THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: Obama’s outrageous bank tax

The Obama administration has some pretty lame justifications for more taxes. Take its continued push for new taxes on banks. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday that the tax should be passed because it will help recoup the "outrageous" bonuses for AIG employees. Published February 6, 2010

EDITORIAL: Pull U.S. troops out of Haiti

It is time to start bringing our troops home from Haiti. The earthquake is over; order is restored; the star-studded benefit songs have been recorded. When the emergency ends and reconstruction begins, the mission should be handed off to other government departments, and the fighting forces should depart. Published February 5, 2010

Briefly: Asia

INDIA: New bilateral talks offered to Pakistan Published February 5, 2010

EDITORIAL: Maryland’s moneymaking fake school zones

Lawmakers around the country are turning to speed cameras to mask the deficits caused by their reckless spending. This is a misuse of the police power to raise revenue for big government. Published February 4, 2010

EDITORIAL: Making health insurance less competitive

The House of Representatives is set to vote next week on a bill to strip health insurance companies of their limited antitrust exemption. This would undermine competitiveness in the market. Published February 4, 2010

EDITORIAL: Holder’s ignorance

The U.S. attorney general should read up on the history of terrorism. He might learn something. Published February 4, 2010

EDITORIAL: Kill the Universal Service Fund

If you're using a telephone, you're an enabler for Washington's uncontrolled spending habit. A cryptic line variously labeled as a "Federal Universal Service Fee" or "Universal Connectivity Fee" lurks within the monthly bill for most communications services. This tax feeds nearly $7.7 billion into the Universal Service Fund (USF) every year. It's time to end this tremendous waste of money. Published February 3, 2010

EDITORIAL: Seating Sen. Brown

During the Massachusetts special election, some Democrats briefly raised the possibility of delaying the seating of Scott Brown if he were to win. Democrats quickly backed down and disavowed this threat, realizing that a backlash was building against their heavy-handed tactics. Until yesterday, it looked clear that Democrats were indeed doing just that - delaying Scott Brown's appointment as long as possible while Senate Democrats rushed through legislation and nominations in the last hours they controlled a filibuster-proof majority. Assuming no last-minute problems, that should end today. Published February 3, 2010

EDITORIAL: Obama disappoints gays again

Homosexuals waiting to serve openly in the armed forces will have to keep waiting. President Obama is effectively putting this issue to bed until after the November elections. Published February 3, 2010

EDITORIAL: Outrageous judicial pick still requires scrutiny

Tomorrow the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on five of President Obama's controversial court-and-justice nominees. Among them is federal district court nominee Edward Chen of Northern California, whose radical agenda has not been fully exposed and requires further public hearings rather than a vote. Published February 3, 2010

EDITORIAL: Obama’s Baltimore bombast

Congressional Republicans were smart to invite President Obama to address them in Baltimore last Friday. And it was great that Mr. Obama accepted and was willing to take questions. Published February 2, 2010

EDITORIAL: More new taxes, more new spending

Over the next decade, President Obama plans on increasing taxes by $1.4 trillion, offset by his planned $300 billion in tax cuts. But his spending splurge will increase so much that Mr. Obama will add $5.1 trillion to the national debt over the next five years and $8.5 trillion over 10 years. This will be on top of the $1.4 trillion deficit we ran last year. At the end of these 10 years, the publicly held national debt will nearly double to $18 trillion. Published February 2, 2010

EDITORIAL: Readin’, writin’ and rhetoric

A letter sent to the White House on Wednesday was appropriately circumspect, but in effect, it boiled down to this: "Dear Mr. President, when it comes to educating America's children, please, just this once, live up to your own words." Published February 2, 2010

EDITORIAL: Osama and Obama on global warming

In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama said there was "overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change." In his most recent message to the world, Osama bin Laden said that climate change "is not an intellectual luxury but an actual fact." It's nice to see these two leaders can agree on something. Published February 2, 2010

EDITORIAL: Pay to play with AGs

Pay-to-play politics are penetrating state attorney general's offices, with aggressive plaintiffs' lawyers on the make for state-sponsored jackpots. To combat these dubious practices, the American Tort Reform Association developed a set of principles that should govern outside contracting by state AGs. A new ATRA report card alerts that most AGs aren't meeting those ethical standards. Published February 1, 2010

EDITORIAL: Obama won’t connect terror dots

When a man is apprehended with a cache of weapons, body armor, a map of a military installation and jihadist personal effects, the natural response of most Americans is to assume the situation is terrorist-related. The Obama administration says otherwise. Published February 1, 2010

EDITORIAL: Obama’s fake freeze folly

President Obama made a big deal last week about his purported federal spending freeze, but not enough has been said about how meager the supposed savings actually are. Historical context shows that any savings from this public-relations gimmick will be tiny. Frugality, apparently, is a concept Democrats have a hard time understanding. Published February 1, 2010

EDITORIAL: ‘Obama Girl’ kicks Obama to the curb

President Obama has been running his mouth a lot lately. Last week, he stabbed his lobbyist friends in the back and attacked his allies in Congress as if he were an outsider. Talking smack isn't boosting his low popularity though, even among his own erstwhile supporters. Published January 30, 2010

Culture Briefs

"The popular eHarmony online dating service will have to do more to welcome gays and lesbians to its site under a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit announced Tuesday. ... Published January 29, 2010

EDITORIAL: Obama’s 17% unemployment rate

The president is full of it when he talks about creating or saving jobs. During his State of the Union address Wednesday night, he said, "Now, because of the steps we took, there are about 2 million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. ... Economists on the left and the right say this bill has helped save jobs and avert disaster. ... That is why jobs must be our No. 1 focus in 2010, and that's why I'm calling for a new jobs bill tonight." This is pure fiction. Job losses under President Obama's watch have increased steadily without remission. Published January 28, 2010