Bacon's Rebellion

  • It’s 1-1 on the Immigration Front

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    James A. Bacon

    It’s one ball and one strike on the immigration front. The State Crime Commission has wisely backed away from pushing a 1,000 person jail exclusively for illegal immigrants. Yet supervisors in Prince William County have unanimously approved a county crackdown of what they see as the big wave of illegal immigration.

    Kudos to the SCC. The jail idea was a looney throw-back to some of Virginia’s social atrocities ranging from Massive Resistance to the eugenics movement. Officials apparently realized that the need may not really be there given the highly squishy nature of how many illegals are really here.

    Darts to Prince William. Their acts will spark racial profiling and will send a very unwelcoming message to all recent immigrants, whether they are properly documented or not. That is, of course, if the board’s decision survives legal challenges. Handling immigrants is, after all, the federal government’s job.

    The PWC board really needs a refresher course in the American way. They need to learn about the American traditions of welcoming newcomers and fair play. The U.S. was built in large part by immigrants, save for contributions by Native Americans. If you have traveled abroad, as I have, you sense a special respect for the U.S. because it has welcomed the poor, downtrodden, etc. This has been the overall history, despite such missteps as the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing movement, anti-Semitism and anti-Asian movements of the Far West.

    Other counties such as Loudoun that have seen an influx of foreign-born residents are watching closely to see what will happen in Prince William. The yeah-hoos might be happy, but PWC will get a black eye as needed foreign-born workers here legally shun PWC and ones already there shut down their businesses. Look for massive county legal bills, especially after one cop too many stops a driver because he looks dark-skinned or somehow “un-American.”

    That brings up something personal. I once worked in the Soviet Union as a U.S. news correspondent. When I drove anywhere the police constantly were waving me over because my license plates identified me as an American. Legally, they could hold me for up to three hours for DWA (“Driving While American”). After that, they’d have to charge me with something real. And I had all the official accreditations I needed.

    What makes the PWC act especially shortsighted is that the world’s economy is more global than ever. Some of the brightest minds creating wealth in the New Flat World are from Mumbai or San Salvador and not merely Manassas. If I were an executive of a major foreign corporation looking for a North American headquarters ( such as, maybe, Volkswagen), would I choose Prince William? Maybe not any more, since I wouldn’t want my native born company officials and employees being rousted by local cops and bureaucrats all the time. I’d have too many other choices of places where we’d be more welcome.

    Peter Galuszka

  • Data Centers and Green IT

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    James A. Bacon

    If Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is serious about addressing global warming, one problem area he might want to focus on is the growing demand for electricity — especially in Northern Virginia. It turns out that one of NoVa’s hottest industry segments right now is data centers. Kendra Marr with the Washington Post ran a story Monday about the data-center boom. Although she had no estimate of the number of data centers coming on line, I’ve heard the figure for NoVa could be as high as 20 to 25 in the near future.

    From an economic development perspective, data centers are wonderful: They cost tens of millions of dollars to build and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in municipal taxes. Also, they require relatively few employees to operate, which means they don’t strain the capacity of municipal governments to provide roads, infrastructure and public services.

    From an environmental perspective, data centers are bad news: They’re energy hogs. Those endless racks of computers consume electricity and give off a lot of heat, which must be offset by air conditioning that guzzles even more electricity. Indeed, the proliferation of data centers is a driving force behind the surge in NoVa electric consumption and Dominion’s warnings that the region could experience brownouts as early as 2011. As big consumers of electricity, data centers acount for an increasing share of Dominion’s greenhouse gas emissions.

    What’s the solution? Green IT. Technology companies see great potential to conserve energy, save money and cut greenhouse gas emissions in one swoop. This movement, which started in California, is spreading east. We may be hearing more from Virginia companies in the not-too-distant future. It’s a trend that Gov. Kaine certainly will want to encourage.

  • Kaine Heats up the Global Warming Debate

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    James A. Bacon

    Global Warming is moving to the forefront of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s environmental agenda. His state energy plan released last month set a goal of cutting statewide emissions of greenhouse gases 30 percent from what they otherwise would be by 2025. And Kaine apparently doesn’t intend to let that recommendation collect dust.

