A couple of interesting items on the energy front. First, an editorial in today’s Investor’s Business Daily applauds the President for “lambasting lawmakers for fiddling while the energy crisis burns,” adding that it was a “well deserved takedown of do-nothing lawmakers.”

An editorial in today's Wall Street Journal examines the evolving position that Senator Obama has taken on raising the capital gains tax rate.

The Hill is reporting on Senator Clinton's astonishing 2.3 billion dollars in earmark requests for the next budget year.

An op-ed in today's New York Post looks at the facts behind the Colombian Free Trade Agreement and the liberal argument against passage.

The editorial board of the Washington Post examines the taxing and spending plans of Senators Clinton and Obama, to frightening results.

An op-ed in today's Washington Times blasts liberal policy makers in Washington who are looking to raise taxes during a time when our economy needs as much stimulus as it can get.

An op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal discusses Senate inaction on President Bush's judicial nominees, some of whom have been languishing for years.

Politico is reporting that House Democrats have finally returned to the negotiating table to work on a FISA compromise after authorization was allowed to expire in early February.

Roll Call is reporting today on Big Labor having more legislative success pushing their agenda since Democrats have taken control of Congress.

A Wall Street Journal editorial this morning probes deeper into the inconsistency of Senator Obama pledging not to raise taxes on the middle class, while promising a capital gains tax increase if he has the opportunity.

An article in today's Politico describes foreign firms' nervousness at the possibility of liberal protectionist economic policies.

Gerald Seib is reporting in today's Wall Street Journal about the debate over Iraq shifting once again as troop withdrawals pause this summer.

Michael Rubin has written an op-ed discussing the unrealistic optimism of liberal foreign policy.

U.S. companies and employees are continuing to sound the alarm over the threat of card check, coming in the form of the Employee Free Choice Act.  EFCA takes away the right of employees to vote on unionization via secret ballot, and instead conduct union elections by having employees sign a card in support of organization - a card that can be seen by co-workers, employers, and union officials.

As the rhetoric over tax policy heats up with the approach of the 2008 elections, Republican John Campbell has offered a solution that would allow liberals to pay higher taxes while letting the rest of us keep our hard-earned money.

The Washington Post chides House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an editorial today, saying that she is leading the Democrats in the wrong direction, particularly on trade.

Today, the 5th anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, is the second and final day of the testimony to Congress by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker regarding progress in Iraq.  Yesterday's testimony to several Senate panels yielded several key points:

The Washington Post is joining the growing chorus calling for tort reform in America after several recent high profile stories of abuse. 

Today in Washington, General David Petraeus reports to Congress on the progress in Iraq for the first time since September of last year.  In the months since the previous update, violence in many of Iraq's most dangerous neighborhoods has subsided, the economy has grown, and previous insurgent groups have now started working towards a peaceful Iraq rather than destroying it.

An op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal titled "Tax Bomb" outlines the effects and historical significance if some Democrats in Congress get their way and the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire.

As General Petraeus prepares to testify to Congress this week, news coverage is dominated by his expected report on the status of operations in Iraq.  Senators Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman have written an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal outlining the war and its costs, and citing anti-war politicians as continuing to ignore improvements in Iraq.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Kimberley Strassel sounds the alarm about Big Labor’s agenda and what they are willing to spend on politics to see that it becomes a reality.  A good friend of Freedom’s Watch, the National Right to Work Committee’s Mark Mix, says that for the union bosses 2008 represents an “all-in” bet.  And Big Labor’s stack of chips is substantial.

The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed today describing what Big Labor is looking for with their political agenda, and details what they are willing to do to get it.

Robert Novak reports on how Democrats in Congress are ready to humiliate America’s strongest ally in Latin America, Colombia, in order to mollify the Big Labor Bosses .  President Bush will next week send to Congress for approval the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, the product of intense negotiation that met many of the objections of Democrats in Congress on labor and environmental issues.  Indeed, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said she is willing to go even further by adding provisions to help workers displaced by trade.  It is still not enough for Big Labor, and this has put House Democrats in a quandary.  Reports Novak:

Senator Barack Obama gave a campaign speech on Wednesday, and railed against Senators McCain and Clinton for their supposed ties to what he called an establishment that favors special interests.  The ironic part was, he railed against special interests while giving a speech to the AFL-CIO.

In an editorial titled "Hoover's Heirs," the Wall Street Journal describes the economic plans on leading Democrats, including Senators Schumer, Clinton, and Obama.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) yesterday released statewide polls taken in Minnesota, Colorado, and Maine that are bad news for the pet legislative project of the Big Labor bosses – replacing secret ballot union elections with a card check system.  All three polls show that by large margins voters in those three states support maintaining private ballots for workers during elections on whether to join a union.  A CDW press release delivers the bad news to Big Labor:

The Politico is reporting on a divided liberal majority in Congress arguing over the best way to approach the war in Iraq. 

It has now been 45 days since FISA legislation expired due to inaction by the House of Representatives, as the President and members of the Senate continue to work with House leadership to renew this vital program.  From the Wall Street Journal: