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    <title>Opinion for Richmond Times-Dispatch</title>
    <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/</link>
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        <title>Opinion for Richmond Times-Dispatch</title>
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    <dc:language>en</dc:language>
    <dc:creator>Richmond Times-Dispatch</dc:creator>
    <dc:rights>Copyright 2009</dc:rights>
    <dc:date>2009-11-21T00:01:52-05:00</dc:date>

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          <title>Fight Smart</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-SECURITY21_20091120-180003/306990/</link>
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The United States has expended a godawful lot of time, money, energy, and lives in the pursuit of national security since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Much of the effort has paid dividends. But a great deal has been wasted on trivial, misguided, or simply wrongheaded pursuits. There is considerable disagreement over which is which&#8212;whether, for instance, waterboarding or the Patriot Act have done more harm than good. But there are some things surely everyone can agree the U.S. ought to be doing or not doing. Unfortunately, the nation often seems to get the two mixed up.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Week&#8217;s End</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-SATBULLS21_20091120-180003/306989/</link>
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WEEK&#8217;S END A new report finds that Virginia&#8217;s tax system is still regressive: Low-income earners pay a higher percentage of their income than high-income earners. Virginia shouldn&#8217;t soak the rich, or the middle class. But it absolutely shouldn&#8217;t be soaking the poor. Richmond&#8217;s Habitat for Humanity is leading the nation in innovation. Its plan to create a community land trust is a creative way to foster affordable housing: Buyers purchase the homes, but not the land under them, which stays in the trust.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-PILLOW21_20091120-180003/306988/</link>
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Real-Life Equality Doesn&#8217;t Sound So Hot Editor, Times-Dispatch: Many years ago I was teaching the basics of socialism, Marxist communism, and capitalism to a 20th-century honors class. Now honors students are great to work with: inquisitive, conscientious, and in most cases, extremely altruistic. As usual, some felt that the basic tenets of socialism and communism sound reasonable and fair. After all, who is against leveling the playing field and giving everyone equal access and capital?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>The Storm Before the Calm</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-PARK1121_20091120-180003/306987/</link>
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WASHINGTON Calm. That&#8217;s not a word one hears much these days, but calm is what some are urging in the wake of a new federal report on breast cancer screening. Released Monday, the report has caused a stir with its recommendation that women in their 40s don&#8217;t need annual mammograms and that self-exams no longer should be part of a doctor&#8217;s instructions to female patients. Instead, the report suggests, women 40-49 who are not in a high-risk group should wait until 50 to begin mammograms and then have them every other year.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-KREM21_20091120-180003/306986/</link>
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Lacking Argument, Keillor Hurls Insults Editor, Times-Dispatch: Garrison Keillor is at it again. Because he has to write something, but has nothing worthwhile or even amusing to put out, he resorts to talking trash. I don&#8217;t want to defend the Republicans who have been impotent since collapsing on their 1994 mandate to destroy the liberal agenda, but they are trying to decelerate America&#8217;s descent into the socialist pigsty.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Censorship: Sweep, Sweep</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/article/ED-CENSOR20_20091119-183602/306773/</link>
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&#8220;Democrats are not going to sweep this issue under the rug. If the administration tries to censor scientists or sweep science under the rug, they&#8217;re not going to get away with it.&#8220; So declared Rep. Henry Waxman three years ago, in the wake of allegations by NASA climatologist James Hansen and others that the Bush administration was muzzling their alarms about climate change. At the time, everyone agreed with Waxman that it was very, very wrong for the Bush administration not to let dissenters say anything they wanted.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-TUCKER20_20091119-183402/306772/</link>
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Florida Story Slighted Jamestown Editor, Times-Dispatch: The Associated Press has now joined the chorus of the historically challenged by heralding Plymouth Rock and ignoring Jamestown. The interesting story about St. Augustine, Fla., stated that 1594, the year of the St. Augustine documents featured in the story, was 26 years before that publicized landing of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts. The idea prevailing in too much of America that 1620 came before 1607 is absurd and misleading.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Tibet, The U.S.: Part of China</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-TBET20_20091119-183204/306771/</link>
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President Barack Obama declined to meet with the Dalai Lama prior to his trip to China. Diplomatic pleasantries argue against offending the communists, we suppose. During his Asian trip, Obama said the U.S. considers Tibet a part of China and called on Beijing to confer with the Dalai Lama. His statement about Tibet&#8217;s status raised an eyebrow or two, including our own. Research into American policy toward Tibet found this:           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Sex Ed: Saying No</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-SEX20_20091119-183204/306770/</link>
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Abstinence-only speaker Pam Stenzel&#8217;s presentation at Douglas Freeman High earlier this week drew mixed reactions. Stenzel apparently hectored students with a mixture of shame and misinformation. That&#8217;s too bad, because her underlying message about the value of abstinence is right on the money. Practicing safe sex is better than practicing risky sex. But in no other arena of public health do adults send such a fatalistic message as they do when they portray teen sex as inevitable. One never hears, for instance, &#8220;Yes, it might be nice if teenagers refrained from using drugs, but we know many won&#8217;t&#8212;so let&#8217;s not preach &#8216;just say no,&#8216; and instead just teach them how to shoot up safely.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Health Care: A Flock of Pigs</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-REID20_20091119-183204/306769/</link>
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has finally unveiled his own bill to further nationalize health care. It may be slightly better than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s. But that&#8217;s like saying it&#8217;s better to have leprosy than to get shot in the head. That might seem like an absurd analogy, but the entire discussion about health care reform passed the point of lurid fantasy long ago. Take the claim that Reid&#8217;s bill would cost nearly $900 billion but still reduce the deficit by $127 billion. Come again? That bit of nonsense reminds us of a salesman who once sold his goods at a loss, figuring that what he lost on profit margin, he could make up in volume.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>2010 General Assembly: Parties Must Work Together</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-MORR20_20091119-183204/306768/</link>
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Kudos to Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell for appearing before a somewhat &#8220;slimmed down&#8221; House of Delegates Democratic Caucus at its annual retreat this past weekend in Glen Allen. The House Democratic Caucus leadership invited McDonnell to share his vision for moving Virginia forward and he graciously accepted. His sincere comments were nonpartisan and a healthy prelude to what will be a very, very difficult 2010 Virginia General Assembly session.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-MALO20_20091119-183204/306767/</link>
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Election Did Not Repudiate Obama Editor, Times-Dispatch: Letter-writer Everett Gentry&#8217;s references to the 2009 governors&#8217; races as referendums on the president are absurd! Exit polls clearly indicated that state politics were the main focus of voters, and the elections had nothing to do with President Obama, whose approval rating is still a healthy 54 percent.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Eminent Domain: City Held the Cards; Victims Hold the Bag</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/columnists/article/ED-HINKLE20_20091119-183204/306766/</link>