    At the statewide Energy and Sustainability Conference in Lexington yesterday, Kaine said he intends to appoint a climate change commission to examine the potential impacts of global warming on Virginia and recommend ways to deal with it. “While climate change should be addressed at the national level, I think most governors are just tired of waiting,” Kaine said. “We can’t wait for the federal government to do it.” (See the Times-Dispatch coverage here.)

    One specific idea that Kaine floated was to require power companies and manufacturing plants to report greenhouse gas emissions. That made Brett Vassey, president of the Virginia Manufacturers Association, very nervous. Said Vassey: “Our major concern is, you don’t [require] the reporting of something unless you plan to regulate it.”

    I understand Vassey’s concern. Politically, it would be a lot easier for Kaine to look like he was “doing something” by slapping limits on industrial emissions. But we’re all responsible collectively for CO2 emissions through the choices we make: how far we drive, what kind of vehicles we drive, how big our houses are, how we choose to heat and cool our houses, and how much we’re willing to spend for energy-saving appliances. Still, it’s better to have solid information than to base public policy on hunches and guesswork. If we’re going to move ahead with a serious Global Warming initiative, let’s have it based on the facts.

  • Belvedere: A Case Study in Green Development

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    James A. Bacon

    We can debate the optimal density for energy-efficient development (See “Urban Heat Islands and Optimal Density Levels“), but the only way we’ll find out for sure is through trial and error in the marketplace. We’ll have an interesting case study to look at soon: The Belvedere project north of Charlottesville, which its developers are touting as the greenest project yet built in Central Virginia. Bob Burke has the story here, “Making Green from Green.”

    Belvedere will fit 400 housing units plus retail-commercial space into 207 acres about 2.5 miles north of the Charlottesville city line. The developers, Charlottesville-based Stonehaus, plan to build townhouses and single-family dwellings modestly above the median housing price point in the region, but they estimate that the energy-saving appliances and other house design features will reduce energy costs by one third. Employing New Urbanism community design principles — mixed uses, lofts over storefronts, pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, etc. — they hope to promote walking and reduce driving. Ample green space and bio-filtration techniques will reduce the impact of storm water run-off.

    Coming down the pike are similar projects, combing New Urbanism and green engineering, like Roseland in Chesterfield County and Summit Crossing in Spotsylvania, just to mention two projects I’m acquainted with. Each of these planned communities, I would suggest, comes closer to the energy-efficiency optimum than either central cities or the pattern of scattered and disorganized development that predominates across Virginia.

    But here’s what I have yet to see from a self-described green developer: green neighborhood power sources, whether based on windmills, solar panels, recycled bio-waste or a cogeneration plant that generates electricity and recycles the waste heat for productive uses. Developers can install those technologies on a mass scale far more cost-effectively than can individual home owners retrofitting houses one at a time. Once we see renewable energy getting worked into these communities, then I know the green talk is real.

  • Urban Heat Islands and Optimal Density Levels

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    James A. Bacon

    There have been subterranean ruminations in the comments sections of this blog regarding the recent column that urbanologist Joel Kotkin published Sunday in the Washington Post. Kotkin, as he always does, rose to the defense of the “suburbs” (a term he leaves undefined, but which presumably refers to those parts of metropolitan regions lying outside the traditional urban cores) in the context of Global Warming.

    While I disagree with many of Kotkin’s conclusions, I always find him worth reading. He often raises points that force me to think through my own positions more carefully. For instance, commentators in the “smart growth” camp (or, in my case, the market-oriented sub-camp of the smart growth movement) contend that “sprawl” (by which, I presume, he refers to scattered, disconnected, low-density development) is wasteful of energy. As we remind readers endlessly in Bacon’s Rebellion, that’s because “sprawl” makes people drive greater distances and consume more gasoline.

    But Kotkin responds that the world’s “cities” (by which he presumably means the high-density urban core of metro regions) are energy inefficient, too, in their own way.

    Studies in cities around the world — Beijing, Rome, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles and more — have found that packed concentrations of concrete, asphalt, steel and glass can contribute to a phenomenon known as “heat islands” far more than typically low-density, tree-shaded suburban landscapes. As an October 2006 article in the New Scientist highlighted, “cities can be a couple of degrees warmer during the day and up to 6C [11 degrees Fahrenheit] warmer at night.” Recent studies out of Australia and Greece, as well as studies on U.S. cities, have also documented this difference in warming between highly concentrated central cities and their surrounding areas. …

    Urban heat islands increase the need for air conditioning, which has alarming consequences for energy consumption in our cities. Since air conditioning systems themselves generate heat, this produces a vicious cycle.

