Tag: Peter Galuszka
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Merry Christmas, Amazon.com!
By Peter Galuszka Christmas, regretfully, is forced, propagandized consumerism under the guide of market capitalism, albeit in new forms. One is digital sales, of which Amazon is dominant. Amazon also is about to become a big player in Virginia since it will open distribution centers in Chesterfield and Dinwiddie that will cost $135 million and employ…
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Virginia’s Energy Fantasies
By Peter Galuszka Plans to mine uranium in Southside Virginia did not get the boost some had been hoping for now that a 22-month-long review by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering has been released. Far from rubber-stamping the plan, the independent analysis reported that there are “significant” health and environmental…
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The “Cooch” Makes Things Really Interesting
By Peter Galuszka Kenneth Cuccinelli’s announcement that he will run for Virginia governor in 2013 presages some very interesting days ahead. The controversial and hard-right Attorney General has been a highly polarizing figure in state politics. Despite ample evidence to the contrary, he stubbornly insists that humans have little to do with climate change and…
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What’s McDonnell Up To With Transportation?
By Peter Galuszka The McDonnell Administration is taking a chain saw to policies that promote smarter, more efficient growth by axing reforms to make neighborhoods connected and pushing design contracts that fast-track road construction and discourage public input. Such are the conclusions drawn from two blog postings by David Alpert of Greater Greater Washington and…
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They Attack By Night
By Peter Galuszka It may go without saying that propaganda campaigns only tell part of the story. So it was in Richmond’s downtown Kanawha Plaza where a small band of “Occupy Richmond,” an offshoot of the national protest movement, had been camping since Oct. 15. This little group was protesting abuse of democracy and financial…
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Obama’s Undeniable Foreign Policy Successes
By Peter Galuszka You can say what you want about embattled President Barack Obama, but the fact is that he’s had a number of foreign policy successes. Here are a few: After years of failure, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was finally surrounded and killed by U.S. special forces — something the Bush Administration…
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McDonnell’s Energy Pep Rally
By Peter Galuszka One conceit of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell is that he magically wants to transform Virginia into “The Energy Capital of the East Coast.” The idea smacks of Alice in Wonderland. An example is “The Governor’s Conference on Energy,” that began in Richmond on Monday. I dropped by today and noted that the…
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And the Band Played On
By Peter Galuszka (Fourth of a series) FUKUSHIMA, Japan — About an hour and a half north of Tokyo by bullet train, the city of Fukushima is enjoying a fall festival. A brass band (see photo) belts out tunes while two young policewomen in sky blue uniforms have their pictures taken with children sitting atop…
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Yet Another Mongolian Crossroads
By Peter Galuszka (Third in a series) ULAN BAATOUR, Mongolia — Flying into this capital city nestled among treeless, light brown mountains brought back memories of a grimy, industrial Soviet city from 30 years ago. Along the tarmac are rows of cannibalized Antonov 2 biplanes used as crop dusters after World War II along with…
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The Old Boy’s Still Around
By Peter Galuszka (first of a series) BEIJING, China — Red and gold emblems flap around Tiananmen Square in celebration of 62 years of the People’s Republic of China. This holiday, the sprawling square area is thronged with Chinese families of all ages on this warm and sunny fall afternoon. I am here on a…
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Wilder’s Last Hurrah?
By Peter Galuszka Doug Wilder has always marched to a different drummer. A major force in Virginia politics, he became the state’s first black state senator in 1969, the first black lieutenant governor in 1985 and then the nation’s first elected black governor in 1989. In the last post, he defied fellow Democrats by slashing…
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Back to the Future
By Peter Galuszka Virginia’s “no tax” governor is on his way to sticking the state’s motorists with a tax by another name. Robert F. McDonnell has won preliminary federal approval to stick drivers with a toll of from $2 to $4 on parts of Interstate 95 supposedly to help the cash-starved state fund “safety” improvements.…
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Where Are the Jobs Going to Come From?
By Peter Galuszka The conservative dogma machine continues to whine on in full gear. There’s Texas Gov. Rick Perry talking about it and Mitt Romney, sort of. Our own esteemed James A. Bacon Jr. is on Norm Leahy’s right-wing radio citing it chapter and verse. What is it? The government should not be in the…
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Xu Bing’s Tobacco Show
By Peter Galuszka The history of Virginia is intertwined very tightly with that of tobacco. The Golden Leaf boosted the two colonies from their earliest days. One of the first acts of the new colonial legislature in the Old Dominion was establishing price supports for tobacco, which was used a currency and was the state’s…
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Thanks, Monsieur Warbucks!
By Peter Galuszka Sometimes there are enlightened people out there. This is point to shake up the Baconauts and Boomergeddons, but the New York Times has an editorial this morning about the enlightened rich. Following the lead of Warren Buffett, the investment Sage of Oamaha who says he should pay more taxes: “Sixteen of France’s…