“Entitlements” are frequent objects of criticism. This label generally includes government payments such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (also known as food stamps) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families – “welfare.” Critics argue that such programs foster dependency, tend to keep people in their place in the socioeconomic ladder and […]

The scientist from Maine was an important voice warning about global climate change.

I actually gasped when I read columnist Jim Fossel refer to what he called the “rushed, insular, partisan nature” of the Democrats’ passage of the Affordable Care Act (Oct. 1). There were months of open hearings in which liberals, like myself, had to watch the bill drop from a single-payer idea to a public option, […]

Politicians say they want to cut taxes (“Senate Republicans struggle for budget, tax cut votes,” Oct. 11). Here’s an idea: Cut $125 billion a year from the Pentagon. This is the amount a Defense Department-commissioned group identified as waste in the $600-plus billion military budget. We taxpayers spend more on the Pentagon than on any […]