Opinion

    It’s not a secret that corporations are greedy, often contemptuous of workers, and always, always put profits before anything else. That’s nothing new. But the BP oil spill is a corporate crime that has no match anywhere else in the world.

Less than two weeks ago Bedford County Public Schools honored the district’s top teachers: Katherine West of Staunton River Middle School as the county’s top teacher overall; Amy Mallow of Huddleston Elementary as the county’s top elementary teacher; and Shawn Marie Horrell of Bedford Science and Technology Center as the top high school teacher. All three are deserving of their awards and they stand as true examples of the great quality of teachers this school system’s 10,500 students find on a daily basis in their classrooms.

Last week, we scored three major and long overdue victories for American workers. First, we closed the tax loophole that encourages corporations to ship jobs overseas. Second, we made investments in job creation by extending successful tax credits that support small business, research and development, biofuels, and workforce development. And third, we passed the America COMPETES Act that provides a big boost to the next generation of American manufacturing and agriculture. We also protected payments to doctors who participate in Medicare and veteran health care programs.

    BEDFORD - -  D-Day this year turned out to be hot and stormy. Some of the Democrats inside the city’s party headquarters Sunday on Main Street had already heard their congressman, Tom Perriello, speak earlier at this year’s D-Day Memorial ceremonies.

Take Pride in SML thank you

    Each year for the past 22 years, the residents and friends of Smith Mountain Lake, our Community, have used the first Saturday of May as an annual “Take Pride in Smith Mountain Lake” cleanup day to make sure that our lake looks its very best for our Summer use and also for our visitors. It’s important for our businesses and also for our own enjoyment of the lake. 

    A few years ago a visit by a delegation from the local American Legion post should have served warning on Dr. William McIntosh that a proposed bust of Joseph Stalin at the National D-Day Memorial would not be well received. He and the D-Day Memorial Foundation chose to proceed with the plan anyway. Jim Morrison’s well written column in last week’s Bedford Bulletin indicated why so many veterans are upset about that decision.

You’ve got to wonder just what’s going on at the White House and its administration these days, as well as with the Democrats in Congress.

    The administration continues to attack Arizona’s new illegal immigration law without actually reading it, apologizes to world leaders of communist countries for “human rights violations” in this country and then applauds leaders who stand in our own halls of Congress to denounce this great country.

When I came to Congress last year, I promised to fight for economic relief for my constituents, but also to change the way business is done in Washington. For far too long, both parties have answered to the special interests instead of to the people. Sometimes it can seem like Congress is not bound by the same rules as everyone else. It’s time to bring Main Street values of decency, openness, and accountability to the halls of Washington.

Joseph Stalin bears varying degrees of responsibility for the deaths of over 37,000 American and over 60,000 Allied military personnel, plus the wounding of hundreds of thousands of others, with thousands more being imprisoned or missing in action.

    The plan to erect a bust of Stalin on a pedestal—a place of honor—at the revered National D-Day Memorial should provoke outrage in all American and Allied veterans, their families, and the public at large.