Issues, Insights & Istook
Ernest Istook

Ernest Istook is a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. Listen to Ernest's broadcasts online at Washington Times Radio. Subscribe to his daily podcasts on iTunes: Get Ernest's free email newsletter by signing up here.
Latest Radio Show Episodes
Related Articles
ERNEST ISTOOK: Global warming causes terrorism? Also acne and crab grass
Add a biggie to the list of calamities caused by global warming. No longer does it only cause acne, crabgrass and the death of the Loch Ness Monster.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Gun control propaganda blinds us
The Oregon murders should be more than fodder for gun control propaganda and fanaticism, which interfere with the lessons we should learn: Absent fathers create alienation; sensational media coverage only provokes more violence.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Blame Congress, not just Obama, for awful Iran nuclear deal
Blame Congress, as well as President Obama, for the awful nuclear deal with Iran. Lawmakers chose to play political blame games instead of legitimately fighting to block Mr. Obama's terrible agreement.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: EPA power grab is water torture for the economy
The EPA is trying to regulate every damp spot in America, and a flood of lawsuits is the result.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Obama’s transgender soldiers will distract from our national defense
Obama picked Pentagon leaders who will risk national defense by putting transgenders in uniform--if they can figure out which is GI Joe and which is GI Jane.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Congress gave Obama the power to make a bad deal with Iran
Obama's nuclear deal with Iran may be full of loopholes, but Congress let it happen by filling the sanctions laws with loopholes. Congress gave the president super powers to cancel the sanctions.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Boycott sanctuary cities because they are unsafe
Sanctuary cities are not safe, as people learned from the murder of Kate Stinle, allegedly by a five-time Mexican deportee and seven-time felon who found sanctuary in San Francisco. Sanctuary cities should be told: No public safety? Then no conventions or tourism.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Big Brother kills choices for low-income Americans
Big Brother's government regulators are out to kill the payday loan industry that serves millions of Americans. The welfare state wants no rivals for the loyalty of low-income people.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: This July 4, the rockets’ red glare requires lots of red tape
What is it with the bureaucrats and our celebrations?
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Same-sex court decision destroys the democratic process
The Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision destroys the democratic process. Instead of acting only with clear Constitutional authority, the justices give themselves power over the people by claiming their decision 'interprets' the Constitution rather than making new law.
SharesThe Left wants to restrict rights because of Dylann Roof
The blame for the South Carolina church murders belongs on one deranged racist. But politicians and activists cast the blame widely; that's how they justify restricting the rights of millions of Americans.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Plan to wash dishes by hand
Add another $99 to the price of home dishwashers as the Department of Energy enacts new "energy-saving" regulations to comply with President Obama's agenda. It's on top of a $44 price increase from another set of dishwasher regulations in 2012.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Regulators take another run at dishwashers
It's a dirty shame what the bureaucrats are doing to our hands.
SharesIstook: America is now the land of make believe; truth and reality got lost
The sagas of Bruce-to-Caitlyn Jenner and black? white? Rachel Dolezal prove the total craziness of political correctness. "I think therefore I am" doesn't mean imaginary things are real.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Obama White House’s lack of transparency
Two days of congressional hearings demonstrated how the Obama White House shuts down the people's right to know what their government is doing. Even the usually liberal media are upset that President Obama is keeping the bureaucracy's inner workings concealed.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Obama swats free speech, gun control
Gun control and control of free speech would be combined in a new Obama administration plan that could send Second Amendment advocates to prison.
SharesAmerica’s middle class shrinks as government suppresses opportunity
We're back-sliding. Millions of Americans tell pollsters they no longer consider themselves middle class. Almost as many of us now self-identify as "lower class or working class" instead. Blame big government for getting in the way.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Today’s Indian wars are fought at the casino
America still fights Indian wars, but today these battles center not around settlers pushing their homesteads onto tribal lands but around gambling.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: How red tape, runaway regulations wreck your budget
Runaway regulations are hurting everyday people and wrecking family budgets. It's not big companies that suffer from the $1.88 trillion annual burden of red tape that the government imposes. They add the costs onto their price tags.
SharesERNEST ISTOOK: Supreme Court to decide for believers what marriage is
Forget everything else you read about the Supreme Court case that could mandate same-sex marriages. All that matters is the swing vote of Justice Anthony Kennedy. He will break the expected 4-to-4 deadlock among the other justices.
Shares