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Jay and Stephanie Burkholder never had much of a chance, really. They held title to a building in Roanoke that housed a flooring company, where fewer than 50 people worked. And they were going up against Carilion&#8212;a $2 billion health system that wanted to build a biomedical complex on their land. They also were going up against the City of Roanoke, whose former economic developer was employed by Carilion to scope out locations for the center&#8212;not to mention Virginia Tech and UVa, each of which had a hand in the project, as well as the Commonwealth of Virginia, which kicked in $59 million in case Carilion ran short of cash.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Constitution: Fighting a Coercion Clause</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-WILL19_20091118-181805/306511/</link>
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PHOENIX In 2006, long before there was an Obama administration determined to impose a command-and-control federal health care system, a young orthopedic surgeon walked into the Goldwater Institute GEORGE WILL here with an idea. The institute, America&#8217;s most potent advocate of limited government, embraced Eric Novack&#8217;s idea for protecting Arizonans from health care coercion. In 2008, Arizonans voted on Novack&#8217;s proposed amendment to the state&#8217;s Constitution:           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Obama&#8217;s Trip: China Town Hall</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-TOWN19_20091118-181805/306510/</link>
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This week President Barack Obama held a &#8220;town hall&#8221; with college students in Shanghai. He took the opportunity to express his commitment to an Internet free of censorship. The U.S. has seen some lively, and chaotic, town halls recently, as constituents have challenged their representatives. The Shanghai students were polite throughout Obama&#8217;s appearance.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Hamilton Opposed to Unlimited Power</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-STEG19_20091118-181805/306509/</link>
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Hamilton Opposed Unlimited Power Editor, Times-Dispatch: I commend Correspondent of the Day Edward Blackwell for advocating that both sides of the health care debate reflect seriously on the Constitution. He is also correct that we could learn a lot by understanding the relationship of the current constitutional debate with those of previous generations. He chooses a wonderful historical example as well: the clash between Jefferson and Hamilton over the powers granted to Congress by Article I, Section 8.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Death Penalty: Changing Times?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-DPEN19_20091118-181805/306508/</link>
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After the execution of John Allen Muhammad, The Times-Dispatch&#8217;s Frank Green reported that &#8220;little noticed amid the recent activity in the state&#8217;s death chamber is that there has not been a death verdict from a jury in the state since March 2008.&#8220; The news follows a trend that has seen fewer death sentences during the past several years. Experts attribute the news to various factors, of which the certainty of life without parole may be pre-eminent. Prisoners slated for execution remain on Death Row. Larry Bill Elliott went to the electric chair Tuesday night.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Jewish Book Fair (and Fare): Deli Mavens</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-DELI19_20091118-181805/306507/</link>
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Recognition as a deli maven confers high honor indeed. The title suggests taste, knowledge, attitude, and serious health issues. A trip to a genuine deli is not only an aesthetic experience but an exercise in nostalgia and, in an age of little hearts printed on menus, an assertion of social defiance. Pastrami lovers will not be cowed. They also want their chicken soup loaded with matzo balls as small as basketballs.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor: Are We Paying Faculty for Nothing?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-CLARK19_20091118-181805/306506/</link>
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Are We Paying Faculty for Nothing? Editor, Times-Dispatch Regarding the news of VCU&#8217;s decision to eliminate 91 jobs to offset state budget cuts: I applaud it for continuing to look within for waste and cost savings. I urge VCU and all Virginia universities and colleges to work even harder to identify waste within their budgets before increasing tuition. For years, tuition rates nationally have risen well above the inflation averages and these increases are not sustainable if the dream of a college education is to remain within reach of average Americans.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>U.S. and China: Countries Enriched by Relationship</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-CHEN19_20091118-181805/306505/</link>
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Nowadays, when shopping in Wal-Mart, Toys &#8220;R&#8221; Us, or any other discount stores, one cannot avoid seeing the &#8220;Made in China&#8221; marks. True, China has become a daily presence in the XUEMING CHEN United States, wherever you go: Chinese merchandise, Chinese people, Chinese food, Chinatown, you name it. Is China a friend or foe of the United States? What does China&#8217;s rise mean to most Americans? This is a large, complicated, and hard-to-answer question. However, the bottom line is clear: China is an important strategic partner of the United States&#8212;competitive, yet mutually beneficial. Chinese growth is actually a boon to the United States in the long run.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Palin Memoir: Blockbusters</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-SARA18_20091117-181203/306320/</link>
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Sarah Palin&#8217;s memoir officially has landed, and the American carnival continues. Going Rogue made the best-seller lists even before it appeared in book stores. The author&#8217;s gig on Oprah Winfrey&#8217;s TV show sealed the deal. Celebrity devours all. Partisans love Rogue or hate it, and likely reached their conclusions before they read it all the way through. The passions make reviews almost pointless. The Washington Post greeted publication with dueling critiques&#8212;one from the left, the other from the right. A clich&#233; count places the critics in a tie. Newsweek contributed a cover that redounds to the magazine&#8217;s abiding discredit.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Election 2009: A Model</title>
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That did not take long. Bob McDonnell already has been touted as a candidate for national office in 2012. We have a hunch that he intends to devote his attentions to the governorship. He certainly will want to stay home during the coming years. Tim Kaine did not help his in-state reputation when he assumed a peripatetic lifestyle upon becoming chairman of the Democratic National Committee. His frequent absences did not prove popular. All things considered, Virginians would prefer that their governors not be hobos or vagabonds.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Growing Smarter Means Growing Safer</title>
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Growing Smarter Means Growing Safer Editor, Times-Dispatch: Michael Paul Williams is to be commended for his keen insight in bringing the need for smarter growth to the attention of readers. In his recent column, &#8220;Remnants of Malls Point to Need for Smarter Growth,&#8220; he relays the Partnership for Smarter Growth&#8217;s effort to highlight how regional development patterns have caused inner suburbs to decay while sprawl continues to devour the Richmond region&#8217;s outer suburbs.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor: AARP Serves Members, Not Ideology</title>
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AARP Serves Members, Not Ideology Editor, Times-Dispatch: It&#8217;s clear from your Nov. 9 editorial that AARP and The Times-Dispatch have very different views on health care reform and how best to protect America&#8217;s seniors, but that&#8217;s what democracy is all about. Well-intentioned people will vigorously debate complex social problems and work through the legislative and political process until the majority reaches a consensus by voting on the issue.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Tea Party: Not Cool</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-EFFI18_20091117-181203/306316/</link>
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Members of a Tea Party group in Danville recently announced plans to burn Rep. Tom Perriello in effigy, along with Nancy Pelosi. (Unfavorable publicity now has them reconsidering the idea.) The tea-partiers object, like millions of Americans, to the nationalized health care bill passed by the House earlier this month, with Perriello&#8217;s help. If the demonstration goes off as originally advertised, the tea partiers will have proved little beyond the increasingly obvious fact that right-wingers can stoop just as low as left-wingers can when expressing their displeasure with a particular policy&#8212;whether it&#8217;s the Iraq war or globalization or, now, the collectivization of health care. There&#8217;s still a high road in American political discourse, but it&#8217;s not in danger of wearing out any time soon.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Energy: Make the Smart Grid Work for Virginians</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-GRID18_20091117-180607/306304/</link>
