‘Wake up, damn it!’

Chris Graham

For the uninitiated, Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene told it like it was in his world on the Washington, D.C., airwaves on WOL during the late 1960s and early 1970s before succumbing to cancer. The ex-con, who described himself in his boss’s word – a miscreant, because it sounded more sophisticated – would no doubt be…

U.S. Senate: The radical centrist will shake things up in D.C.

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] I was working for an ultraconservative newspaper based in Charlottesville – not exactly the best place for somebody who would later become the chair of a Democratic Party committee to be, but it paid the bills. It also gave me a different perspective on Mark Warner, at first a skeptical…

Bruce Kesler: Redistribute this!

AFP

Column by Bruce Kesler Barack Obama’s bluntly answered Joe the Plumber that we should have more redistribution from the well-off to “spread the wealth around.” Yet, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States has the most progressive income tax and employee Social Security taxes in the developed world….

Emma Yackso: Leave no one behind

Chris Graham

Letter from Emma Yackso, Charlottesville The Virginia Department of Education has recently proposed a new plan that ties high-school accreditation to graduation rates, not just test scores. This is a huge step forward, but there are some major issues with the plan. First, their current proposal endorses low expectations. Schools could encourage students into lower-achieving…

David Cox: Surviving the storm

David Cox

Column by David Cox Credit markets falter. The Dow plunges the stock market into depths not seen for years. Banks close or sell out. The state goes into the hole. In this time of transition, no one knows who to look to for national or even international leadership in what is becoming the first major…

Harrisonburg: Sustainable agriculture focus of EMU seminar

Jim Bishop

Story by Jim Bishop A leading spokesperson for sustainable agricultural systems will address the next Suter Science Seminar at Eastern Mennonite University. John Jeavons, Willits, Calif., will speak on “Food and Our Future: Hope and Solutions through Biointensive Farming” 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in EMU’s Lehman Auditorium. Jeavons has directed Ecology Action’s Mini-Farming program since 1972….