    This sounds totally plausible to me. And it’s definitely an argument against those who would use government coercion and social engineering to pack people into higher density environments. But I would raise two points.

    First, the fact that urban centers are energy sinks does not negate the fact that sprawling suburbs energy inefficient. From an energy efficiency viewpoint, there may well be an optimum level of density between the two extremes. Kotkin points to the “village” scale of Reston as a positive example. Well, as Ed Risse frequently observes, if the one million-plus inhabitants Of Fairfax County lived in communities developed at Reston densities, two-thirds of the county would be open space today. A Reston-style Fairfax would offer the best of both worlds: fewer vehicle miles driven, without the heat-island effects of downtown Washington.

    Second, no one really knows the “best” human settlement pattern. Even if we could figure it out for one point in time, the ideal would change with new technologies, shifting demographic patterns and changing energy prices. That’s why we need a decentralized, flexible system of land use based upon marketplace principles that allow individuals to optimize their own personal good. Here’s the trick: Market signals will lead us astray if they are distorted by government action at the behest of organized special interests. We need to provide a level playing field in which households and enterprises pay their location-variable costs.

    There’s one more trick: Ideally, those location-variable costs should cover externalities imposed upon society such as pollution and the necessity of safeguarding Middle Eastern oil supplies. How you do that, I’m not sure. But in the abstract, that’s what we need to do.

  • Elephant Clan Still Leads in Campaign Fund Raising

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    James A. Bacon

    Virginia’s elephant clan may be on the defensive in the current electoral cycle, but elephant candidates are still raising more money than the donkey candidates. Working with fund-raising data provided by Clayton Roberts with the Virginia Foundation for Research and Economic Education, I figure that the numbers shake out this way:

    Total Raised
    Elephant Clan candidates – $25.6 million
    Donkey Clan candidates – $21.2 million
    Independents and third party — $0.8 million

    Cash on Hand
    Elephant Clan candidates – $7.9 million
    Donkey Clan candidates – $6.5 million
    Independents and third party – $0.35 million

    Unfortunately, I don’t have any historical data, so I don’t know if the GOP fund-raising edge represents a deterioration from previous election cycles, or whether the party is holding its own. (I’m not seriously entertaining the idea that Republicans have increased their fund-raising advantage this year.)

    For those who’ve lost faith in the two-party duopoly, it is heartening to see that there are 25 independents and one libertarian running for office this year. The good news is that they’ve managed to raise $30,000 per candidate on average. The bad news is that two independents — Watkins Abbitt (Appomattox) and Katherine Waddell (Richmond/Chesterfield) — account for more than half the total raised. Only four or five others, including Lacey Putney (Bedford), look remotely viable.

    Furthermore, there is no unifying theme among the independents — they may express voter frustration, but they do not represent a coherent force in Virginia politics. Oh well… Maybe the next election cycle, if Groveton and I can figure out how to get a third mainstream party off the ground!

    Download the spreadsheet for details on individual candidates.

  • A Higher Price for a Cold Shower

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    James A. Bacon

    With drought conditions firmly in place, a number of localities are instituting mandatory water restrictions.

    But rather than writing piddling fines for violating what are rather lax restrictions, how about using prices to address the problem? Over at the Economist blog, that’s exactly what they propose:

    …water utilities are not equipped to respond to similar supply shocks to water reserves with demand-limiting measures. As such, all that stands between a homeowner and his green lawn is a sense of civic duty. Powerful stuff, on occasion, but not powerful enough to keep those reservoirs full.

    Allowing water prices to vary with supply would encourage consumers to make their own decisions about how much water they really need. If adopted on a long-term basis, and not just in response to crises, water pricing would allow communities to avoid future price spikes by investing the increased water revenues in additional supply capacity. Pricing in a region’s particular susceptibility to drought might also slow growth in areas of the country ill-equipped to provide for massive populations.

    Hmm. Maybe there really is a market for everything.

  • ENERGY CONSERVATION AND HUMAN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

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    James A. Bacon

    So many things to address as summer lingers on and gas prices rise.

