Bacon's Rebellion

  • Changing the Subject

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    James A. Bacon

    Tim Craig’s WaPo piece on the GOP legislative leadership’s new immigration proposals makes for very entertaining reading. I absolutely love the set-up on this paragraph:

    The college admissions proposal, which comes as party leaders try to shift public attention from controversial abusive-driving fees, is part of a five-point plan presented by Republican legislators, including House Speaker William J. Howell (Stafford) and Senate Majority Leader Walter A. Stosch (Henrico).

    It reminds me of a scene from To Be Or Not To Be, where the flustered Col. Erhardt (Charles Durning), caught in a flip-flop by his aid Capt. Schultz (Christopher Lloyd) accuses Schultz of changing the subject…”Shift! Shift! Shift!”

    I wonder if Mel Brooks is running political strategy for the GOP these days (Jack Benny being unavailable at press time)

    And the article gets even better:

    …most four-year colleges prohibit illegal immigrants, advocates and college officials said. “We don’t enroll illegal aliens,” said Jeff Hanna, a spokesman for the University of Virginia. “A student who applies and is accepted must produce documentation.” In 2004, a federal judge in Alexandria upheld the right of U-Va. and six other Virginia colleges and universities to deny admission to illegal immigrants. The suit was brought by illegal immigrants upset that they were being denied entry.

    So there’s no real problem here, right? Unless there’s evidence to the contrary:

    O’Brien couldn’t present any evidence Wednesday that illegal immigrants are gaining access to Virginia’s colleges.

    Maybe his dog ate it. But there really, really has to be some justification for this proposal, right Senator?

    GOP leaders offered statistics showing that 36 percent of applicants to a four-year public college in Virginia were rejected last year.

    Ah hah! Now we’re getting somewhere!

    They couldn’t say how many of those denials occurred because the applicants weren’t academically qualified.

    Strike that… we’re back to where we started. Shift! Shift! Shift!

    Now all this hard earned ribbing aside, I can appreciate the desire some have to see that taxpayer resources are not spent on people who came to this nation illegally, took no steps to change that status and then ask for state-supported college education.

    But I would very strongly suggest that the great political minds behind these proposals make at least the modest attempt of prepping themselves before they hold a press conference.

  • Abuser Fees Working? Reckless Driving Down?

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    James A. Bacon

    I was an early skeptic of Abuser Fees. Among other concerns, I wondered if the fees would succeed in their stated purpose of deterring reckless driving. Well, I like to think that my opinions are guided by the facts, and some preliminary facts are in. And it looks like, maybe, just maybe, that particular concern was not warranted.

    Tyler Whitley at the Times-Dispatch reports that reckless driving arrests by the Virginia State Police have declined in July and the first three weeks of August of this year to 2,603, compared to 3,009 during the same period last year. The number of DUIs fell from to 189 from 199. Likewise, the numbers reported by Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover counties were generally lower as well.

    However, police say it’s too soon to say with certainty that the stiff fines are the reason for the declining number of arrests. The deployment of radar and the use of aerial checks may be factors as well. But if the numbers hold up, the authors of the Abuser Fees will be vindicated on at least one count.

  • Cracking Down on Illegal Immigration: Legislators Try Again

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    James A. Bacon

    The Republican leadership of the General Assembly has proposed a number of measures to deal with the growing problem of illegal immigration in Virginia. According to a press release from the House Speaker’s office, the key measures would:

    • Mandate that all local sheriffs, upon a lawful arrest for a crime, confirm that person’s legal presence in the United States using the nationwide databases of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
    • Ensure that at least one person on duty in every jail at all times has been certified to detain and begin deportation proceedings.
    • Create a presumption of no bail for any person who has been charged with an offense punishable by jail or prison time and who has been determined (through ICE databases) to be illegally present in the United States. This change will help stop controversial “catch and release” activities, one of the primary ways illegal aliens currently pass through existing government systems unchecked.
    • Make a federal conviction for hiring illegal aliens grounds for suspension of a business license issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia. This change will serve as an effective deterrent to the unlawful hiring of illegal aliens.
    • Prohibit illegal aliens from attending Virginia public institutions of higher education unless they have a valid student visa. Recognizing that college entrance slots are fixed and limited, this change will preserve state benefits for in-state students and their families.

