The last time Congress wrote a farm bill in 2002, it showered billions of dollars on key farm states during an election year. The result was predictable: an out-of-whack program that sent the wrong economic signals, rewarded people who didn't need the help and wasted taxpayer dollars. Now, Congress has a chance to get it right, and the House and Senate agriculture committees, where the bill-writing takes place, should be listening to Rep. Ron Kind, ... [full story]

Earlier this week, Congress began debating a sprawling energy bill at a moment ripe for meaningful, long-term progress. Americans' awareness of energy-connected problems - from Middle East politics and terrorism to air and water pollution, global warming and soaring gasoline and utility costs - has never been more acute. A key provision of the proposed bill would give auto manufacturers 13 years to increase the average fuel economy of their fleets from around 27.5 miles ... [full story]

The nation just commemorated the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day invasion that helped bring World War II in the European theater to a close. That war, of course, was one fought to overcome unparalleled injustice. There is at least one more task remaining from that fight. The nation must come to grips with the internment of hundreds of thousands of German-Americans and others of European descent here during the war. While the nation has acknowledged ... [full story]

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison because he put his loyalty to the Bush administration above the law of the land. Libby's basic mistake was the same one committed by the underlings of President Richard Nixon 35 years ago: Coarsened by the hardball politics of Washington, they treated the law as an inconvenience that could be stepped over to advance the interests and protect the vulnerabilities of their ... [full story]

Through much tribulation, William Jefferson, D-La., has kept a seat in the House. Shortly before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, FBI agents conducting a bribery investigation found $90,000 cash in his home freezer. Days later came Katrina, with New Orleans residents trapped by deep water and National Guard troops diverted from rooftop rescues so Jefferson could retrieve items from his home. He was nevertheless handily re-elected in 2006. But the mounting federal investigation ... [full story]

The immigration debate is about more than just controlling illegal immigration. It's also about being much smarter and more creative in deciding who will be allowed to come into this country legally. Congress is considering putting less emphasis on family reunification and more emphasis on a point system that would reward immigrants' skills and education. So far, so good. This isn't anti-family, as some on the left claim. It's common sense. There's nothing wrong with ... [full story]

President George W. Bush has been slow to accept the realities of global warming or take action to combat it. He began his presidency by rejecting the Kyoto treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While scientific evidence accumulated and international pressure mounted to cap carbon releases, Bush stubbornly refused to act. Now, with heads of the most powerful nations gathering for the annual Group of Eight summit in Germany, Bush has unveiled his own global ... [full story]

In the first panel, inside the office of the Guiness World Book of Records, a woman holds out a phone to a man and says: 'This guy says he'll hold his breath from June 1st 'tl Nov. 30.' In the second panel a man sits on the porch of FEMA trailer holding a newspaper headlined: 'Hurrican Season.' A mailbox outside the trailer says: 'Gulf Coast.' Editorial cartoon by Marshall Ramsey. [full story]

There is developing in some quarters a sort of hold-your-nose acceptance of the so-called "grand bargain" immigration deal worked out between some U.S. senators and the White House. The rationale, even if not verbalized quite as plainly, is this: Because this deal offers a path to legal residency for the 12 million or so illegal immigrants already here, everyone should just swallow hard and urge passage of this legislation. It is faulty reasoning. This is ... [full story]

A pirate ship sails past an offshore oil rig. Someone on the rig calls out: 'Amateur.' Caption says: 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' Editorial cartoon by Marshall Ramsey. [full story]

"Truth matters." That's what prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said, arguing Tuesday for a stiff sentence for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff. Yes, it does. Libby deserves every second of the 2 1/2 years in prison to which he was sentenced in the case involving his role in leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. He lied to a grand jury and to FBI agents. What's unclear, however, is ... [full story]

Two U.S. soldiers are hunkered down behind a concrete barrier while around them in Iraq bullets fly and bombs explode. In the caption, one says: 'The president is talking about extending our deployment 50 years or so. He called it the 'Korea model.'' Editorial cartoon by Bruce Beattie. [full story]

When voters get mad enough, Congress gets going. And so the House of Representatives recently passed a bill against gasoline price gouging. Never mind that the bill is so vague that a gas station owner couldn't reasonably know when or if he's violating it. Never mind that there's no evidence that any actual price gouging is occurring. Whenever gas prices jump, Congress and state regulators order an investigation. Invariably, the probe finds no price rigging ... [full story]