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A dozen Shenandoah Valley residents and I went to Washington last Friday, where I served as a witness at a congressional oversight hearing. The focus was a U.S. Forest Service proposal to ban a controversial natural gas drilling technique – horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing – from more than one million acres of public land…
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“The Declaration of Independence [is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man.” – Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826); Founding Father; credited author of said document and third American president. A housekeeping note – I dislike the expression “happy fourth of July.” Happy Independence Day is the correct expression or happy birthday America is…
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As Bridgewater College’s graduating seniors and their families celebrated on the campus Sunday, former Pennsylvania Congressman Joseph A. “Joe” Sestak urged the 326 graduates to resuscitate a faltering American Dream by restoring trust in leaders and institutions, standing on the values of accountability and providing principled leadership. Sestak, a 31-year veteran of the U.S. Navy…
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Dear EarthTalk: Is air quality in the United States improving or getting worse? Is it cleaner in some parts of the country than in others? – K. Gould, Sherman Oaks, Calif. Air quality across the United States has improved dramatically since 1970 when Congress passed the Clean Air Act in response to growing pollution problems…
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Make no mistake about it – the peaceful Egyptian revolution was brought about by the workers and small business owners of that country protesting together. They want economic opportunity for all and a democratically elected government that puts its peoples’ interests above the interests of the financially powerful, well-connected oligarchy. There is a lesson here…
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U.S. Sen. Jim Webb joined Sen. Claire McCaskill and other senators in introducing bipartisan legislation to abolish automatic pay raises for members of Congress. The new legislation mirrors a bill introduced by Sen. Webb and Sen. Russ Feingold during the last Congress (S.317). “With many Americans still out of work and trying to figure out…
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U.S. Jim Webb, D-Va., today called for an end to costly ethanol subsidies and tariffs. In a bipartisan letter, Sen. Webb and other senators urged Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kent., to eliminate the protections currently manipulating ethanol costs and restricting U.S. trade. The current subsidies and tariffs on domestic…
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Dear Member of Congress: You’ve got a lot to consider in this month. You’re scheduled to debate international treaties and internet censorship. There’s talk of military affairs and revamping federal agencies. But this should be at the top of your agenda: extending benefits for unemployed workers and making sure struggling parents can continue to make…
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Interesting week for me in my often overlapping roles as a business writer and politics writer. On Wednesday, I met with U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, after a roundtable in Staunton with local business owners and business leaders who gave Warner quite the earful about the state of business and the state of the…
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Column by Susan Shaer Submit guest columns: [email protected] It’s not enough that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have topped $1 trillion. Now there is a supplemental appropriations bill awaiting a vote in the House of Representatives that will add $37 billion more, plus some other odd bedfellows. This so-called supplemental allows other “emergency”…
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