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ARLINGTON When President Obama announced $3.4 billion in new federal grants to upgrade the nation&#8217;s power grid last month, he did so amid many references to 21st-century technology. A &#8220;smart&#8221; power grid based on new technology will be essential to meeting the nation&#8217;s energy needs over the coming decades. But if such a critical implementation is to happen smoothly, decisionmakers would be wise to learn from past experience to ensure that the new grid does all that is required of it.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor, Cont&#8217;d: Ask About Pricing on Medical Tests</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-BECKER18_20091117-180607/306303/</link>
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Ask About Pricing On Medical Tests Editor, Times-Dispatch: Are physicians concerned about the cost of tests or lab work they prescribe? A cardiologist recently recommended that I have an echocardiogram. Although I do have some insurance, I try to hold the expenses down to a minimum, so I asked him what the cost was for an echocardiogram. I was surprised about his reaction: at first, indignation that I would ask such a question, then he answered that he did not know. When I discussed setting up an appointment with his assistant, I also inquired about the cost and was told I should contact another hospital other than the one currently used&#8212;one where the cost would be much lower. I proceeded to check with several local hospitals and found the cost for an echocardiogram varied from $665 for a self-payer to a high of $3,230.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Public Square: Healthy Debate</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-PUBS17_20091116-174403/306106/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s hard to recall an issue that has sparked as much heated debate as the current effort to reform the American health care system. Emotion has ruled much of the discussion. That&#8217;s no surprise. We are, after all, talking about making enormous changes to a system that not only accounts for one-sixth of the U.S economy, but also deals daily with matters of life and death. Both sides have too frequently resorted to exaggeration, misinformation, and wishful thinking.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:48 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>St. Joseph&#8217;s Villa: Living Love</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-VILL17_20091116-174403/306108/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Daughters of Charity took seriously the commandment to love one another. In 1834 they established the St. Joseph Academy and Orphan Asylum at Fourth and Marshall. Today Central Virginia knows the institution as St. Joseph&#8217;s Villa on Brook Road in Henrico. For 175 years the villa has helped children and families in need. It resembles a garment whose hem is touched by people in search of healing and restoration. St. Joseph&#8217;s offers a variety of services, including camps, treatment programs, and emergency shelters. Children go there to learn and to become what they are. The campus projects peace.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:47 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Education Legacy: Schools Must Improve Under McDonnell . . .</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-ROTH17_20091116-174403/306107/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Bob McDonnell faces a daunting workload as Virginia&#8217;s 71st governor. The budget crisis and transportation are headliners, but Virginia faces other serious challenges. A key one is im proving our schools. While Virginia has public schools that are as good as any in the world, we also have too many not giving all students the education they need to succeed in life and work or to keep the commonwealth economically competitive in a globalized economy.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:47 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Chesapeake Bay: A New Line</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-CBAY17_20091116-174403/306102/</link>
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For many years, the federal government has been insisting that states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including Virginia, clean up their act. For many years, states have failed to do so. Deadlines have come and gone without consequence. Each time the federal government has behaved like the timid schoolyard bully who can&#8217;t quite muster the courage to back up his threat: &#8220;OK, I dare you to cross this line!&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:39 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters: Senators&#8217; Staffs Are Kept in the Dark</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/WOOLRIDGEB_20091116-174403/306109/</link>
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We went to Washington for the Emergency House Call on Congress initiated by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann. We went to express our opposition to the health care reform legislation being pushed by President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party leadership.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:26 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent: Who Determines the Common Good?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-LONG17_20091116-174403/306105/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
I read Walter Williams&#8217; Op/Ed column, &#8220;Constitution? What Constitution?&#8220; that described Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s refusal to answer a reporter&#8217;s query asking where the Constitution gives Congress the right to force people to buy health insurance.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:26 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters: Fix Medicare Before Adding a New Patient</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-BARKERJ17_20091116-174403/306101/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
One might have expected to hear more outcries from workers and senior citizens as health care reform endangers the Medicare benefits they have earned. President Barack Obama and Congress do not know at this time how many Medicare dollars are misspent, nor do they know how to find them.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:20 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Health Care: Pro&#45;Choice Advocates Don&#8217;t Connect the Dots</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/columnists/article/ED-HINKLE17_20091116-174403/306103/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Pro-choice liberals are horrified that House Democrats made a deal with the devil by passing a health care bill that would expand the prohibition on federal funding of abortion. They are ap parently shocked to discover that putting politicians in charge of more health care decisions means more health care decisions will be made on a political basis.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:19 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Education Legacy: . . . And Charter Schools Are the Way to Start</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-JALLEN17_20091116-174403/306104/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s now official. After more than a year of hard-fought campaigning, Bob McDonnell is Virginia&#8217;s governor-elect. As a candidate, McDonnell rightly focused his efforts on improving the common wealth&#8217;s economy. As governor, however, he will have greater control not over economic conditions, but over the condition of schools and the quality of education in the commonwealth&#8212;an issue that directly impacts the economy of the future.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:01:13 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Communist China: Chiang Won</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-CHIN16_20091115-173209/305886/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Sixty years ago, Mao Zedong&#8217;s communists triumphed in China. Chiang Kai-shek&#8217;s nationalists withdrew across the strait to establish the Republic of China on Taiwan. Both Chinas presumed to represent the one true kingdom. Mao inaugurated a reign of terror that reached its apotheosis during the Cultural Revolution. Man-made famines and other enormities placed Mao alongside Hitler and Stalin in the annals of ideological perversity. After decades of state-induced shabbiness, the party, under Mao&#8217;s successors, imposed market reforms. China&#8217;s economy took off. Especially along the coast, flourishing cities boasted skylines that rivaled those in the United States.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:01:46 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-SCARD16_20091115-173001/305880/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Fort Hood Deaths Are Indeed a Threat Editor, Times-Dispatch: I was shocked by the recent front page news story, &#8220;Muslims Say Islam No Threat to Military.