THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: Canada or eurozone?

Fitch Ratings thinks the United States is still a AAA country, but its optimism disappeared this week. The credit evaluator downgraded the outlook for the U.S. economy to negative despite the recent bump in consumer spending and a slight improvement in employment numbers for November. It's hard to look at the inability of Congress to come up with credible spending cuts without a feeling of impending doom.

EDITORIAL: The shadow war against Iran

Force is being used to attempt to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program. On Monday, an explosion rocked the city of Isfahan in western Iran, site of a conversion facility that prepares uranium for enrichment at other sites. Conflicting reports attributed the explosion to either an accident at a gas station or a military training incident, or they denied it even happened.

Economy Briefs

The economy expanded at a slow-to-moderate pace in most areas of the country during the past two months, according to a Federal Reserve survey released Wednesday. A modest pickup in consumer spending, tourism and manufacturing drove the growth.

Briefly: Africa

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday charged former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo with murder, rape, persecution and inhuman acts, crimes allegedly committed as his backers fought brutal battles to keep him in power after last year's elections.

World Scene

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' government narrowly dodged a full-blown cash crisis after Israel agreed Wednesday — under intense international pressure — to resume the transfer of $100 million a month in frozen tax funds.

Sports Briefs

D.C. United bolstered their beleaguered defensive corps Tuesday, acquiring veteran right back Robbie Russell from Real Salt Lake for a third-round pick in the 2013 SuperDraft.

Inside Politics

American Scene

A U.S. Marine awarded the nation's highest military honor is suing a defense contractor he says cost him a job by characterizing him as mentally unstable and having alcohol problems to a prospective employer.

EDITORIAL: A climate of fraud

The latest release of 5,000 emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) reconfirms what the 2009's "Climategate" files established: Global warming is more fiction than science.

Economy Briefs

The court-appointed trustee overseeing MF Global Inc.'s liquidation has requested that an additional $2.1 billion be released from frozen customer accounts.

Tuning in to TV

Jim Parsons seems to have gotten a big bang out of Broadway and wants to return.

EDITORIAL: Debt dumps on Durban

It's time for the world's leftists to come up with a new scheme for spreading the wealth around from the rich to the poor. They had been counting on their global-warming ploy, but it is falling apart, a victim of economic reality.

EDITORIAL: Bordering on defeat

The latest border incident with Pakistan underscores some unfortunate truths in the Afghanistan War. Pakistan remains a safe haven for insurgents, which makes military victory almost impossible. Islamabad is also unwilling to allow coalition forces to root out the Taliban and foreign fighters because they may, one day, come in handy.

American Scene

A charity for at-risk children founded by a former Penn State assistant football coach now charged with molesting boys is telling its donors to give their money to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape instead.

American Scene

Another small earthquake was reported in the Oklahoma City area, the sixth since Thursday.

Economy Briefs

Belgium's chief negotiator said Sunday the 2012 budget that he clinched after a world-record government stalemate will meet the demands of the European Union and hoped it would calm nervous markets.

EDITORIAL: Time to stock up on light bulbs

Within four weeks, it will be a crime to manufacture a 100-watt version of Thomas A. Edison's brilliant invention. Thanks to a Democratic Congress and the signature of President George W. Bush in 2007, anti-industrial zealots at the Energy Department received authority to blot out one of the greatest achievements of the industrial age. They're coming for our light bulbs.

EDITORIAL: No thanks to TSA

In good news for weary travelers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced a cut back in the number of boys and girls it will grope over the holidays. The bad news is that agency bureaucrats made the same promise after last year's Turkey Day. It wasn't true then, either.

EDITORIAL: Chu’d out

If only the administration's Solyndra scandal were a garden-variety case of crony-capitalist payback to political supporters. It's much worse, as President Obama's energy policy is fixated on solving the supposed global-warming crisis, regardless of the economic cost.

EDITORIAL: Cain’s foreign policy

One of the digs at Ronald Reagan before he was president was that he lacked a keen grasp of foreign policy. The former actor and California governor had never had to grapple with those questions firsthand. Surely, critics argued, he couldn't match the abilities of people with real-world experience like George H.W. Bush or John Connally. Once in office, Reagan demonstrated that principle and vision could more than make up for inexperience. He had a good plan and stuck to it; the rest was just a matter of details.