    Due to a number of requests by readers who have been confused by unfounded comments concerning energy conservation and human settlement patterns, our next column will provide a brief primer on that topic.

    One cannot blame those who are trying to protect their Business-As-Usual turf and their ideological icons for attempting to obfuscate the issues. The inevitable need for Fundamental Change is well settled. We are now just quibbling over the price – how long the inevitable can be denied and who bears the burden of past misdeeds.

    Unfortunately, several recent comments on energy conservation and human settlement patterns has confused some who thought they had a good grasp on reality. By not responding to these comments, these readers suggest that we are conceding that these commentors (rhymes with “tormentors”) have a basis for their postings beyond short-term self-interest.

    As you might guess, many of the erroneous posters are afflicted with Geographic Illiteracy and an addiction to confusing Vocabulary. This includes the well known and highly respected “Anon 1:47 PM” commenting on Sunday’s “THIS JUST IN.” He/She/It touted Joel Kotkin’s latest contribution to confusion: “Hot World? Blame Cities” in the Sunday WaPo Outlook. For a refresher on Joel’s misuse of words see our columns #s 71 thru 74 starting with “The Foundation of Babble” 28 November 2005.

    Actually Joel Kotkin and Ali Modarres make many good points in the op ed and repeat things we have been saying for years. You would not (and Anon 1:47 did not) know it because of confusing Vocabulary.

    By the way, who is ripping off whom? We heard and recycled the Supreme Court joke re the Nobel prize early Saturday morning, long before Saturday Night live.

    EMR

  • More Nuanced (Confused?) Thoughts on the Illegal Immigration Issue

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    James A. Bacon

    Hmm… Seems that xenophobic racists on the right wing of the political spectrum aren’t the only ones who have a problem with the behavior of illegal immigrants. Even enlightened lovers of diversity and openness are drawing the line with Rosita Lim Ong Chang.

    The 66-year-old woman was arrested Friday and sent to jail for contempt of court, according to Amy Gardner with the Washington Post. She had been cited for illegally boarding tenants in her single-family home near George Mason University, and had failed to comply with court orders to move an illegal kitchen in her basement and notify the county when she leased a room to a new tenant. County officials said she had carved up her four-bedroom home into as many as seven bedrooms, charging up to $800 per month each.

    Gerald E. Connolly, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, announced the arrest at a board meeting. Observed Gardner in her story: “Connolly, who is seeking reelection next month, has come under fire for not taking a tougher stand against illegal immigrants.” Please note: Connolly is a Democrat. Please note also: His Fairfax County constituents are not poor, ignorant, xenophobic, snake-handlers and know-nothings — they have about the highest level of education anywhere in the country.

    I’m of two minds on this issue. On the one hand, I’m sympathetic to the neighbors, who have complained about noise, upkeep and the number of cars parked out front. I would not like a noisy, unkempt house with cars parked all over located next door to me, not in my quiet, well-tended neighborhood. These are not frivolous nuisances — unlike the flap-doodle here in Henrico County, where Jimmy and Alicia Fox have been convicted of a misdemeanor for using an old metal bathtub as a back-yard flower planter. (See Bart Hinkle’s column skewering the county for trampling on property rights.)

    On the other hand, why shouldn’t an elderly woman be allowed to take in boarders to supplement her income? What right does Fairfax County have to tell Ms. Chang, whose property taxes have probably escalated way beyond the point where she could pay for them otherwise, to confiscate her income-generating potential?

    As the blogger Freedom Works, who brought this article to my attention, notes: “Every American should be outraged at this assault on private property rights and the dignity of the working poor. We have now officially criminalized providing housing for poor people.”

    Yeah, I kind of agree with that. While I don’t think illegal immigrants ought to be here in the first place, that doesn’t mean we should abuse them while they’re here. Illegals need somewhere to live, and it’s not easy finding a place in Fairfax County when you’re working for $10 an hour.

    To sum up the theme of previous posts: The issues surrounding illegal immigration are complex and cut many ways. People concerned about illegal immigration cross the political spectrum. Not everyone is a racist or xenophobe. Maybe we should update the old joke, “The definition of a conservative is a liberal who’s just been mugged” to “the definition of a conservative is a liberal whose next-door neighbor opened a boarding house for illegal immigrants.”