&#8220; A Muslim, who believed strongly in Islam, was indeed a threat to the military&#8212;he allegedly killed 13 people at Fort Hood. It has been said that political correctness will be the death of our country. It certainly appears to have been at least one of the causes in the deaths of those 13. Maj. Nidal Hasan stated, among other troubling comments and e-mails, that the war on terror was a war against Islam. Yet, because he was Muslim, no one had the fortitude to question those statements for fear of being called a bigot, or worse.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:01:44 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Turnout, Turnaround: Which One?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-ELEX16_20091115-173209/305887/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Last year Barack Obama became the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry Virginia since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. His almost 2 million votes translated into 53 percent of the popular total. He carried six of the state&#8217;s 11 congressional districts. This month Republican Bob McDonnell won the governorship in one of the biggest landslides since the rise of two-party politics in the commonwealth. His 1.1 million votes translated into 59 percent&#8212;and an 18-point lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds. McDonnell took nine congressional districts, losing only the 3rd and the 8th, both of which would vote for any Democrat not in a federal penitentiary.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:01:39 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor, Cont&#8217;d: Is Virginia Too Purple to Accept Funds?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-HOLLANDR16_20091115-173209/305888/</link>
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Is Virginia Too Purple To Accept Funds? Editor, Times-Dispatch: In the 1995 General Assembly session, Sen. Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax) co-sponsored a resolution calling on Republican Gov. George Allen to apply for Virginia&#8217;s $6.7 million share of federal Goals 2000 funding. Allen balked at accepting the aid (amounting to less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the 1996-98 state budget) until Congress amended the education program to make it less intrusive.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:01:26 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-YOUNG16_20091115-173209/305890/</link>
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Beware Big Business And Big Government Editor, Times-Dispatch: I am amazed that you would select for Correspondent of the Day someone who states, &#8220;It is big government that the little guy needs protection from&#8212;not big business.&#8220; Need I remind Hank Pezzella and The Times-Dispatch that it was big business&#8217;s decision to engage in the shady practice of derivatives trading and granting subprime loans that led to the destabilization of the &#8220;too big to fail&#8221; banks? That, in turn, led to the economic crisis being felt by a great many little guys.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:01:14 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>On Reform: Obama&#8217;s Malpractice</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-SAMU16_20091115-173209/305889/</link>
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WASHINGTON There is an air of absurdity to what is mistakenly called &#8220;health care reform.&#8220; Everyone knows that the United States faces massive governmental budget deficits as far as calculators can project, driven heavily by an aging population and uncontrolled health costs. Recovering slowly from a devastating recession, it&#8217;s widely agreed that, though deficits should not be cut abruptly (lest the economy resume its slump), a prudent society would embark on long-term policies to control health costs, reduce government spending, and curb massive future deficits. The administration estimates these at $9 trillion from 2010 to 2019. The president and all his top economic advisers proclaim the same cautionary message.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Health Care: A Trillion(s)&#45;Dollar Bill</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-TANN15_20091113-203407/305540/</link>
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A trillion here, a billion there, and pretty soon we&#8217;re talking real money. The House of Representatives has now passed its version of health care reform&#8212;a gargantuan 2,000-page, 70-pound collection of mandates, regulations, and subsidies that may well be among the most expensive pieces of legislation in U.S. history.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:55 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Cop&#8217;s Son Applauds Heroes Past and Present</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-TAS15_20091113-203407/305541/</link>
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It&#8217;s always a bittersweet time sitting in the audience of the annual Valor Awards that honor the Richmond region&#8217;s police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians for bravery. I can&#8217;t help but think of my father. TOM SILVESTRI He was a police officer. He&#8217;s deceased and a day doesn&#8217;t go by without me missing him. The 20th ceremony on Nov. 6 at the Richmond Convention Center was sponsored by the Retail Merchants Association and an impressive lineup of local businesses. What prompted a special tug on the heart was the unscripted reminder by RMA President and CEO Nancy C. Thomas to also remember the families of those who serve our communities.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:54 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Health Care, Education Reform Both Need Competition</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-HICK15_20091113-203203/305527/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
In Washington, and state capitals everywhere, policy debates tend to be partisan and shaped by the interests that have something at stake. But peering beyond the surface of many of these debates, sometimes one can uncover certain principles around which the debates are organized. The clash of interests tends to be over how these principles or ideas should play out in the policy and political process.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:53 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>State Spending: A Better Way</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-SPEN15_20091113-203407/305539/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
As state officials wrestle with harsh cuts in the commonwealth&#8217;s budget, it&#8217;s worth pausing to note that during the past decade, the state&#8217;s budget has increased 74 percent. (This according to the latest figures from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.) That&#8217;s a big increase&#8212;though it doesn&#8217;t exactly translate into profligacy. For one thing, inflation during the same period was 23 percent. For another, the state&#8217;s population grew from 7.1 million to 7.7 million&#8212;an 8 percent increase. That means more kids to teach, more driver&#8217;s licenses to issue, more services to render. Adjust for those factors, and the state is now spending, in constant dollars, 28 percent more per resident than it did 10 years ago.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:51 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Health Care: Bureaucrazy</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-CARE15_20091113-190802/305519/</link>
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The count is finished, the total is in: Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s health care bill would create a whopping 111 new boards, commissions, bureaucracies, and programs. That&#8217;s not a typo. One hundred and eleven. They include everything from the Health Choices Administration&#8212;which would make your health choices for you&#8212;to the National Medical Device Registry. There would be a &#8220;No Child Left Unimmunized Against Influenza&#8221; program, and a Community Prevention Stakeholders Board&#8212;not to be confused, of course, with the Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board, which should not be confused with the Prevention and Wellness Trust. (Though of course it would be.)           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:48 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Your 2 Cents</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-2CENTS15_20091113-203407/305530/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Let&#8217;s not jump to conclusions. A man with two handguns and more than 40 rounds of ammo screaming &#8220;Allahu Akbar&#8221; could just be suffering from stress.&#8212;Max Maizels, Richmond   . . .  My son is a cop. If he has trouble, he will request backup, and it will arrive immediately. Four months ago, Gen. McChrystal requested 40,000 additional troops. This is not a debate with an opponent. This is a call for help. The president needs to respond.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:45 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>It&#8217;s time for Tacky Lights</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/NV-VIEW15_20091113-203407/305543/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Glow with the flow. Get plugged in. Lighten up! This is the time of year our headline writers search for synonyms and practice their puns. It&#8217;s getting close to Tacky Lights Tour time, and that calls for a good play on words and wattage. A note of explanation for newcomers: In most cases, you wouldn&#8217;t want to be called tacky. Around here, it&#8217;s a term of endearment.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:43 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Fort Hood: Medicalizing Mass Murder</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-KRAUT15_20091113-203407/305536/</link>
