EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

From the Journal Star (Ill.) on 2005 as the warmest year on record:

NASA reports that 2005 was the warmest year on official record, with Earth's surface temperature up a blistering 1.44 degrees Fahrenheit over a century. This January's average temperature of 37.7 degrees Celsius was the city's hottest since 1880. Interestingly, NASA immediately pooh-poohed any speculation about the influence of pollution or so-called global warming. That's funny, considering NASA climatologists have been among the most outspoken on how coal-fired power plants, cars and factories spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They're the ones who explained how that carbon dioxide buildup is acting like a greenhouse.

According to the aforementioned report, "current warmth seems to be occurring nearly everywhere at the same time." We're just from central Illinois, but isn't that the definition of "global?" Balmy 2005 stands out because no natural event seemed to precipitate the rise in temperature. In 1998, El Nino spread the warmth. But since the turn of the millennium, Earth has just, well, heated up.

At this rate, we'll be growing our own beans in the Tropic of Peoria. Or shall we say coastal central Illinois, once the polar ice caps melt? How's that for looking on the bright side? Please pass the sunscreen.

Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, on Iraq:

In 2003, the Bush administration went into Iraq with a sound strategy: quickly follow up the military victory with a different kind of offensive. This was to transform the thoroughly misgoverned country into an efficient, functioning state. In the process, the Iraqi relief and reconstruction program would demonstrate America's commitment to a new Iraq (winning hearts and minds) and display its know-how in managing the extensive reconstruction. Rebuilding key Iraqi infrastructure and services -- water and sewage, electricity, oil and gas, and law enforcement -- was not expected to be easy or cheap, and it hasn't been.

Congress has allocated more than $30 billion to the project since 2003. Two years ago, it created a special inspector general's office to keep a close eye on spending. A series of audit reports -- the latest released last month by the inspector general Stuart Bowen -- have uncovered pervasive administrative problems and distressing levels of inefficiency and corruption that jeopardize not only the U.S.'s goals, but its credibility as well.

--From wire reports