THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: Gas-fueled vertigo

Drivers are getting dizzy at the pump. That sick feeling is deja vu from 2008, when prices spiraled higher with every fill-up. In recent months, costs have climbed steadily through $3 and are headed toward four bucks per gallon. Americans have President Obama and his anti-energy apparatchiks to thank for this gouging. Published January 18, 2011

EDITORIAL: Darth Obama

Former Vice President Dick Cheney praised President Obama's approach to counterterrorism this week. The plug was magnanimous on the veep's part but it prompted a collective cringe from the president's left-wing base. Published January 18, 2011

EDITORIAL: Protect workers from union bosses

Labor unions can't persuade Congress to destroy workplace voting rights, but their Obama-appointed lackeys at the National Labor Relations Board do their dirty work anyway. Twice in the past six weeks, the NLRB has sided with union bosses over ordinary workers, smothering the ideal of secret elections. Published January 17, 2011

EDITORIAL: Nukes now

''Surely, we can be as bold as the French." That plea by Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, was delivered to a federal panel on nuclear waste disposal. The punch line is a reminder that the Obama administration's nuclear energy policy is a bad joke. Published January 17, 2011

EDITORIAL: Aborting free speech

Left-wing attempts to restrict free speech aren't new. Even before the Tucson shooting, a recently defeated Ohio congressman asked government to punish a pro-life group because he didn't like their ads criticizing his voting record. His position is such an offense to freedom that even the liberal American Civil Liberties Union weighed in on behalf of pro-lifers. Published January 14, 2011

EDITORIAL: Mugged by Medicare

The Obama administration is trying to shove Medicare coverage down the throats of senior citizens who don't want it, but it's efforts are falling flat. Five plaintiffs are suing, arguing that no statute or regulation allows government to implement this requirement. Published January 14, 2011

EDITORIAL: Cut public broadcasting now

One of the first orders of business for the new Congress is to defund public broadcasting. Last week, Rep. Doug Lamborn, Colorado Republican, introduced legislation to do just that. He immediately came under fire from National Public Radio (NPR) for his "intrusion into the programming decision-making of America's public radio stations." To hear the taxpayer-subsidized broadcast suits talk, it's as though Mr. Lamborn was attacking the First Amendment itself. Published January 14, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama’s Internet passport

Federalized security screening at airports has been such a success that President Obama wants to apply the same government "expertise" to the realm of online commerce and commentary. The White House cybersecurity adviser joined Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Jan. 7 to announce what amounts to a national ID card for the Internet. Published January 13, 2011

EDITORIAL: Time for change at the RNC

Members of the Republican National Committee (RNC) will cast ballots today naming the individual they believe should lead the party organization into the pivotal 2012 presidential election cycle. Five candidates are vying for the post. Irrespective of their individual virtues, it's become painfully clear over the past two years that the right choice is anyone but Michael S. Steele. Published January 13, 2011

EDITORIAL: Rhino Nation

Imagine if Washington, D.C. had been built in the shape of a Chesapeake Bay crab. The provisional government of South Sudan plans to celebrate independence by rebuilding its future national capital of Juba in the shape of a rhinoceros. Other plans include reshaping two provincial capitals into a giraffe and a pineapple. This wouldn't be the first such odd experiment in urban planning; Brazil's capital Brasilia was meant to evoke the shape of an airplane, and the outline of the Argentine city of Cuidad Evita was based on the silhouette of Evita Peron. Published January 13, 2011

EDITORIAL: Avoiding the next Tucson

Last weekend's tragedy in Tucson is helping focus needed attention on the intersec-tion between serious mental illness and crime. Modern society prides itself on being open-minded, but there's still much room for progress in how we look at the mentally ill. Published January 12, 2011

EDITORIAL: Chicken Little eats crow

Doomsayers who make a living warning that the sky is falling victim to human-induced pollution need to take a deep breath. It turns out Mother Nature has her own resources for cleaning up the air. Published January 12, 2011

EDITORIAL: Virginia’s taxing Republicans

The government apparatus in Virginia will extract $38.6 billion in taxes, fees and charges from the public this year. As the General Assembly convenes the 2011 regular session today, some lawmakers are suggesting this considerable sum isn't enough. They want more wealth transferred from consumers' pockets into Richmond's coffers. Published January 11, 2011

EDITORIAL: For-profit schools serve the poor

The Education Department is expected to issue a final rule this month against for-profit colleges such as Phoenix University and Strayer University. The move would reject loans for programs whose previous students have shown, via a rather arbitrary formula, a propensity to accrue debts higher than they can repay. The theory is that these pre-professional programs demonstrate their ineffectiveness by their students' subsequent failures. Published January 11, 2011

EDITORIAL: Gitmo belongs to Obama now

What began with a bang ended with a whimper. The new Defense Authorization bill contains provisions barring the president from spending any money to bring terrorist detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States, or to release them to foreign countries unless they meet a rigorous security threshold. President Obama reluctantly signed the bill this week, saying he will "work with the Congress to seek repeal of these restrictions." Given the shift in power in the new Congress, it's likely his vision for closing the Guantanamo terrorist detention facility is in ashes. Published January 11, 2011

EDITORIAL: Taking advantage of tragedy

True to Rahm's Rule of never letting a good crisis go to waste, liberal pundits and Democratic politicians are consciously exploiting Saturday's tragic shooting in Tucson for political gain. At a time when the country should be coming together calmly to make sense of something awful, the left has exploded in a shameful display of divisive grandstanding. Published January 10, 2011

EDITORIAL: Free-speech scapegoat

Many politicians can be counted on to to do the wrong thing in response to tragedy. The weekend's Arizona shooting was no exception. For Exhibit A, consider Rep. Robert A. Brady, Pennsylvania Democrat, who wants to outlaw any language or symbols that could be perceived to threaten violence against congressmen or other federal officials. Published January 10, 2011

EDITORIAL: Heather has two passports

The Obama administration's war on traditional values is picking up steam. Just three days before Christmas, the State Department buried an announcement that "mother" and "father" were being banished from the bureaucratic lexicon. In their place, politically correct terms intended to appeal to the vanity of homosexual activists will be inserted. Published January 10, 2011

EDITORIAL: Un-Bearable NATO

Some bad national security ideas refuse to go away. One of the worst of them floating around the last 20 years is the notion that Russia should be offered membership in the NATO alliance. This is an idea whose time will never come. Published January 7, 2011

EDITORIAL: Another setback for gun grabbers

Fourteen years after being forced to plead guilty to the "crime" of owning a gun in Washington, the blot against the record of Dave Magnus may be cleared. On Thursday, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals recognized that one should not bear a stigma for the past possession of a firearm in the nation's capital for the purpose of self-defense. "A conviction for conduct that is not criminal, but is instead constitutionally-protected, is the ultimate miscarriage of justice," Judge Stephen H. Glickman wrote in the 12-page decision. Published January 7, 2011