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What a surprise&#8212;that someone who shouts &#8220;Allahu Akbar&#8221; (the &#8220;God is great&#8221; jihadist battle cry) as he is shooting up a room of American soldiers might have Islamist motives. It certainly was a surprise to the mainstream media, which spent the weekend after the Fort Hood massacre playing down Nidal Hasan&#8217;s religious beliefs.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:32 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Briefs: Music as Torture, Federal Incompetence, Obamacare, Etc.</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-ROSS15_20091113-203407/305538/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The other day the White House boasted it has created 650,000 jobs by spending $150 billion in &#8220;stimulus&#8221; money. That comes out to $230,000 per job.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:31 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent: Constitutional Views Vary Widely</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-BLACK15_20091113-203407/305532/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Recent legislative activity regarding health care has presented a teachable moment on the U.S. Constitution. Health care has traditionally been a state domain&#8212;it has more often than not fallen under the heading of &#8220;powers reserved to the states&#8221; (Amendment 10). Doctors and nurses&#8217; licenses, hospital and nursing home inspections, public health clinics, etc. are controlled by state and local governments.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:31 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>How Republicans Stitched the Big Quilt in Virginia This Year</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-ATKI15_20091113-203407/305531/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Longfellow&#8217;s admonition is a good thing to read after elections. Commentators (and I am not free of the fault) emerge from their lofty vantage points in the wake of political clashes to offer FRANK ATKINSON weighty judgments and dreamy assessments that make it all sound so simple.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:28 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Public Square: Health Care Reform</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-PUBSQ15_20091113-203407/305537/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Congress is considering complex and controversial bills to change the American health care system. The public debate is heated. Is Congress listening? On Tuesday at 7 p.m., The Times-Dispatch will hold a Public Square on health care reform. If you have a letter to Congress, bring it along and read key parts of it. We&#8217;ll record the Square and send a DVD to our representatives and senators.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:25 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Health care reform &#45; Two Opinions</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/health_care_reform_-_two_opinions/305704/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Congress is considering complex and controversial bills to change the American health care system. The opinions on both sides have been diverse and heartfelt, even heated at times.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:14 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Why Voters Embraced Republicans, Rejected Democrats</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-GOLD15_20091113-203203/305526/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Virginia, legendary for independent-minded, ticket-splitting voters, morphed into the land of the straight party-line vote in 2009 as Republicans swept all three statewide offices by double-digit margins for the first time in the modern two-party era. Indeed, the brilliant campaign of Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell had the strongest coattails ever: The spread between the three victors was by far the smallest in modern history.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:13 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>VITA: Partnership Based on False Assumptions</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-HAGUE15_20091113-203407/305533/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The 2003 Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) initiative and 2005 partnership contract with Northrop Grumman were primarily based on two assumptions: (1) The state&#8217;s information technology (IT) was outdated and inefficient, and (2) VITA and the partnership would save money. While working as an IT professional for VCU, community colleges, the Department of Information Technology (DIT), and VITA, it was my privilege to witness our commonwealth&#8217;s pre-VITA history of technology leadership. In the early 1970s, Virginia was one of the first states to consolidate agency IT resources to improve efficiency. In 1998, Virginia led the nation when then-Gov. Jim Gilmore appointed Don Upson as the first cabinet-level secretary of technology.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:11 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Eminent Domain: A Sorry End</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-KELO15_20091113-203407/305535/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
File this one under &#8220;Life&#8217;s Little Ironies, Dept. of&#8221;: On Monday, the same day Germans celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Pfizer announced that it was closing its R-and-D headquarters in New London, Conn. That plant, you might recall, was the central element in a redevelopment scheme dreamed up by the grand poohbahs of New London. To carry it out, they needed to remove the modest homes of residents in the Fort Trumbull area. Suzette Kelo preferred not to sell. So New London decided to seize her property by force. She fought back, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court&#8212;where a narrow majority ruled that the Fifth Amendment&#8217;s requirement that private property could be taken only for &#8220;public use&#8221; really meant it was OK to seize anyone&#8217;s house so long as you gave the property to someone with more money. (Little Pink Houses, by Jeff Benedict, tells the whole sorry tale about the expropriation of Suzette Kelo and the destruction of her neighborhood.)           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:06 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters: Election Returns Repudiate Nothing</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-INLOW15_20091113-203407/305534/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Republicans such as Eric Cantor who claim that the election of Robert McDonnell somehow represents a national repudiation of the policies of President Barack Obama are either deluded or dishonest in their thinking. The Virginia gubernatorial race was nothing but a local referendum on the relative merits of McDonnell and Creigh Deeds.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:04 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Health Care Reform: A View From the Frontline</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-WRIG15_20091113-203407/305542/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
As a physician who practices extensively within the Medicare system, I can speak about the role government plays in American health care. As a result of my experience, I support continued government involvement in supplying health care to the needy of our country, and I also agree with the current administration&#8217;s emphasis on extending health insurance coverage to all Americans.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:01:02 EST</pubDate>
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         <item>