    Virginia Democrats appear to be divided on the issue of how to handle illegal immigration. There are the usual voices denouncing the initiative as a cynical election ploy playing to nativist sentiments of Virginia voters. But Democrat Albert Pollard Jr., running for the Senate seat of retiring Republican John H. Chichester, has announced a plan to help employers avoid hiring illegal immigrants by mistake, notes the Times-Dispatch.

    And even Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine expressed sympathy with the frustrations that the GOP legislators are trying to address. As quoted by the T-D, he said: “Because the federal government has completely abrogated their responsibility to enforce the nation’s immigration laws, states are picking it up.” According to the Washington Post, Kaine also said that he is eager to work with the Republicans to curtail illegal immigration but will wait for the findings of a state commission before endorsing a specific proposal.

    The United States is a nation of immigrants. Everybody but a handful of nativists celebrates that tradition. Many take pride in the fact that the United States has become, in the words of columnist Ben Wattenburg, the first truly “world nation,” a mix of ethnicities from around the globe. At the same time, most Americans want to live in a country governed by the rule of law. It’s one thing to support legal immigration — according to rules and criteria established by Congress — and quite another to defend illegal immigration.

    Every functioning nation-state in the world maintains control over who enters its country. Control over borders is a fundamental aspect of national sovereignty. If Congress is politically deadlocked over how to control the nation’s borders, then the states have every right to step in and fill the void.

    The GOP measures seem better thought through than the wave of proposals submitted — and shot down — a year ago. But there may be flaws. If, so I would like to see them pointed out. I hope to see a calm and reasoned debate grounded in the facts.

  • Can We at Least Ship the Illegal Illegals Home?

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    James A. Bacon

    More than 21,000 of the 215,769 individuals housed in local jails in the last fiscal year could not prove their U.S. citizenship, reports Tim McGlone with the Virginian-Pilot, quoting details in a Virginia State Crime Commission report released Tuesday.

    If it’s any consolation, few of these guys are hardened murderers or drug dealers — most of the offenses were related to alcohol or driving without a license. But they aren’t exactly upstanding citizens either.

    We can argue until we’re blue in the face whether illegals as a group are just hard-working souls filling jobs that Virginians won’t take, and the degree to which they impose a burden on Virginia taxpayers. But we now have documentary proof that some 21,000 individual illegals spent time in jail. Accounting for some 10 percent of the inmate population, they imposed an undeniable cost on local governments. Slam dunk. End of argument.

    We can also argue until the cows come home whether various proposals to crack down on illegal immigrant would sweep up a lot of innocent legal immigrants just because they have the wrong accent or skin color. But when you’re counting illegals in jail, you don’t have to round up any innocents. You don’t have to hunt anyone down — we’ve caught them already! They’re sitting in jail!

    It’s one thing to defend people who enter the country illegally but otherwise live blameless lives. It’s quite another to defend those who come here illegally and proceed to commit crimes and misdemeanors. To be fair, the number appears to include not only those convicted but those who were charged but not yet convicted. Still, if the militant activist groups defending illegal immigrants can’t make this one concession — that illegals already sitting in jail should be sent home — it seems to me that they lose the right to be taken seriously.

    (I do foresee one tricky problem: What if the illegals refuse to reveal which country they emigrated from? Where do you send them? You can’t give someone a one-way ticket back to Mexico City because he “looks Mexican.” What if he’s Honduran or Guatamalan? You can’t ship someone back to Russia because he “looks Slavic.” What if he’s Polish or Czech? Someone will have to think that one through.)

