Topic - Great Society

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KNIGHT: Welfare wars: Anatomy of a smear
When I was a copy editor at the Los Angeles Times, a young reporter submitted an article about a single mother having trouble obtaining government checks.
BOOK REVIEW: 'Now or Never'
Is there a more influential conservative in Congress than Sen. Jim DeMint? The South Carolina Republican has emerged as a kingmaker in GOP nominating contests, irritating the party establishment by supporting conservative challengers against big-spending incumbents.
RAHN: Government spending jobs myth
Do increases in government spending increase or decrease the number of jobs? Conventional wisdom is they will increase jobs, and a few left-wing economists, such as Paul Krugman of the New York Times, frequently are trotted out by reckless politicians and some in the news media to argue that we need more government spending in order to create jobs. If this were true, we should be able to see it in the historical evidence, so let's look at the numbers.
FEULNER: Raiding an empty vault
Twenty-five years ago, Geraldo Rivera hosted a greatly hyped TV special called "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults." It still stands as one of the highest-rated programs in television history.
DONATELLI: GOP mustn't go wobbly on Medicare reform
In light of the results of the special election in upstate New York, where Democrats scored an upset victory by accusing Republicans of wanting to "end Medicare," the GOP is being urged to abandon the effort spearheaded by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan to reform this most giant entitlement program. Lyndon B. Johnson once ran an ad accusing Barry Goldwater of wanting to blow up the world. In this election, Democrats followed up with an equally subtle pitch showing grandma being pushed over a cliff. What liberals won't do in pursuit of the Great Society.
BOOK REVIEW: How to dismantle Obamacare
"ObamaCare is wrong for families, wrong for patients, wrong for business, and wrong for our children's futures." That's the thesis, laid out on the first page of the must-read "Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America," a powerful book co-written by four battle-tested veterans of Washington's health policy battles.
GRATZER: Think of Medicare as a model
Back in the spring of 2010, White House officials liked to talk up the idea that their health-reform package was the Medicare of our time - a major piece of legislation that, while initially controversial, would become mainstream, as did the Great Society program. With today's House vote, the analogy needs a tweak: Think of the Medicare reform of the 1980s, not the 1960s, when Congress enacted and then, facing great criticism, reconsidered the catastrophic coverage.
BOOK REVIEW: Days of gracious living
While the insider culture of Washington has always had about it a strong whiff of conniving, self-serving raffishness, there always has been a handful of political figures who have striven to do the right thing by the people who sent them into the arena.
MICHAEL: Mr. Obama's war
Liberal Democrats in Congress fought hard for open service by homosexual soldiers, persuading some Republican politicians that it was politically smart to catch up with a fast-moving culture. So now, when will the theoretically anti-war party in Congress use its constitutionally mandated war powers to legislate against President Obama's elective atrocity in Afghanistan? When will they speak out for bringing home from that corrupt hellhole all the troops, straight and homosexual, young men and women, lingering in harm's way for no discernible national purpose after routing the Taliban a decade ago?
DONATELLI: Good riddance to the 111th Congress
What comes to mind when you think of "the worst"? President James Buchanan. The 1962 Mets. Vanilla Ice. Now add to that list the 111th Congress, which is finally slated to wrap up business this week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just didn't want to give up that gavel. This may have been the worst Congress since Lyndon Johnson's landslide ushered in the Congress that gave us the Great Society and the Vietnam War. Memo to voters: Democratic landslides are usually followed by disastrous results.
KNIGHT: Tying the knot - not
"Mawwaige is in twubble." That would be the likely reaction of the "impressive clergyman" in "The Princess Bride" or Elmer Fudd upon reading the latest Pew Research Center report, "The Decline of Marriage and the Rise of New Families."
NUGENT: Every day is Labor Day at Camp Nuge
Sadly, there isn't much to celebrate this Labor Day. With official unemployment hovering near 10 percent and real unemployment at around 15 percent, many fellow Americans are laboring just to find a job. With the job market so bleak, some Americans actually have quit looking. That doesn't even register with me.
SIMMONS: Quest to end homelessness is unrealistic
Bless President Obama's bleeding heart. He wants to end homelessness. His is a noble goal, to want to meet the needs of America's downtrodden. But let's be real.