Tag: University of Virginia
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Maybe It’s Not “The Vision Thing” At All
By Peter Galuszka The sad demise of Teresa Sullivan as president of the University of Virginia poses many questions regarding what happened to her and how and why the Board of Visitors did what it did. Given the board’s lack of transparency and non-communicative nature at this prestigious, public university, much opinion and supposition have…
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Ms. Dragas’ Greek Drama
By Peter Galuszka The antagonist in the drama against Teresa Sullivan is a rich real estate developer from Virginia Beach who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Virginia, took over her construction firm from her father and is a major donor to political, mostly Democratic, causes. Helen E. Dragas, 50, president of…
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Pulling the Trigger on Aeschylus
By Peter Galuszka The news from Charlottesville just gets worse. Freshly-fired President Teresa Sullivan, it turns out, had been getting pressure from the Board of Visitors to eliminate parts of the university that were “underperforming,” possibly the Classics Department. Meanwhile, the university administration is asking Dominion (that’s right, the power company) to parachute in two…
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Online Class Myths and Fantasies
By Peter Galuszka Far too often on this blog, a new program or an event gets taken far beyond its intrinsic value. One obvious example is a new program offered by Harvard and MIT for online classes. The program is being touted by the right-wing crowd as the next wheel or airplane or laptop computer.…
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The Liquidation of Teresa Sullivan
By Peter Galuszka The putsch had all the markings of Stalin-era intrigue. Select members of the Politburo had whispered for weeks that a key and popular leader had to go. She didn’t fit the Inner Circle’s philosophies. She was too prominent and her “vision” was too slow-moving and dogmatically out of step. Finally, without her…
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Spinning Virginia Coal
By Peter Galuszka There’s a predictable drumbeat in the Old Dominion that is trying to blame Big Coal’s economic weakness on federal regulators. A weekend ago, a group called the Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security, a “grass roots” group with ties to the coal industry, staged a rally in Abingdon attended by about…
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Looking for Libertarian Jokes?
How many Libertarians does it take to change a light bulb? None! If the bulb needed changing, the free market would have done it. What is a Libertarian? A Republican who has been busted. If you think the only gun permit you need is the Second Amendment, you are a Libertarian. If someone asks you…
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Hail ($6 million) to the Redskins!
By Peter Galuszka There’s something strange here: Virginia loses a major oil company and 2,100 high-paying jobs but we get to spend $6 million or more in state and local taxpayers money to keep the hapless Washington Redskins in the Old Dominion instead of Maryland and get them to practice a few weeks a year…
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Why Regulation Is Essential
By Peter Galuszka If there is ever an argument in favor of regulation in today’s anti-government political climate in Virginia, one needs look no farther than the interstate highways. Buoyed by a wave of intercity bus deregulation about 30 years ago, new bus lines started up using older vehicles, no frills and often over-tired drivers.…
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UNDERCLASS LOVER
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by
in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Uncategorized, Water-waste waterI want to be an underclass lover Lay it down like a big ole’ brother No mind who gets stuck With the leftover I get my F&%# Without too much workover Don’t care about the deficit Don’t give a damn about the debt ’cause when it comes to lov’in You ain’t seen noth’ yet Ya…
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How Far Will Private School Tax Breaks Go?
By Peter Galuszka Hunter Country Day School is slated to open this fall for kindergarten through fifth-grade pupils at a quaint, red-brick outbuilding of the Dover Baptist Church on a leafy Goochland County road a few miles west of the Richmond Country Club. Its founder is Ann McLean, who has an art history doctorate…
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No Big Gulp For You, Fatboy!
By Peter Galuszka Here’s something that Objectivists, Randians, Utopians and Tempermentals can all get a Big Slurp from: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is banning Big Gulps. No kidding! It’s a Libertarian nightmare. Big Apple is telling you that you can’t have that Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew or Sprite you want a 16-ounce cup…
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Behind Big Sister
By Peter Galuszka Reading this blog and studying the conservative political movement makes for some curious, if not hilarious, observations. It’s always interesting to note the tenets that have evolved. Selfishness is good. You must also be moral and self-disciplined. The free market is a magical corrective. All government and regulation are bad. Altruism and…
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Bad Roads Bring “C+” Grade
By Peter Galuszka Every year, Virginia FREE rates the Old Dominion’s legislators according to its definition of how well they support the lobby’s definition of what it means to be “pro-business.” Despite the free-for-all conservatism of this year’s General Assembly, the legislature only gets only about a “C-plus” grade. The big reason? Lack of progress…
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Are We Going Back to Selma?
By Peter Galuszka Imagine it is Alabama in early 1965. The Southern state, like Virginia, has for decades deployed a number of ruses such as poll taxes and literacy tests to prevent U.S. citizens and state residents from voting. These people otherwise would have been qualified voters but also happened to be African-Americans whom the…