  • 0 for 6

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    James A. Bacon

    There are six stories on the front page of Wapo today.

    Every one of them is a human settlement pattern issue or has a human settlement pattern aspect and there is not one word about the human settlement patterns in any of the stories.

    Let us start with “As Dulles Rail Staggers, Players Share in Blame.” Lots of talk about blame but not one word about how station-area settlement patterns would solve the “tunnel” issue or the “cost” issue. If there was a clear understanding of what is needed in the Dulles corridor (See “Rail to Dulles Realities,” 4 Jan 2004, “Rethinking METRO,” 18 Oct 2004 and “All Aboard,” 16 April 2007) then the Virginia Governor / Sec of Transportation, FTA and No-Bid Contract problems would be gone as well.

    “METRO Blames Mechanical Failures” spotlights the need for system wide Balance between capacity and demand. With an understanding of this reality, demand would be down (due to station area Balance) and support would be up allowing for rational investment in infrastructure. See Backgrounder “Time to Fundamentally Rethink METRO” recent post “It Will Take More Than Lint.”

    “Japan’s Warp-speed Ride to Internet Future” highlights “the last mile problem” that is a direct result of dysfunctional settlement patterns. While the Internet will not assure a sustainable trajectory for civilization, good access would help a lot. Instead of focusing on Japan, take a look at Sweden (nine times the average US of A speed) and Canada (four times the average US of A speed). Search for Shape of the Future use of the settlement patterns in both these nation-states as examples of how US of A settlement patterns could improve with a better understanding of what democracy and a free market require to flourish.

    “Bush Wants $50 Billion More for the Iraq War” is another paving stone on the road to entropy that is the result of dependence on Large, Private vehicles for Mobility and Access. See our recent post “Three Questions Encore” and the “Whale on the Beach,” 28 August 2006 column and “The Problem With Cars,” coming soon.

    The front page color picture adds another dimension to the settlement pattern issue: Opening the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge a week early will help commuters. The only real assistance available for commuters is to help them become non-commuters by evolving functional human settlement patterns. (See Balance under METRO story above.)

    How do the stories about the VA Tech shootings and the Elephant Clan senator from Idaho relate to human settlement patterns? Those who need to ask, have not been reading The Shape of the Future very carefully. We hope to make these connection more clear in TRILO-G.

    Have a Nice Day.

    EMR

  • Judge: “Taxation without Representation is Constitutional”

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    James A. Bacon

    It’s indeed a sad day when a judge can rule that (as reported by the Washington Post):

    “nothing in the state or federal constitution blocks the General Assembly from setting up a regional “political subdivision” for the purpose of taxation. And the regional authority’s members are not required to be elected directly by the people, he ruled.” (emphasis added)

    No wonder the NVTA and the cabal of politicians pushing through this shameful bill (HB 3202), went shopping for a judge in the People’s Republic of Arlington! And even though, Circuit Judge Kendrick finds himself in a conflict-of-interest–as he is an Arlington resident and by definition a defendant in the suit brought by the NVTA to validate the bonds–he refused to recuse himself and let a disinterested court rule on the case.

    If the Virginia Supreme Court doesn’t overturn this decision on an expedited basis, Virginians will have done a full circle. We will become the subjects of unelected and unaccounted monarchs–only this time, the “monarchs” will be a bunch of do-good liberals and other profit-seeking businesses who plan on fleecing our wallets.

    Our founding fathers must be turning in their graves…

    Powered by ScribeFire.

  • Wilder and Obama

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    James A. Bacon

    I’ll be on WRVA tomorrow morning to discuss Doug Wilder’s commitment to work on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

    I can’t recall Wilder ever coming out this early to say he’ll work on anyone’s behalf, though it still puts him months behind Tim Kaine.

