THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: Ending the global-warming argument

Leftists are rushing to the judiciary as a refuge against efforts to undermine their global-warming tax schemes. In the current economic environment, the idea of massive hikes in the price of gasoline and other sources of energy has become radioactive. In response, the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Iowa, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont are hoping activist judges will enact policies that elected, accountable representatives are increasingly afraid to touch. Published March 17, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obamacare on life support

The Obama administration this week tried to buy time for its legal defense of its health care takeover legislation. This move merely delays the inevitable, as everyone knows the Supreme Court will decide the ultimate fate of Obamacare. Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli simply wants to skip the irrelevant step of waiting for the case to wind its way through the court of appeals. Published March 17, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama’s infrastructure boondoggle

The last thing America needs right now is another government agency. Apparently, Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, doesn't agree. On Tuesday, he announced his intention to establish the American Infrastructure Financing Authority (AIFA). President Obama has championed the idea as an "innovative" solution to our transportation and energy problems. This bad idea was actually lifted directly out of the New Deal playbook. Published March 16, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama’s Gulf in leadership

The Obama administration has denounced the crackdown on protesters in Bahrain. But whether President Obama realizes it or not, stability in that country is a vital U.S. interest. Published March 16, 2011

EDITORIAL: Fire hires mired

Public safety is non-negotiable. That's the message signaled Tuesday by lawyers defending the Big Apple's fire department from race-based bullying by the U.S. Justice Department. Published March 16, 2011

EDITORIAL: Shipwrecked by the EPA

Radical greens are using the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan as an excuse to peddle their wacko, pet theories and push for more stringent environmental regulation. Such efforts literally ship U.S. jobs overseas. Published March 15, 2011

EDITORIAL: Guns for us, not for you

Some of the most far-out anti-gun laws are found on the left coast, but that could change - for privileged politicians. A California state Senate committee will consider a bill next week that grants legislators permission to carry concealed firearms. The measure highlights the growing rift between the bureaucratic class and taxpayers who don't have the luxury of exempting themselves from bad laws. Published March 15, 2011

EDITORIAL: Justifying Japanese Judgment Day

The devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan couldn't have been caused by purported man-made global warming. This reality hasn't stopped environmental alarmists from trying to exploit the tragedy to bolster their sagging cause. Published March 15, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama’s Latest Torture

President Obama is feeling the heat over the treatment of WikiLeaks suspect Army Private First Class Bradley E. Manning. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Obama took unseemly advantage of the accusation that George W. Bush's administration tortured terrorist detainees. Now even an O Force insider is strongly hinting that the administration's conduct toward the individual thought to have leaked thousands of classified documents amounts to torture. Published March 14, 2011

EDITORIAL: The Muslim wall of resistance

Opponents of New York Republican Rep. Peter King's hearings on domestic Muslim extremism have tried to make the controversy into a civil rights battle. The more the left obfuscates the issue, the more dangerous the threat becomes. Published March 11, 2011

EDITORIAL: Stopping the Chevron shakedown

The State Department has done little to help an American corporation battered by a bogus multibillion dollar lawsuit filed in a foreign country. Fortunately, the Obama administration's leadership void was filled Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who issued an injunction barring any collection efforts against Chevron Corp. by Ecuador. Published March 11, 2011

EDITORIAL: No air strikes from the O Force

The biggest threat from the civil war in Libya is not rising oil prices but declining U.S. credibility. Since President Obama has publicly taken the rebel side in the struggle, it is important that Moammar Gadhafi lose. Despite that message from the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear Thursday that the Obama administration isn't ready to make any decisions on taking action. While America dithers, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has come out in support of air strikes to support the Libyan opposition. It's a sad (but no longer rare) day in world affairs when more spine is shown in Paris than Washington. Published March 10, 2011

EDITORIAL: End ethanol subsidies

As a new slate of presidential candidates prepare to pander to Iowa voters by forcing the rest of the country to pump corn into their gas tanks, a bipartisan backlash is building. Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, and Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland Democrat, teamed up Wednesday to introduce legislation to eliminate the 45-cents-per-gallon ethanol tax credit doled out to blenders of this unnecessary and inefficient gasoline additive that costs taxpayers $5.7 billion a year. Published March 10, 2011

EDITORIAL: Us vs. them unions

Republicans in the Wisconsin statehouse had enough of Democratic Party antics designed to insulate its union supporter base from the pains of the economic malaise affecting the rest of us. The state Senate voted Wednesday to ban public-sector employees from entering into collective bargaining arrangements. Union thugs encircling the capitol building made a spectacle of themselves as the Assembly turned to consider the bill yesterday. Meanwhile in Washington, congressional Democrats continue to hold out against the most milquetoast of spending-reduction proposals, despite the dire circumstances of the nation's finances. Published March 10, 2011

EDITORIAL: A road to honest budgets

One thing is certain about any large government building project: It's going to be over budget. No matter how bloated the estimates might look upon first glance, they never end up covering the full and final costs involved. We've already seen this with the $4 billion Dulles Metro Rail project where even at this early stage, costs are approaching $7 billion. Published March 9, 2011

EDITORIAL: Grounding American dreams

The return to Earth of Discovery on Wednesday marked the forthcoming end of NASA's space shuttle era and the beginning of an uncertain future for the agency. The venerable spacecraft will be retired with 148 million miles on the odometer, highlighting how the world's premier space organization will soon be grounded as the world prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of manned spaceflight in the spring. Published March 9, 2011

EDITORIAL: NPR hates you

Are you a white, middle class, gun-owning, church-going conservative? Then NPR hates you. This stark but unsurprising revelation came in an undercover investigative video by conservative activist James O’Keefe targeting NPR senior executive Ron Schiller. Mr. Schiller thought he was chatting up Muslim activists promising a $5 million donation to the embattled publicly funded network, and he sought to appeal to them by disparaging people who disagree with his liberal worldview. Published March 9, 2011

EDITORIAL: Georgia backs voter ID

Once again, a major court has ruled that states have every right to fight voter fraud by requiring voters to show identification. The Obama Justice Department, however, is on the wrong side of the argument. Fortunately, the sanctity of the vote is being upheld against those undermining it. Published March 8, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama spending hits new records

Big government doesn't come cheaply. According to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) figures released Monday, the budget deficit for February hit a staggering $223 billion - meaning the Obama administration added more in debt last month than was borrowed in all of 2007. It's no secret that these mounting bills must eventually come due in the form of higher taxes or a deflated currency. Either alternative would hit consumers hard. Published March 8, 2011

EDITORIAL: Is Obama a war criminal yet?

President Obama quietly signed an executive order on Monday instituting a system for indefinitely holding terrorist detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo), Cuba. The administration also announced that terrorist trials by military commission would recommence. This is a win for U.S. security, but the country has paid a heavy price for Mr. Obama's on-the-job training in counterterrorism. Published March 8, 2011