          <title>Win for Virginia: The $5 Transportation Solution</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-WHITE14_20091113-191803/305523/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Most Virginians would agree that efficiently moving goods and people is paramount to establishing and maintaining a vibrant economy. The wheels of commerce are greased by WILSON WHITEHURST roads and railways that allow unimpeded, safe travel. Our transportation networks are valuable assets, tools with which Virginia builds business and creates prosperity.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>More Letters to the Editor: Court Decisions Often Break What Was Fixed</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-SHEAJ14_20091113-191803/305522/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Court Decisions Often Break What Was Fixed Editor, Times-Dispatch: In response to the news story, &#8220;Humans Make a New Home for Salamanders,&#8220; by Liz Barry about efforts in Piney River to create a breeding habitat for mole salamanders, people should know that these are not the only creatures picky about where they will breed.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor: Election Results Repudiate Democrats</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-LIPSCOM14_20091113-184601/305516/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Election Results Repudiate Democrats Editor, Times-Dispatch: The Virginia and New Jersey governor&#8217;s races ended in failure and disgrace for the Democratic Party and the president. These were not ordinary political contests, as the Democratic Party would have you believe. These defeats were mandates from the people to step aside and get out of the way.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the day: Benefits Come at the Cost of Freedom</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-GOODE14_20091113-184601/305515/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Benefits Come At the Cost of Freedom Editor, Times-Dispatch: I don&#8217;t know how many readers noticed the coincidence of a recent headline announcing the passage of the health care bill by the House of Representatives and another news article from The Washington Post: &#8220;In Germany&#8217;s East, Some Look Back in Fondness.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Week in Review</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-WEEK14_20091113-184402/305514/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
WEEK&#8217;S END The rains proved prolonged but not persistently heavy. Many drivers put their windshield wipers on intermittent. Many also failed to turn on their headlights. Regardless of the intensity of rain, it is prudent to drive with the lights. When the wipers are working, the law says the lights must be on. Weather such as this week&#8217;s tends to turn all vehicles into a hard-to-see gray. Friends, turn on the headlights. We want to run into you in the coffee shop&#8212;not in the turn lane.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Terror Trials: Listen to Webb</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-WEBB14_20091113-184402/305513/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Obama administration intends to try terror suspects in civilian courts. Yesterday Sen. Jim Webb said: &#8220;I have never disputed the constitutional authority of the president to convene Article III courts in cases of international terrorism. However, I remain very concerned about the wisdom of doing so. Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor. It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to try them as criminals in our civilian courts.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>EMINENT DOMAIN: VDOT Sues Day Care&#8212;and Taxpayers Get Hosed</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-HINKLE13_20091112-180811/305316/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Leave It to Beaver Child Care center occupies a modest building on German School Road in working-class Richmond. It&#8217;s a short walk south of a mixed-martial-arts studio and a Food Lion, and a short walk north of a tidy apartment complex and a few houses that either have been boarded up, or look as though they soon might be. Most of the parents who bring their children to the owner, Wanda Beavers, for daytime care are single black moms. Maybe that made the commonwealth figure it could roll right over her. Two years ago, as Angela Pellerano of WTVR first reported, the City of Richmond asked VDOT to acquire part of Beavers&#8217; property&#8212;about half the front yard&#8212;so German School Road, which could use widening, would get some. VDOT offered the underwhelming sum of $6,683. Beavers made a counter-demand: $30,000.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:51 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>It Came Down</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-WALL13_20091112-180811/305318/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The Berlin Wall resembled an ideological scar and not only severed a city but symbolized the failure of an evil system. In free societies fences and walls protect property and keep intruders out. The communists erected the Berlin Wall to lock people inside a city they otherwise would have fled. The wall&#8217;s presence vividly served as a reminder that communist states were prisons.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>In&#45;Kind</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-MOVE13_20091112-180811/305317/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
The hard-left advocacy group MoveOn is taking to the airwaves to blast some of the Democrats who voted against the Pelosicare measure in the House. Among the targets: Glenn Nye and Rick Boucher, who represent Virginia&#8217;s 2nd and 9th congressional districts, respectively. As one astute observer commented: &#8220;If you were a Democratic House member from a relatively conservative district . . . how much would you pay MoveOn to come into your district and publicize your vote where you stood up to Pelosi and Obama on government-run health care?&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Ellen Goodman column: A False Choice On Health Care</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-GOOD13_20091112-180811/305315/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
BOSTON It was one of those small shocks that come unexpectedly in the wake of a death. Just days after the country had buried Ted Kennedy, Cardinal Sean O&#8217;Malley took to his blog to defend himself from critics attacking him for presiding over the funeral of a pro-choice senator. The cardinal called for civility and then went on to explain how he&#8217;d used the occasion to lobby one of the mourners: the president of the United States. He told Barack Obama that, yes, the Catholic bishops wanted universal health care but &#8220;we will not support a plan that will include a provision for abortion or could open the way to abortions in the future.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the editor</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-GENTRY13_20091112-180811/305314/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
States Sent Loud And Clear Messages Editor, Times-Dispatch: Gov.elect Bob McDonnell, 59 percent; President Barack Obama, 41 percent. These are the cold, hard figures, and no amount of White House spin about &#8220;just state issues&#8221; is going to alter them. As chief of staff David Axelrod and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi explained, our president was watching basketball, not really concentrating on Virginia and New Jersey election returns. According to Pelosi, Nov. 3 was a Democratic victory because the most meaningful race was the New York 23rd District, where Democrat Bill Owens prevailed.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-COURT13_20091112-180811/305313/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Will UAW Repeat 1979 Mistakes? Editor, Times-Dispatch: The time was November 1979. I and 35,000 United Auto Workers walked out of the International Harvester plants. When a new contract was signed six months later, International Harvester&#8217;s 1979 record earnings of $369 million were replaced by a 1980 loss of $400 million. By the end of the year IH folded and we all lost our jobs.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>An Education</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-CITY13_20091112-180602/305312/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Richmond traces its roots to the 1600s when, shortly after the landing at Jamestown, Christopher Newport explored the falls of the James. William Byrd is credited with founding the settlement that grew into the Richmond of today. The first debate regarding school buildings probably occurred between Richmond&#8217;s 1742 incorporation as a town and its 1782 incorporation as a city.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>no headline</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-WILL12_20091111-175209/305068/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
WASHINGTON One of the many television commercials exhorting viewers to buy gold says solemnly that it is an asset whose value &#8220;has never dropped to zero,&#8220; a boast that surely sets a record for minimalism. Still, the world&#8217;s appetite for gold as an investment option is intensifying. Last month, India purchased 200 tons of gold at $1,045 an ounce, before the price topped $1,108 on Monday. China, too, may increasingly diversify from paper&#8212;i.e., bonds&#8212;into gold, the price of which, some experienced investors believe, could soar to $2,500 an ounce in three to five years. One reason for all this is U.S. behavior.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:41 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor: America&#8217;s Future? Is Ze for Real?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-ELLIOTT12_20091111-174806/305045/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