    And say what you like about hizzoner — the man knows how to get out the vote (or at least Paul Goldman knows how to get out the vote for him). Should Obama become the nominee, itself a long shot owing to Clinton’s strength, having the Wilder machine working for him in Virginia and elsewhere in the South could sock the GOP in its electoral breadbasket.

  • Making the Most of University R&D Spending

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    James A. Bacon

    Increasingly, states are taking the lead in funding Research & Development in public universities, filling a gap left by federal inaction, contends Heike Mayer, an assistant professor of urban affairs at Virginia Tech, in a Times-Dispatch op-ed. Virginia supports R&D at its public universities, although the commitment trails that of many other states.

    Quoting from a Pew Center study, “Investing In Innovation,” she notes that successful states follow some simple guidelines:

    • Embed investments in a 21st-century innovation strategy that moves beyond funding discrete programs to making a coordinated set of investments.
    • Find your strengths — and needs — and fund R&D in those areas.
    • Invest in collaboration. Encourage, or even mandate, that universities, industry, and government work together.
    • Enlist experts. Seek advice from industry, people outside your state, and even from abroad.
    • Be consistent, but not to a fault. Commit to a cycle of investment and assessment.
    • Measure the results of funding, so you can be sure public dollars are well spent.

    It was a goal of the Warner administration to lift the rankings of Virginia’s major research universities — led by Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth — among the nation’s top research universities. You don’t hear much about that anymore. Probably because the Virginia rankings haven’t been climbing. Raising one’s standards in the R&D rankings isn’t easy when every other university in the country is trying to raise its rankings as well.

    According to the latest National Science Foundation study, Virginia Tech, the Virginia state champ, ranked 56th in R&D spending in Fiscal 2005 with $290 million. That’s up from $167 million in 1998, an increase of about 73 percent. Impressive… but not as impressive enough to maintain its standing.

    The University of Virginia fell to a 69th place ranking, with $239 million in R&D. VCU hung in the top 100 with a 99th place ranking.

    I can’t find the documentation online, but as memory serves me, Virginia Tech stood as high as 49 or 50 in recent years, and UVa within the top 60. Do any readers know the numbers?

    Overall, Virginia universities conducted $914 million in R&D in Fiscal 2005, according to the NSF. We trailed:

    California ($6.3 billion)
    New York ($3.6 billion)
    Texas ($3.1 billion)
    Maryland ($2.6 billion)
    Pennsylvania ($2.4 billion)
    Massachusetts ($2.1 billion)
    Illinois ($1.8 billion)
    North Carolina ($1.7 billion)
    Florida ($1.5 billion)
    Ohio ($1.5 billion)
    Michigan ($1.5 billion)
    Georgia ($1.3 billion)
    Wisconsin ($1 billion)

    Missouri was nipping on our heels.

  • Boondoggle Projects and Decaying Infrastructure

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    James A. Bacon

    As New Orleans reinvents itself after Hurricane Katrina, political and civic leaders plan to cultivate tourism and “culture-based” industry. The big new idea, writes urbanologist Joel Kotkin, is a publicly subsidized, $1 billion Riverfront development catering to the “creative class.” While the city morphs into a “mildly raucous, hipper Disney World,” the long-term migration of the once-vibrant energy sector to Houston continues unabated. The new New Orleans may be a great place for saxaphone players to make a living, but it won’t offer much for traditional blue-collar and white-collar workers.

    The whole “creative class” thing has gotten out of control, Kotkin argues in an op-ed piece in today’s Wall Street Journal. American’s state and local governments are over-investing in glitzy arts and entertainment complexes, sports stadiums, luxury hotels, convention centers and light-rail lines, and under-investing in the maintenance of its mundane roads, bridges, water-sewer facilities and electric power lines.

    “Public capital spending on convention centers has doubled to $2.4 billion annually,” Kotkin writes. “Nationwide, 44 new or expanded centers are in planning or under construction.” By contrast, he adds, “The American Society of Civil Engineers says that $1.6 trillion must be spent over the next five years to prevent further deterioration. Only $900 billion is now earmarked.”

