THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: Standing up for free speech

Earlier this summer, Congress unanimously passed a bill that protects investigative journalists from harassing lawsuits filed in foreign courts. Rather than trumpet this bipartisan achievement, President Obama has remained curiously silent. Published September 20, 2010

EDITORIAL: Trekkers and other troubles in Iran

Pretenses aside, Iran's release of American hiker Sarah Shourd last week on $500,000 bail was an act of ransom. The freeing of her two male companions, who still languish in a Tehran prison, would help defuse the storm clouds of conflict building over the Islamic republic, threatening to overshadow the wayward hikers and sweep them into obscurity. Published September 20, 2010

EDITORIAL: Holder smacked down over voting

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has lurched from multiple controversies into an outright embarrassment. In an order issued Sept. 16, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates of the District of Columbia gave Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s team the legal equivalent of a 2-by-4 across the head. The department's handling of a voting rights case from Shelby County, Ala., has been so slipshod as to invite questions of its legal competence across the board. Published September 17, 2010

EDITORIAL: Hedging on global warming

In a season of rebranding, the White House has thrown the old "global warming" bugaboo under the bus in favor of a new propaganda campaign against so-called "global climate disruption." White House science adviser John P. Holdren, who has been promoting this term since at least 2007, calls "global warming" a "dangerous misnomer" that "implies something gradual, uniform and benign." According to his alarmist school, the world is facing a danger that is complex, chaotic and coming on fast. Published September 17, 2010

EDITORIAL: The left’s war on home appliances

If ever there were any doubt that the new environmental movement's primary goal is reversing progress made since the Industrial Revolution, look no further than Europe, where bureaucrats systematically are targeting the conveniences of modern life. To fight the imaginary problem of global warming - sorry, "global climate disruption" - the European Commission has before it a proposal to reduce the electricity used by the humble family vacuum cleaner, the London Telegraph reported. It's only a matter of time before the bureaucracy on our side of the Atlantic sucks up this bad idea. Published September 17, 2010

EDITORIAL: Honor the Constitution’s limits

Today's 223rd anniversary of the promulgation of the U.S. Constitution occurs as Americans increasingly insist the federal government honor constitutional limits on federal power. The backlash against overweening government is boiling over in the Tea Party movement, town-hall meetings, demonstrations on the National Mall and in polling data. Published September 16, 2010

EDITORIAL: The Democrats’ dim logo

America, change has arrived. On Wednesday, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine held an event promising a "major announcement about the Democratic Party." He then unveiled a new logo. Published September 16, 2010

EDITORIAL: New gay Army

Next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to begin floor debate on a defense authorization bill that would repeal the Clinton-era "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and allow homosexuals to serve openly in the armed forces. Last month, a top military official offered a glimpse of how the military might look should the new policy take effect: Those serving who oppose the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) agenda are no longer welcome. Published September 16, 2010

EDITORIAL: States tell Obama to take a hike

States across the country want Washington to stop meddling in their affairs when it comes to the environment, health care and guns, and it's not just right-wingers leading the charge. Last week, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal fired a shot at the Environmental Protection Agency for its attempt to coerce the state into regulating carbon dioxide as if this naturally occurring gas were a pollutant. Published September 15, 2010

EDITORIAL: The Tea Party transformation

The Tea Party movement continues to baffle the self-styled political experts who dominate media coverage. Candidates once written off as cranks with no chance of winning triumphed in Tuesday's primaries. In particular, the success of principled candidates in Delaware and New York will force establishment types to face an inconvenient Obama-era truth. Liberal ideology has failed, and the public knows it. Published September 15, 2010

EDITORIAL: GOP Senate needed to block bad judges

President Obama sent another reminder on Monday about the importance of this fall's Senate races by resubmitting five judicial nominations so extreme as to be alien to the American experience. Published September 15, 2010

EDITORIAL: Save the Koran, burn the Constitution

You can't burn a Koran in a crowded theater, and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer suggests that to placate foreign extremists, Koran burning might be banned everywhere else in America too. Published September 14, 2010

EDITORIAL: The U.N.’s climate tax

Alarmist hysteria that melting arctic ice is causing ocean levels to rise - threatening to flood coastal cities around the world - is a "Chicken Little" warning. Last week, scientists cut in half their estimate of the ice-loss rate. The news won't dissuade global warmists at the United Nations to waver from their ultimate target: your wallet. Published September 14, 2010

EDITORIAL: The left vs. Obama on privacy

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged to "strengthen privacy protections for the digital age," but the American Civil Liberties Union on Sept. 8 blasted out an e-mail questioning President Obama's commitment. "But now, the Obama administration is proposing its own changes to [the Electronic Communications Privacy Act] aimed at weakening - not strengthening - your personal privacy," ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero wrote. Published September 14, 2010

EDITORIAL: Build the Ground Zero Mosque, or else…

Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, mastermind of the Ground Zero Mosque, warns that moving the proposed structure somewhere less controversial would generate a barrage of negative press in Muslim countries. America is regularly demonized in that part of the world anyway, and Islamic radicals already hate this country. A mega-mosque in Manhattan won't change that. Published September 13, 2010

EDITORIAL: Justice punts away military votes

The U.S. Justice Department's Voting Rights Section has reached an agreement with the state of Wisconsin that is too weak to adequately protect military voters stationed overseas. The department should not get away with letting other states give short shrift to the voting rights of our armed forces. Published September 13, 2010

EDITORIAL: Black Panther case roars back

The other shoe is dropping on the stonewallers at the Obama Justice Department. Yesterday, the department's inspector general, Glenn A. Fine, informed Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican, and Rep. Frank Wolf, Virginia Republican, that he will open "a review of the enforcement of civil rights laws by the Voting Rights Section of the Department's Civil Rights Division." Such an investigation is bound to kick up a lot of dirt. Published September 13, 2010

EDITORIAL: Obama’s cure for malaise: More of the same

With the nation suffering from high unemployment, tepid growth and low confidence, President Obama on Friday made a bold change - he slightly rearranged his economic team. Austan D. Goolsbee, who has been at Mr. Obama's side since his 2004 Senate campaign, now heads the Council of Economic Advisers. Mr. Goolsbee replaced Christina Romer, who once again is teaching at the University of California at Berkeley. Published September 10, 2010

EDITORIAL: A constructive conversation on race

When it comes to race, many groups insist on living in the past. Tomorrow's conference by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, A New Era: Defining Civil Rights in the 21st Century, promises to offer a refreshing perspective on the controversial topic. The Justice Department would be well served by paying close attention. Published September 10, 2010

EDITORIAL: Judicial assault on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

Another federal judge has decided to impose her personal views on the nation's laws so that they will favor homosexual conduct. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips declared unconstitutional the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law that prohibits homosexuals from serving openly in the military. Not that it is any of her business. Published September 10, 2010