America&#8217;s Future? Is Ze for Real? Editor, Times-Dispatch: Regarding Michael Paul Williams&#8217; recent column, &#8220;Homecoming Queen at W&amp;M: Diversity Reigns,&#8220; a taste for the bizarre&#8212;as in the election of transgender Jesse Vasold as homecoming queen&#8212;apparently has become top menu choice for a majority of the College of William and Mary student population.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:39 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>REPUBLICAN VICTORY: Return to Moderate Middle . . .</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-ROBERTS12_20091111-175209/305067/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Virginia Republicans recaptured the political middle last week, assisted by Bob McDonnell&#8217;s strong centrist campaign and adherence to a positive message of economic recovery and job creation. Democrats, meanwhile, could not overcome mounting anxiety over national Democratic policies in Washington, or a lackluster campaign by Creigh Deeds that utterly failed to energize even the party&#8217;s base.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>REPUBLICAN VICTORY: . . . Brings About Opportunity for Trust</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-LINGAM12_20091111-175209/305066/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
WOODBRIDGE Imagine you&#8217;re an assistant football coach who finds himself taking leadership of a team in the middle of an uninspiring season. If your first thought is &#8220;Wow, I guess they think I&#8217;m pretty good,&#8220; you&#8217;d be wrong. If your attitude was &#8220;Well, I&#8217;m here, in charge, I&#8217;d better make the best of this,&#8220; then you&#8217;d be right. Such is the case with my party, the Republican Party, in 2009. Personally, I think Republicans in Virginia have a pretty good record, certainly superior to past Washington GOP leaders who soured voters by failing to govern in a fiscally responsibly manner. That said, members of the national GOP were not defeated in 2008. They were fired. Democrats were tapped and&#8212;like an assistant coach who thinks too much of his abilities&#8212;they reached too far, lurched to the left, and did it all with an arrogance and exclusivity that galvanized the GOP base and drove independents into the Republican camp&#8212;for now anyway.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>State Taxes: Second Looks</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-TAXB12_20091111-174806/305049/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
A new report from the Commonwealth Institute, a liberal Virginia think tank, makes an excellent point. Virginia has enacted many special tax breaks over the years, but it does little in the way of follow-up. Why not? Government programs ought to undergo periodic review. They should not simply fly along on autopilot for decades, long after their original justification has outlived its usefulness. (Think of the national helium reserve or the mohair subsidy, both of which got their start in wars that ended decades ago. Does anyone expect the U.S. to conduct future air combat missions using blimps?)           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Subprime Meltdown: Saw It Coming</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-SUBP12_20091111-174806/305048/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
An alert reader recently sent us a copy of a news story that reported:    &#8220;In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.&#8220;    &#8220;Fannie Mae, the nation&#8217;s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton administration to expand mortgage loans among lowand moderate-income people and felt pressure from stockholders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Leave Handicapped Spaces for Disabled</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-NIAMTU12_20091111-174806/305047/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Leave Handicapped Spaces for Disabled Editor, Times-Dispatch: In a lazy society where patrons will drive around the mall for 15 minutes to find a convenient parking space, some able-bodied drivers illegally take handicapped spaces. Although that is morally and legally wrong, a much more serious picture exists. I am the father of two young handicapped sons with severe disabilities (and I am a spokesperson for Greater Richmond ARC). Our family has too often gone to local malls and Maymont Park only to find a vehicle without handicapped identification occupying the only space where we can unload wheelchairs with a ramp from a handicapped van.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Fort Hood: Reluctance</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-HOOD12_20091111-174806/305046/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
Soon after the Fort Hood massacre, President Barack Obama advised citizens not to jump to conclusions&#8212;which is to say, he urged them to ignore the obvious. Subsequent reports regarding the alleged assassin have proved more troubling than initial suspicions. Obama&#8217;s sentiments represent the jump. Jason Zengerle, a senior editor at The New Republic, says it well:           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>What Is a Vet?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-VET11_20091110-181003/304855/</link>
          <description><![CDATA[
War makes strange giant creatures out of the little routine men who inhabit the Earth.&#8212;WWII correspondent Ernie Pyle.   . . .  Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg&#8212;or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul&#8217;s alloy forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can&#8217;t tell a vet just by looking.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Opinion Roundup How Others Saw the Election</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-SAYELEC11_20091110-181003/304854/</link>
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E.J. Dionne, The Washington Post: Here&#8217;s a story you may have missed because it flies in the face of the dreary conventional wisdom: When advocates of public programs take on the right-wing anti-government crowd directly, the government-haters lose. This is what happened in two statewide referendums last week that got buried under all of the attention paid to the governor&#8217;s races in Virginia and New Jersey. In Maine, voters rejected a tax-limitation measure by a walloping 60 percent to 40 percent. In Washington state, a similar measure went down, 57 percent to 43 percent.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-HARRUP11_20091110-181003/304853/</link>
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Ole Virginny Still Lives Editor, Times-Dispatch: A post2009 gubernatorial note to Gov. Tim Kaine could accurately read: &#8220;Ole Virginny is alive and well.&#8220; It appears that Kaine&#8217;s exuberance in declaring old Virginny dead after last fall&#8217;s election was not only mean-spirited, it was premature and very wrong.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Empty Seats</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-GAME11_20091110-181003/304852/</link>
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Diehards who tuned in Saturday&#8217;s game between UVa and Miami saw not only a drubbing but a sea of empty seats. Now, the Wahoos may not be the biggest draw when they play on the road, but the dismal attendance is not an isolated experience. South Florida is not a prime market for spectator sports&#8212;except, that is, for the sport of ogling glistening bodies, whether made by God or perfected by surgery, on the beach. The University of Miami is a school in Miami yet not of Miami; despite winning national titles, and notoriety, it lacks the zealous base of, say, Alabama and Clemson.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Onion Skin</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-CULT11_20091110-181003/304851/</link>
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The following story from the cultural front caught our eye: &#8220;The reigning Miss England has relinquished her crown after being accused of a fight in a bar. Pageant organizers say Rachel Christie has also withdrawn from next month&#8217;s Miss World competition in South Africa. They said in a statement that the 21-year-old heptathlete will now focus on clearing her name and training for the 2012 Olympics.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-BROWN11_20091110-181003/304850/</link>
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Are Pro-Reform Docs Ready for More Work? Editor, Times-Dispatch: Mark Ryan&#8217;s Op/Ed column, &#8220;Only the Public Option Can Resuscitate Reform,&#8220; urges passage of the health care reform bill. He states, &#8220;Misrepresentations and outright untruths will continue to be trumpeted by those attempting to block reform.&#8220; I, too, am concerned about misrepresentations&#8212;those made by Ryan and certain Democratic politicians. Perhaps Ryan could answer the following questions:           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day: Need Job, Money? Join the Military</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-NOLTE10_20091109-181203/304674/</link>
