THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL: Virginia beats Maryland

When it comes to encouraging prosperity, the Old Dominion is trouncing the Old Line State. The American Legislative Exchange Council this week released a "Rich States, Poor States" report that modeled the 50 states and ranked the economic outlook in each. Virginia secured a third-place slot while neighboring Maryland lagged midpack at 21. That's no accident.

June 23, 2011

EDITORIAL: The Grecian formula

Greece will find out soon whether another $157 billion gift is headed its way to cover the government's obligations for next year. While the European Union would be on the hook for most of this second bailout, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also would contribute - and that means American taxpayers would foot some part of the bill.

June 22, 2011

EDITORIAL: Wal-Mart justice

The Supreme Court on Monday handed down its decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, a nearly decade-old class-action lawsuit involving more than 1.5 million women who worked at the retail giant since 1998. The plaintiffs argued that the company showed favoritism to men in decisions regarding pay and promotions, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Two lower courts gave the suit a green light, but the Supreme Court stopped it in its tracks.

June 22, 2011

EDITORIAL: Taliban waits out Obama

President Obama is expected to announce tonight the first phase of withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, making good on his self-imposed July 2011 deadline. The White House will contend that this is being done from a position of strength, but the Taliban will spin it as an ignominious U.S. retreat.

June 21, 2011

MILLER: Short-term debt fix

Debt-limit negotiations are heading in a direction that raises questions about the prospect of a long-term deal. The bipartisan, bicameral talks led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. seem unlikely to produce a broad agreement on the GOP demand for spending cuts and entitlement reform by the self-imposed July 1 deadline. Democrats are running out the clock to push tax hikes while avoiding spending cuts and any meaningful change to the Medicare system.

June 21, 2011

EDITORIAL: An inventive bank bailout

Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat, quipped in a 2009 radio interview that the banks "own" Congress. Congress does its best to prove Mr. Durbin right. This week, the House is scheduled to vote on the Senate-passed "America Invents Act," a patent-reform bill that includes a provision essentially providing another multibillion-dollar bailout to big banks.

June 21, 2011

EDITORIAL: Retire the kernel, release the gas

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have finally begun to feel queasy from their nearly-decade- long corn-alcohol bender. The Senate's first step toward swearing off ethanol came in the form of a 73-27 vote last week on an amendment that would kill the 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol tax credit. Now that they've started to recover their senses, legislators shouldn't repeat their past mistakes by overindulging in natural gas.

June 20, 2011

EDITORIAL: Defund the war in Libya

The absurd argument that there is no war in Libya should not stop Congress from defunding it. Moving against this unnecessary "limited kinetic action" using the power of the purse will return Congress to first principles that have been obscured by the arcane debate over the meaning of the War Powers Resolution.

June 20, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama’s weak war memo

The White House sent a 38-page report to Congress on Wednesday attempting to explain why the president had the authority to continue military operations against Libya without congressional approval as mandated under the War Powers Resolution. The Obama administration's argument is both legally suspect and politically unfathomable.

June 17, 2011

EDITORIAL: U.N. climate propaganda exposed

The entire world will soon depend on renewable energy so governments ought to start subsidizing these industries immediately. So said the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in a report released Tuesday. The study's conclusion was such a blockbuster that the panel issued a press release last month previewing the finding. "Close to 80 percent of the world's energy supply could be met by renewables by mid-century if backed by the right enabling public policies a new report shows," it proclaimed.

June 17, 2011

EDITORIAL: Democrats in a Medicare box

Democrats are boxing themselves in politically by going after cheap political points on the Medicare issue. As details of a deal to raise the debt ceiling are hammered out behind closed doors, it looks increasingly likely that the Dems are going to regret painting any reform to health care for the elderly as an attempt to kill the program.

June 16, 2011

EDITORIAL: Meet al Qaeda’s new boss

After weeks of waiting and speculation, Ayman al Zawahri has officially taken over the leadership of al Qaeda. Whether the new chairman of terror will be able to resurrect the organization after the death of its charismatic, visionary leader - or simply watch as internal and external forces tear it apart - remains to be seen.

June 16, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama, warmonger

A bipartisan group of congressmen is filing a lawsuit against the president for pursuing an illegal war. The speaker of the House warned the Obama administration it would soon run up against a 90-day deadline, after which it will be "in violation of the War Powers Resolution unless it asks for and receives authorization from Congress or withdraws all U.S. troops and resources from the mission." Who ever would have thought this would be happening to Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama?

June 15, 2011

EDITORIAL: States challenge feds on guns

Eight states have thrown down the gauntlet and denied the federal government's authority to regulate firearms that never cross state lines. In 2009, Montana became the first to enact a law declaring any gun manufactured and kept within the state's borders was subject only to state rules. It's now up to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether Montana - and by extension Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming - must yield to the whims of Uncle Sam.

June 15, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama’s Mideast indignity

President Obama's "lead from behind" strategy for dealing with the rolling crisis in the Middle East has claimed more victims. On Saturday, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's forces shelled Jisr al-Shughour, burned its fields and rolled into the city center on tanks. The White House responded with a statement that the Syrian government had created a "humanitarian crisis" and that unless it gave "immediate and unfettered access" to the Red Cross, it would "once again be showing contempt for the dignity of the Syrian people." The Damascus regime was unmoved.

June 14, 2011

EDITORIAL: Obama’s euro-style unemployment

It's no secret that President Obama wants America to look more like Europe. He desires expanded powers for labor unions, higher gas prices for commuters and a diminished role on the world stage. So far, he's been effective in fostering the conditions for European-style unemployment on these shores.

June 14, 2011

EDITORIAL: Defund the U.N. over a Palestinian state

A unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood by the United Nations General Assembly would cause incalculable harm to peace and stability in the Middle East. The United States cannot prevent this ill-advised move - it circumvents America's Security Council veto by design - but U.S. leaders can let it be known that the U.N. would incur more than just a political cost.

June 13, 2011

EDITORIAL: Rick Perry vs. TSA

It's now up to Texas Gov. Rick Perry to rescue the nation's travelers from the indignity of x-rated airport screening at the hands of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). On Tuesday, a state House of Representatives committee is scheduled to consider revised legislation holding blue-gloved bureaucrats criminally liable for grabbing the private parts of passengers without probable cause or consent. For the measure to proceed further, however, Mr. Perry would have to formally add it to the list of bills considered during the special session now under way.

June 13, 2011

EDITORIAL: Peak renewables

The "peak oil" scare has long been used as an excuse for alternative-energy providers to demand government subsidies. We are told that oil production will reach a zenith and the wells will run dry any day now, so failure to provide billions in handouts to the providers of other fuels would be irresponsible. Forget peak oil - the world may be on the verge of peak renewables.

June 13, 2011

EDITORIAL: China’s Pearl Harbor?

Imagine a Chinese aircraft carrier sailing south close along the Florida coast and making a port call in Cuba. It seems unimaginable but this scenario may be in our near future.

June 10, 2011