This editorial will appear in Tuesday's print edition.

President Obama might want to have a chat with his Interior secretary, Ken Salazar.

While Salazar and his agency have lately been touting the promise of harnessing of ocean tides and waves, the rest of the Obama administration appears headed in another direction.

In the budget Obama recently sent to Congress, he seeks big increases for nearly every source of renewable energy but wave and tidal power.

The budget would deliver big boosts to research of solar, wind and geothermal power-generating technologies. But funding for studies of wave and tidal power would be cut one-fourth, from $40 million to $30 million.

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Is this a slow news time? Or is bashing Rush Limbaugh really the best the Democrats can do only five months into “Change We Can Believe In”?

I am referring to the news cycle of the last three weeks in which Democrats (and a few Republicans) have dragged out the tired, worn-out (15 years old) mantra of “Rush Limbaugh’s extremism = GOP main-streamism!!!”

Please consider:

1. If Rush Limbaugh is “the Worst,” then he has an evil twin in Keith Olbermann. If you want to hear some truly venomous rants, turn on "The Countdown."

2. Speaking of which, Rush is no more representative of Republicans than Olbermann is of Democrats. They are both extremist members of mainstream parties.

3. And why don’t the Dems talk about their "positives"? Aren’t the “stimulus,” “ending torture” and “universal health care” good enough news banter? Isn’t Barack Obama still our hero, the Messiah, the greatest president ever?

4. Of course, the best reason for Democrats to leave Limbaugh alone is because Rush LOVES all this attention! These attacks are truly a gift, the best break Rush has had since Monica Lewinsky saved that little blue dress.

5. Limbaugh wanted John McCain to lose for many, many reasons, but one of them was to have Obama for a target, upping his listenership to 20 million (that’s 5 percent of all Americans) per three-hour show. Now, his ratings are being upped even further by the very folks he is attacking. Tune into 770 AM: El Rushbo is on a roll; Dittoheads are happier than they have been in a decade.

6. And poor Keith O: He’s learning that it’s a lot harder to preach hate when your party has power and it’s your guy in the White House. Winning elections, and taking responsibility, is “the Worst.” But maybe Keith’s ratings will go up in 2013?....

Note: Thanks D.A.

We're writing about the Obama administration’s decision to cut funding for tidal power research just weeks after its own Interior Department suggested it could be a leading energy source. The cut smacks of bad policy.

We're also running a revised version of Pat's blog post about the tendency of many smokers to treat the world as their ash tray.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

Pierce County's major 911 call center has been drafted into what's shaping up to be a heated battle for the Tacoma City Council's at-large position.

Keven Rojecki, a legislative liaison and district representative for the Washington State Council of Firefighters who is running against Metro Parks commissioner Victoria Woodards, issued a press release (see below) Friday expressing concern over what he's read in The News Tribune about problems at the Law Enforcement Support Agency.

To recap, the agency that handles the bulk of the county's 911 calls is in trouble. It's overwhelmed with calls and underwhelmed with funding. It has long struggled to answer calls quickly, but had been making progress. Now LESA faces the possibility of laying off communications staff this summer as declining tax revenues squeeze the county and city governments that fund it.

Rojecki complains that it takes too long for LESA's call takers to transfer calls to a separate Tacoma fire dispatch. LESA officials agree. But here's the rub: Money that Tacoma and other jurisdictions spend on having separate fire dispatches could be going to beef up staffing at LESA. A recent audit found LESA's cost-per-call was about $9; Tacoma Fire's was $32. UPDATE: Ian Demsky over in the newsroom just posted the link to the full audit report.

There's the chicken-and-egg question of what should come first: LESA improving its call-response time so that agencies feel more confident about a consolidated dispatch, or the agencies consolidating to give LESA the funding it needs to make more progress. I don't have the answer, but the underlying issue remains whether it is efficient – either in the short or long term – for jurisdictions to maintain separate police and fire dispatches.

It'll be interesting to hear how the candidates address that question. The police and fire unions are powerhouses in local politics.

Rojecki troubled by Law Enforcement Support Agency issues
Firefighter expects more efficiency and accountability

TACOMA – Firefighter Keven Rojecki has been reading the Tacoma News Tribune (TNT) articles on the audit and financial problems of the Law Enforcement Support Agency (LESA) with apprehension. As a firefighter for 18 years he knows the importance of fast and reliable 911 response times.

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