litter and Drugs

Youngsters who smoke cigarettes are more likely to litter and abuse drugs as well. The campaign to snuff out smoking is not just a public health issue, it’s a crusade to save our children.

by Frank Kilgore


More Roads Are Not the Answer

The unraveling of Virginia’s transportation funding plans could be a blessing if it prompts lawmakers to wean the Commonwealth from its auto-centric, sprawl-inducing policies.

by Michael Cecire


Nice & Curious Questions

Doggie Happy Hours, or

Virginia is for Canine Lovers

by Edwin S. Clay III and Patricia Bangs

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Comments

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Why does the Greenway have rapidly rising debt obligations? isn;t it pretty much a one time capital expenditure sort of deal?

    Was it built with some kind of sub-prime ARM that the users are now bailing out?

    Why condemn it the greenway to take it over? Just enforce the original contract and wait for the operators to go under.

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Risse’s analysis of the media is simplistic and badly flawed. It appears that his review is limited to two newspapers, The Washington Post and USA Today. He assumes that advertising dictates news slants, which it does not. He also fails to note that many business and financial reporting outlets have been predicting the bursting of the housing bubble for several years now. Many of those entities are not funded by real estate advertisers, but serve as intelligence services for investors who may chose or not to invest in real estate. Plus, the news outlets play a role in spotlighting how corporate executives maintain their fiduciary reponsibilities to their shareholders. To imply that every thought in the media is motivated by double-truck, four color newspaper advertising sales to subdivision developers is horribly simplistic, short changes Bacons Rebellion readers and insults the news media, many of whom are professional who do their jobs well and sometimes die doing them. I have known a few personally if Risse wants a list.

    Peter Galuszka

  3. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Anon 3:35 said:

    “Risse’s analysis of the media is simplistic and badly flawed.”

    Perhaps, we await proof. The comments following this statement in the quoted post do not provide that proof.

    “It appears that his review is limited to two newspapers, The Washington Post and USA Today.”

    As we have traveled around the US of A we have found that if a story appears in the NY Times one day it appears in WaPo and other papers the same day or the the next and visa versa.

    There are exceptions and that is why we quoted the Houston Chronical in APPENDIX TWO of today’s column.

    “He assumes that advertising dictates news slants, which it does not.”

    The fact that MainStream Media is now owned by Enterprises and that the majority of the revenue comes from advertising — print, on-line and electronic — has a contolling impact on what and how material is presented in the MainSteam Media.

    “He also fails to note that many business and financial reporting outlets have been predicting the bursting of the housing bubble for several years now.”

    We have written 8 columns on the Affordable and Accessible Housing Crisis since 2004 and most have included specific reference to the Bubble potential so have many by Jim Bacon.

    “Many of those entities are not funded by real estate advertisers, but serve as intelligence services for investors who may chose or not to invest in real estate.”

    Bacon’s Rebellion among them.

    “Plus, the news outlets play a role in spotlighting how corporate executives maintain their fiduciary reponsibilities to their shareholders.”

    Yes, and so? This is one of the areas we note as being an useful contribution of MainStream Media in PART I of THE ESTATES MATRIX.

    “To imply that every thought in the media is motivated by double-truck, four color newspaper advertising sales to subdivision developers is horribly simplistic,…”

    It would be simplistic if that was all we did, but it is not. The image advertising is, however, a major revenue source given the page count in issue after issue. MainStream Media is an Enterprise and no longer in the Fourth Estate.

    “… short changes Bacons Rebellion readers and insults the news media, many of whom are professional who do their jobs well and sometimes die doing them.”

    If Anon would read with more care he would find that we make those same points.

    There are no villains here, only a failure to understand what has transpired since 1837 with the Fourth Estate.

    As we note in the Postscript to THE ESTATES MATRIX, EMR has had a long and rewarding relationship with Journalists and have held ownership and management positons in MainStream Media.

    Perhaps, just perhaps, our view is a valaid as others.

    EMR

  4. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    For the record, most of the full time employed journalists we have heard from agree with the broad outlines of our position.

    They just cannot say so publicly lest they lose their jobs.

    EMR

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Peter Galuszka says:

    Ed Risse, WE have likewise traveled and WE do not agree that the media always follows the Times-Post-local dissemination cycle of the news regarding land use planning and real estate. You are forgetting the Wall Street Journal, which is far ahead of both when it comes to business and economics reporting (WE refuse to call it “enterprise and agency reporting” because that is BS nomenklature). You also overlook the Economist, various business newsmagazines TheStreet.Com, other Web based news services, analysts reporting, etc. In the Rissean world WE are limited to the Washington Post and WE disagree with you that the Post is a lax as you make it out to be.
    WE would be happy to provide you with cite after cite that goes back before BR came up with the idea that the housing and mortgage bubble would last forever. WE would also be prepared to provide you with a list of journalists around the world who have died doing their jobs last year. Maybe you could invent a new matrix for that little statistic.

    Peter Galuszka

  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Risse,
    Can you list the journalists who agree with you or would they really lose their jobs? A bit of hyperbole, don’t you think. Otherwise we’re playing Joe McCarthy games.

    N.B. In last post I meant
    the bubble would NOT last forever. Sorry.

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