    Starving critical infrastructure in order to fund money-losing boondoggles like sports stadiums and convention centers is not a long-term path to prosperity, Kotkin contends. Until politicians adopt a coherent, back-to-basics strategy that funds real needs instead of pork-barrel projects, “we can look forward to more natural disasters, bridge collapses, subway malfunctions and power shortages.”

    What Kotkin doesn’t say, but I would add, is this: Many politicians have hijacked the rhetoric of Richard Florida’s “creative class” theory to justify their spending on the glitzy, “urban renewal” projects that Kotkin criticizes. The irony is that sports stadiums, convention centers and performing arts complexes are not what the creative class is looking for. Florida, the creatuve-class guru, regards them as largely a waste of money. He contends that the culturally, entrepreneurially and scientifically creative elements of society are lured to cities characterized by openness and tolerance. They also seek “authenticity” and street-level culture. None of those are attributes that are attainable through Business As Usual, pork barrel politics.

    Bottom line, we’re getting the worst of both worlds: We’re not funding our infrastructure needs, and we’re not even creating the kinds of communities that the creative class wants to live in. We’re just keeping the politicians in power.

  • Education Policy Courtesy of the Hospitality Industry

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    James A. Bacon

    How serious is Virginia about preparing itself for the globally competitive knowledge economy? Serious enough to jack up state support for K-12 education year after year with no accountability, but not serious enough to repeal the Kings Dominion law. As Joe Rogalsky at Examiner.com reminds us in an end-of-summer piece:

    Virginia is the only state in the country that prohibits public schools from opening before the Tuesday after Labor Day without permission from the Virginia Board of Education. Local school systems and education advocates have urged legislators for years to remove the restriction. … The Richmond-area amusement park and other tourist attractions are major proponents of delaying classes until September because they rely on student workers.

    Some day Virginia will get serious about education, but it won’t be any day soon.

  • Bicycle Heaven

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    James A. Bacon

    Ocracoke Island is the only place I’ve ever visited where nearly as many people use bicycles as cars to get around. Admittedly, this is a vacation community: People aren’t in a hurry, and they enjoy being in the outdoors. But I’ve visited many other resort communities where people’s posteriors seem super-glued to their car seats. Here in Ocracoke, bikes own the road. It can be downright intimidating at times to drive a car. You frequently find yourself picking your way through clots of cyclists, walkers, joggers, mothers pushing their baby carriages – even the occasional trail horse.

    I take it as a given that we Americans need our cars – at least one per household — to enjoy the kind of mobility we crave. But I also recognize that it is desirable to reduce our dependence upon the automobile, with its attendant congestion, gasoline consumption and pollution. Surely, there must be something we can learn from the Ocracoke experience. Somehow, without the imposition of draconian controls, this island community has evolved a human settlement pattern that is hospitable to cars, pedestrians and cyclists alike.

    Ocracoke refers to itself as a “village.” Because most of the island is wildlife preserve, all development is concentrated at one end. The village has a distinct center: a cluster of stores, restaurants and hotels lining Silver Lake (which, more accurately speaking, is a lagoon, where ferries land and sailing boats moor). Arrayed around this center is a historic neighborhood of charming cottages fronting winding, interconnected streets, and more recently developed areas where Nags Head-style beach houses line the roads. During tourist season, the village is occupied by up to 6,000 people.

    This is crucial: The geometry of the village configuration reduces the distances that must be traveled between any two destinations. In other Outer Banks communities, by contrast, pod-like subdivisions and shopping centers are strung out along a trunk road. There is no connectivity between pods, which forces all traffic onto a single heavily traveled artery. (There may be two parallel arteries in Nags Head – I’m not as familiar with that part of the Outer Banks). Bottom line: If you want to get somewhere in Ocracoke, the distances are shorter. That alone makes bicycling a more viable transportation option.

