SOCIAL SECURITY is 'sound' if you reduce benefits, increase taxes, and offer benefits to fewer people.

VOTING FOR DEATH PANELS:

I’m 65 years old. If he is re-elected, President Obama will soon be able to knock me off with his Independent Payment Advisory Board (“A Trojan horse named IPAB,” Web, Aug. 10). If I need an expensive medical procedure, the IPAB will decide whether I am worth the expense. They are the equivalent of chief financial officers, whose job it is to keep health care costs down. What senior who is still thinking clearly would sign his own death warrant by voting for bureaucrats to decide his fate?

Obamacare is simply unfair. When Obamacare rules that I am not worth keeping alive, will I get a chance to defend myself first? Could I box President Obama three rounds to decide whether I get an essential operation?

What are the suicidal seniors in Florida doing backing this president of medical assassination? Has senility paved the highway to government-assisted suicide? I thought with age came wisdom. Are we all fools? How could we vote for our own deaths?

Letter to the editor, Washington Times.

ARE THE CHINESE -- AND OTHER FOREIGNERS -- buying our elections? Both parties and candidates are guilty, but the Obama campaign seems to be the most aggressive and least transparent.

CULTIVATING DEPENDENCE: Expanding the safety net penalizes the working poor.

DECONSTRUCTING RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS: How Amazon and Netflix predict your preferences and prod you to purchase. They don't work particularly well; all the ads I see are for things I've already bought or don't give a damn about to begin with.

STEALTH GUN CONTROL and other bad effects: Gun microstamping could close American factories.

OBAMA'S DEBATE RUN-IN with inconvenient truths. Facts are dangerous things for progressives.

CRONY CAPITALISM hits small business: Suppressing competition for political interests.

ANYONE BUT OBAMA: Now they tell us.

OLIVER NORTH: Troops' worst enemy is Washington.

PETER FERRARA: Why Seniors Should Prefer Ryan’s Medicare Plan. Ryan:

Now in order to save Medicare for future generations, we propose putting 50 million seniors, not 15 unaccountable bureaucrats, in charge of their own health-care decisions. Our plan empowers future seniors to choose the coverage that works best for them from a list of plans that are required to offer at least the same level of benefits as traditional Medicare. This financial support system is designed to guarantee that seniors can always afford Medicare coverage - no exceptions. And if a senior wants to choose the traditional Medicare plan, then she will have that right. Our idea is to force insurance companies to compete against each other to better serve seniors, with more help for the poor and sick - and less help for the wealthy.

Ferrara is absolutely right. My only disagreement with the Ryan plan is that it should be improved by allowing current Medicare recipients to opt into the Ryan plan.

GRASSLEY, AYOTTE want answers on OMB promise to cover defense layoff costs. So do I, and I wish the defense contractors had the balls to stand up and issue layoff notices on time.

LET'S PUT a supercomputer on the back side of the moon.

Of course. We want to be prepared when Prof, Manny, and Wyoming arrive.

VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ wins another 6-year term. What did you expect when he owns the ballot box?

WORK HARD, save diligently, become wealthy, get screwed. ObamaNomics -- at some point, you're wealthy enough.

DBD GETS IT WRONG: No self-respecting NYT reporter would ever lower himself to eat a burrito.