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Need Job, Money? Join the Military Editor, Times-Dispatch: I read with interest Maya Enista&#8217;s Op/Ed column, &#8220;It&#8217;s Time to Invest in Millennials,&#8220; about the challenges faced by that generation. As I understood her column, she believes that the government should do something about this generation&#8217;s education-related debt and lack of health care. Further, she feels that something should be done to especially empower this generation to make itself (and its needs) heard in the corridors of power. I assume that her Mobilize.org organization is to be the answer to that unmet need.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:01:55 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Faith: Stout Hearts</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-BEER10_20091109-181203/304671/</link>
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When Stephen Mansfield discerns manifestations of grace, he writes about the experience in books that beguile. If some might find his work rather earnest, at his best he describes the enactment of faith. Titles such as The Faith of George W. Bush, The Faith of the American Soldier, and Benedict XVI: His Life and Mission won him many admirers, especially among the flocks.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:01:46 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters to the Editor: Mercury in Flu Shot Worries a Mother</title>
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Mercury in Flu Shot Worries a Mother Editor, Times-Dispatch: While many people worry that scarcity is denying them the opportunity of a flu shot, I worry that a lack of informed consent is denying individuals the opportunity to protect themselves and their children from exposure to a known poison in excess of EPA safety guidelines.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:01:32 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Charter Schools: Only Four</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-CHAR10_20091109-181203/304672/</link>
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Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell supports charter schools. So does President Barack Obama, who discussed them with McDonnell during a brief chat the day after McDonnell&#8217;s victory. You&#8217;d think any reform touted by both a solidly conservative Republican and a staunchly liberal Democrat would face good odds in a purple state like Virginia. But not necessarily. Two major obstacles stand in the way: misperception and the forces of reaction.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:01:25 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>HEALTH CARE: Reform Tries to Fix What Washington Broke</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/columnists/article/ED-HINKLE10_20091109-181203/304673/</link>
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If the preferences of congressional Democrats hold sway, President Obama eventually will sign a health care bill imposing an individual mandate to purchase insurance. If it survives court chal lenge, Uncle Sam will not only tax your paycheck, but also tell you how to spend what&#8217;s left. Americans who are not opposed to this measure might feel sanguine about what the Congressional Budget Office has termed an &#8220;unprecedented form of federal action&#8221; because they support the broader aim of health care reform, so-called. But some might support reform less if they knew it really amounts to Washington trying to clean up its own mess&#8212;with a dirty sponge.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:59 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Correspondent of the Day</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-SMITH09_20091108-165605/304469/</link>
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Political Phone Calls Lost This Reader&#8217;s Vote Editor, Times-Dispatch: Now that the election season is over, I would like to take the various campaigns to task. I do not want phone calls from you. I know who you are and calling me does not positively influence my opinion of a candidate. I pay for my telephone and a fee to the service provider for my use and convenience; I do not pay for phone service so that every person in the world with a cause has access to me. You are invading my personal space and my privacy.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:52 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Letters To The Editor</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-GRITZ09_20091108-165605/304465/</link>
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Flu Fiasco Warns: No Federal Health Care Editor, Times-Dispatch: If President Barack Obama, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid want me to believe that the federal government can take on the task of managing national health care, can they tell me why, after a two-year warning about the swine flu, this administration has bungled the regulation and availability of the H1N1 vaccine, resulting in a shortage when it is most needed?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:46 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Soak the Uninsured</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-PREM09_20091108-165605/304467/</link>
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Here&#8217;s a dirty little secret about health care reform that Democrats in Washington would prefer you didn&#8217;t know: They&#8217;re counting on people to stay uninsured. The financing for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi includes $167 billion in penalty payments to the federal government. About $135 billion of that money would come from private employers who don&#8217;t offer insurance to their workers; those employers would have to pay a tax equal to 8 percent of payroll.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:31 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Right About &#8216;Left&#8217;</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-AARP09_20091108-165605/304463/</link>
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A couple of months ago, retired Editorial Page Editor Ross Mackenzie described AARP as &#8220;a hard-left lobby.&#8220; The local rep for the national seniors&#8217; group took exception. &#8220;If [Mackenzie] had done his homework he would have known that AARP has a long history of working with both parties whenever a piece of legislation is in the best interest of our members,&#8220; wrote AARP&#8217;s Bill Kallio in a letter to the editor. He cited several pieces of legislation, principally &#8220;the creation of a new prescription drug benefit in Medicare that was pushed by President George W. Bush with strong Republican support.&#8220;           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:02 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Predicting the Next Big Bubble?</title>
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WASHINGTON When Nouriel Roubini talks, the world listens. Roubini is, of course, the once-obscure New York University economist whose dire warnings about a financial crisis proved depressingly prophetic. Last week, Roubini was shouting. Writing in The Financial Times, he warned that the Federal Reserve and other government central banks are fueling a massive new asset &#8220;bubble&#8221; that&#8212;while not in imminent danger of bursting&#8212;will someday do so with calamitous consequences.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>The Passion Of Henry Allen</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-PARK09_20091108-165605/304466/</link>
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WASHINGTON The so-called newsroom brawl between an editor and a writer at The Washington Post recently has been a fine distraction for the health-care-weary. The two men apparently came to blows over, of all things, words. Not ad hominems necessarily, or at least not exclusively, but words as in the quality of writing. So began the argument that led to a punch being thrown.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:01:00 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>Bench Press</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/editorials/article/ED-DEMS09_20091108-165605/304464/</link>
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Our cousins in monarchial realms say, &#8220;The king is dead, long live the king!&#8220; As good republicans, American political groupies prefer, &#8220;The election is over, may the next one begin.&#8220; Here we go. Who will run for governor in 2013? Will the GOP see a contest between Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli? Will the Democrats have anyone?           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:57 EST</pubDate>
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          <title>What Option for Afghan Women?</title>
          <link>http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/op_ed/article/ED-GOOD1108_20091106-202008/304126/</link>
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BOSTON It&#8217;s been 11 years since I looked through a photo album smuggled out of Afghanistan by a brave young woman. &#8220;This is a doctor,&#8220; she said, pointing to one picture. &#8220;This is a teacher.&#8220; It was impossible to tell one woman from another under the burqas enforced by their Taliban rulers. Back then, the world had turned a cataract eye on Afghan women. Under virtual house arrest, they were forbidden from work, from school, from walking alone or even laughing out loud. It was arguably the greatest human rights disaster for women in history.           ]]></description>
          <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:01:57 EST</pubDate>
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