    The village pattern is conducive to bicycling in other ways. Ocracoke roads and lanes are narrow, and speed limits restrict driving to 20 miles per hour (although some speed demons zip along at 25 mph). As a consequence, people feel safer using the roads. Serious cyclists may not mind hugging the sides of arterial highway with cars zooming by at 55 mph, but you won’t find many families with children who would choose that way of getting around.

    Finally, there is never a problem parking your bike. Bike racks are ubiquitous. I cycle from my cottage to the local coffee shop every morning where I buy a bagel and cup of java, hook up my laptop into the WiFi connection, and catch up with the Bacon’s Rebellion blog. There is a bicycle rack out front, loaded up with some 20 bicycles. The parking lot, at this moment, contains only seven cars.

    Which brings up a related topic… parking. Because so many people travel by bicycle, and because bicycles take up so little room compared to automobiles, the village surface area is not consumed by acres of parking lots. Parking spaces are squeezed in here and there around the restaurants, stores and houses, and along the sides of the roads, and it all seems to work. There’s enough room for everyone — as long as half the population is walking or bikding. The need for less parking creates a virtuous feedback loop – Ocracoke’s ability to accommodate bicycles keeps the village looking like a village, not a shopping center where isolated buildings are surrounded by asphalt. That, in turn, makes walking and biking more inviting.

    Let me assure readers who jump to ridiculous conclusions that I’m not arguing that every community in the United States should be organized like Ocracoke. I’m not calling for the wholesale transformation of our transportation infrastructure to accommodate bicycles at an Ocracoke level of intensity. I’m simply suggesting that we can learn from Ocracoke, where a bicycle culture has arisen naturally. Developers building new communities de novo particularly should pay attention.

    (Photo credit: National Geographic.)

  • The Lie of Little Tax Increases

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    James A. Bacon

    Last month I was a guest at the Colonial Area Republican Men’s Association (CARMA) lunch in Williamsburg. A fellow handed out a table of Virginia State-Local Tax Burden Compared to the U.S. Average (1970-2007) – from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce. I don’t recall if he made a pitch that the numbers were good or bad.

    I glanced at the numbers again today and they tell the same story that Harvard’s long-term study reported in the Jan 06 alumni magazine.

    • Harvard said the average American’s total tax burden went from 24% to 30% since the mid 70s.
    • This table shows the average Virginian’s total tax burden went from 29.2% to 32.9% – before the Republican-controlled General Assembly raised taxes in 04 and 07.

    If you take the average (median) income of Virginian families (Fairfax Govt web site) across the Commonwealth ($51,689) and in Fairfax ($88,123), it tells quite a tale. The firefighter married to a school teacher making $51k in RoVa and $88k in NoVa had their total tax burden increased 3% over 35 years (not including the latest hikes).

    The tax-and-spend Republicans and Democrats will say, “Virginia is a low tax state.” The increases are small. Look, only 3%.

    If greedy legislators at the local, Commonwealth and national governments hadn’t raised taxes, here is what it would mean to that family of four parented by a firefighter married to a school teacher.

    • RoVa family would have $159.37 more EVERY month.
    • NoVa family would have $270.08 more EVERY month.

    Go ask the firefighter married to the school teacher what that money would mean to them every month – starting right now.

    This is why ‘little’ tax increases are just a lie. That money means a lot to the average family. Even more to the working poor.

    How did government services improve, or what essential new ones were provided, since the early 70s to justify taking this money from the families of Virginia?

    Don’t say the 3% increase in taxes paid the salaries of the firefighter and the teacher. Their inflation adjusted wages didn’t profit from higher taxes.

    Understanding what a couple of hundred bucks means to working families is the genius of Gov. Jim Gilmore’s ‘No Car Tax’. The concept is lost on the Republican leadership in the General Assembly. Witness today’s back pedal on the super max traffic fines from HB 3202 – the ’07 Transportation Tax Panic – they aren’t offering to repeal the whole abortion of Republican principles, just stick the ‘fees’ to out of state drivers too.

