Free Republic

To fight global warming, a bill in Sacramento would enable Los Angeles County transit officials to increase taxes on motorists. It's a bad idea that may foreshadow even worse to come. Billed as a "climate change mitigation and adaptation fee," the measure would cost motorists either an additional 3 percent motor fuel tax, or up to a $90 annual flat fee, based on vehicle emissions. The new charges would be on top of taxes already paid at the pump. Either option requires a majority approval by a vote of the people. Climate has changed as long as the Earth has...

The yawn that greeted the announcement this week -- reported on by Joyce Howard Price -- that officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development are now vigorously endorsing and funding the use of DDT in Africa is representative of the world community's general lack of concern over the hundreds of millions of people who suffer from malaria every year. We applaud USAID's decision, even if we regret how long it's taken to reach it. Put bluntly, malaria's killing spree -- believed to be somewhere in the realm of 50 million people since 1972 -- is worse than AIDS. Of...