  • Why the Abuser Fee Issue is Fizzling

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    James A. Bacon

    What role will outrage over Abuser Fees play in the fall General Assembly elections? Some interesting clues emerge from the latest opinion poll conducted by Christopher Newport University’s Quentin Kidd….

    Republicans got more agitated about the Abuser Fees than either Democrats or independents. While a majority of all three political groupings expressed dissatisfaction with the driving penalties, Republicans and independents were the most distressed. Negative Dems outnumbered positive Dems by a mere eight-percentage point margin. By contrast, independents responded negatively by a 23-percentage point margin and Republicans by a 28-percentage point margin.

    Hard pressed as it is to hang on to its majorities in the House and Senate, however, the Elephant Clan has no motive to turn the issue against candidates who supported the fees. The GOP would simply like to see the issue disappear. Meanwhile, given the relative ambivalence that Democrats feel about the fees — and the fact that the Governor, a Democrat, supported them — Donkey Clan candidates haven’t pushed the issue as hard as they might.

    Another reason the issue has stopped simmering may be that voters don’t know whom to blame for the fees. Statewide, eight percent said Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was the most responsible, nine percent blamed Republicans, and two percent blamed Democrats. Seventy percent said it was a mix, and 12 percent said they didn’t know. With legislators promising to fix the most egregious aspects of the Abuser Fees, the issue seems to be fast sinking out of sight and out of mind.

  • New Price Is Right Host on Gridlock

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    James A. Bacon

    Drew Carey talks about transportation as only a comedian can.

    Hey, it’s not Bacon-level material, but it does have a few chuckle-worthy moments. Plus, Carey discusses some ideas that ought to sound very familiar to the transpo groupies around here.

  • Taxes, Government and Prosperity

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    James A. Bacon

    To many readers of the Bacon’s Rebellion blog, the connection between low taxes and economic prosperity is so manifestly evident that it doesn’t need defending. But there are many advocates of expansive government who advance arguments to the contrary. Indeed, as evidenced by the steady increase in state/municipal spending in Virginia and the rising tide of taxes, fees and penalties to pay for it, the Axis of Taxes is in the ascendancy.

    In my latest contribution to the “Economy 4.0” series, “Taxes, Government and Prosperity,” I make the case that lower taxes create a business climate more hospitable to economic prosperity (defined as per capita income) than higher taxes do. As evidence, I tracked the growth in per capita income of the 50 states between 2000 and 2005. Look at the results: You’ll see that low-tax states clearly out-performed the high tax states. (I found the same pattern over longer time frames as well.)

    Of course, the correlation between low taxes and income growth is far from perfect. Equally clearly, there are other factors at work. One of those factors, I suggest, is how states and municipalities use their tax revenues. If they squander it on bureaucracy, pork barrel projects, public sector unions and inefficient human settlement patterns, high taxes are destructive. If states invest their tax revenues in education, the environment, infrastructure and public amenities that add to the quality of life, high taxes can contribute to prosperity.

    Bottom line: The central challenge for Virginia government is to keep taxes as low as possible while continuing to deliver the core public services required to sustain prosperity and a high standard of living.

    Yes, Virginia must invest in the public sector. But we cannot tolerate Business As Usual thinking. If Virginia wants to prosper in the 21st century, we have to systematically reinvent our schools, universities, government agencies, transportation systems and human settlement patterns. Tinkering on the margins won’t cut it. Businesses have transformed themselves. Not-for-profits have transformed themselves. Now Virginians must transform their old, outmoded, Industrial Wave governmental institutions (to borrow a phrase from Alvin and Heidi Toffler) into Knowledge Wave institutions.

  • Now For Something a Little Left of Center

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    James A. Bacon

    Just to show what a broad-minded guy I am, I’m going out of my way today to promote a column that skewers Bacon’s Rebellion. Peter Galuszka, a regular contributor to our Road to Ruin transportation news coverage, criticizes blogs generally, tossing a few barbs Bacon’s Rebellion’s way, in his opinion piece this week, “Plato’s Cave.”

    Peter objects to the triumphalism that blogs display regarding the slow-motion demise of the “Mainstream Media.” His main point is undeniable: Traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and television provide the news content that blogs feed off. Few blogs conduct much first-hand reporting. Without the Mainstream Media, bloggers would have little to comment upon.