    Ask your friends, family and neighbors what an extra couple of hundred dollars a month would mean to them. Maybe they should demand that government give the extra money they’ve taken since the 70s back.

  • THREE QUESTIONS ENCORE

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    James A. Bacon

    From bands to bombs, let us change the focus again.

    One of my favorite parts of BRIDGES will be Chapter 14, “What Did I Tell You? Anatomy of Opportunities Lost.”

    The chapter will include reference to many opportunities taken such as preserving the future of the Adirondacks but will focus on opportunities lost. It will contain links to old favorites such as “DOWN MEMORY LANE WITH KATRINA” and others. By the way there will be a new trip on memory lane with Katrina to mark the second anniversary of “rebuilding” the Gulf Coast out soon.

    This new “What Did I Tell You?” caught us by surprise.

    Some of you will recall that in the early days of Bacon’s Rebellion Blog, Jim opened the scope of subjects beyond the Commonwealth to explore thoughts on occasion of the US of A’s invasion of Iraq.

    Our 9th column for Bacon’s Rebellion was titled “Three Questions.” Under the second question (“Why is the United States repeating in Iraq, the same mistake made in Afghanistan?”) we outlined an alternative strategy for both pseudo-nation-states.

    Now WaPo, in a 17 August 2007 story by Robin Wright titled “Nonpartisan Group Calls for Three-State Split in Iraq” summarizes a report by the Fund for Peace.

    On 22 August CNN carried a story “U.S. Officials rethink hope for Iraq Democracy” quoting generals and intelligence sources.

    Read “Three Questions” at https://www.baconsrebellion.com/ and then these two stories at http://www.washingtonpost.com/ and http://www.cnn.com/ and see why it will be in “What Did I Tell You?”

    EMR

  • Agree to Disagree — Richmond Schools Edition

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    James A. Bacon

    Thad Williamson and I tackle the thorny issue of what to do about Richmond’s public schools in our latest “Agree to Disagree” columns.

  • Come Home, Scott Miller

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    James A. Bacon

    Now for something a little lighter… Scott Miller and the Commonwealth is one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever to emerge from Virginia. It’s a darn shame that Miller, the talented composer, lead vocalist and lead guitar, ever moved to Tennessee.

    The Old Dominion would be justified to claim Miller just for his music, which ranges from hard-driving rock to soft, Civil War-style ballads. But his lyrics are deeply rooted in Virginia, West Virginia and the South. They celebrate a sense of time, place and values that Virginians will find familiar. In the YouTube video clip above, he performs “The Amtrak Crescent,” describing a railroad ride from New Orleans to Washington, D.C.

    Listen to the words. Miller has is sensitive to dysfunctional human settlement patterns! Watch out, Joni Mitchell (“Pave Paradise”).

    You know, it used to be pretty on the Eastern Shore.
    Now it’s more New York down to Baltimore.
    It takes so much effort just to move one train.
    Why does everything around me have to look the same?

    Virginia has many great bands and performers. The Dave Matthews Band is the best known, followed perhaps by Bruce Hornsby. Carbon Leaf, Susan Greenbaum and Robin Thompson — to name some Richmond-area musicians — are enormously talented as well. But Scott Miller beats them all. I don’t know why he hasn’t made it into the big time. Judging by the tenor of his lyrics, I’m guessing, he’s the kind of guy who sings about whatever the hell he wants to sing about, and if the big record labels don’t like it, that’s their problem, not his.

    I would link to other YouTube videos, but the fan-made recordings are such poor quality that they don’t convey Miller’s talents very well. If you want to hear clips of his music, including a studio recording of Amtrak Crescent, visit the Scott Miller website. Then send him an e-mail and beg him to move back to Virginia where he belongs. Or, at the very least, urge him to swing through the Old Dominion on his next tour.

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.
For sale on Amazon.com

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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