    The decline in journalistic coverage is especially marked overseas — foreign correspondents are being laid off in droves. That’s of particular concern to Peter, who ran the Moscow bureau for BusinessWeek during the transition between Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Americans are ignorant enough of foreign politics, economics and culture as it is, he argues, and the situation will likely get worse.

    (Peter doesn’t care for xenophobia either, a tendency he sees in the reaction of many Virginians to illegal immigration and explores in a previous column, “Virginia Is for Gulags.” He also gets pieved when I use the term “Euro-weenies.” He probably won’t like it when I refer to him as a “Euroweeniephile.”)

    If you’d like to see more left-of-center commentary in the Bacon’s Rebellion e-zine, give Peter some positive reinforcement in the comments section.

  • Raise Them Pitchforks High! The Rebellion is Back!

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    James A. Bacon

    Bacon’s Rebellion’s rebels are back, branding their metaphorical pitchforks and gesticulating alarmingly! You can read the Oct. 15, 2007 edition here. The website contains archives of five years’ worth of back columns, profiles of our contributors, and a search tool.

    Make sure you don’t miss an issue of our in-depth columns and articles — sign up for a free subscription here.

    If you’re too darned lazy to click over to the website, well, we still aim to please. Here are today’s featured columns:

    Taxes, Government and Prosperity
    Virginia can’t tax its way to prosperity, but starving critical assets like roads and schools won’t create wealth either. The solution: Demand productivity and innovation from state and municipal government.
    by James A. Bacon

    A Bottle of Exhaust
    An innovative Virginia could use a state R&D tax credit and a global view.
    by Doug Koelemay

    Tulips and the Maritime Highway
    Moving goods on water rather than roads can be a good thing, but it’s only a tiny part of the solution. Creating a sustainable trajectory for civilization requires shipping goods shorter distances.
    by EM Risse

    There They Go Again
    The Fairfax County staff used every trick in the book rebutting the Thomas Jefferson Institute’s analysis of the county budget, but there’s no hiding the fact that spending needs outside oversight.
    by Michael Thompson

    Election Pre-Mortem
    It’s looking grim for General Assembly Republicans in this November’s election. Here’s why they’re likely to lose — and how losing can be the best thing that happens to them.
    by Norm Leahy

    Plato’s Cave
    Some may rejoice at the decline of the “Mainstream Media” but cuts in news staffs threaten to leave us ill informed about what’s happening around the world. No number of blogs can make up for it.
    by Peter Galuszka

    Nice & Curious Questions
    Anglers in Virginia: From Roanoke Bass to Green Sunfish
    by Edwin S. Clay III and Patricia Bangs

  • Metro Needs to Come Clean on Deferred Maintenance

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    James A. Bacon

    How much does the Washington Metro system spend on maintenance, how much maintenance is it deferring, and how big are the liabilities that are accumulating? If Metro officials know the answers, they aren’t saying.

    According to Examiner.com, Metro budget director Richard Harcum noted back in 2004 on the Metro Matters website that the transit agency’s annual maintenance budget was only one percent of the total value of the infrastructure, instead of the three percent needed to keep the system in tip-top shape. Writes Examiner.com: “How long maintenance has been seriously underfunded is anybody’s guess.”

    Harcum’s comment prompted Fairfax County taxpayer gadfly Arthur Purves to ask for the cumulative cost of Metro’s deferred maintenance, which he speculates is on the order of $5 billion — comparable to the cost of building the proposed Rail to Dulles extension. Despited repeated requests for information, Purves has yet to receive an answer.

    Virginians are being asked to raise $5 billion (including federal funds) to build the Metro extension through the Dulles Corridor. We need to know what we’re getting into. With more miles of track, it stands to reason that we’ll be taking on a larger share of the cost of maintaining the system. The true cost of the Rail to Dulles project entails more than the up-front capital cost of construction: It includes ongoing obligations for operations and maintenance. We need to know what those obligations will be.

    If Purves is anywhere in the ballpark and deferred maintenance for Metro approaches $5 billion, what’s Virginia’s share under current funding agreements? And how much will Virginia’s share increase if Rail to Dulles gets built? Does anybody know? Does anybody besides Purves, Examiner.com and Bacon’s Rebellion care?

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
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The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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