Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
The Hobby Lobby Impact, A Q&A From the Pew Fact Tank; Female Justices Issue Searing Dissent Over New Contraceptive Cases
The US Supreme Court decision allowing for-profit businesses to opt out of the contraceptive mandate in the new health care law has raised questions about what the ruling might mean for businesses, for future challenges to the contraception mandate, and even for the future of church-state law. The Pew Fact Tank posed these questions to Robert Tuttle, one of the nation’s experts on church-state issues such as: Are there other aspects of the Affordable Care Act that are likely to face religious-liberty challenges? more »
Is Your State Aging or Becoming Younger? The Census Reveals Two Booms
"We’re seeing the demographic impact of two booms," Census Bureau Director John Thompson said. "The population in the Great Plains energy boom states is becoming younger and more male as workers move in seeking employment in the oil and gas industry, while the US as a whole continues to age as the youngest of the baby boom generation enters their 50s." The nation’s 65-and-older population surged to 44.7 million in 2013, up 3.6 percent from 2012. By comparison, the population younger than 65 grew by only 0.3 percent. more »
CultureWatch Review: Anna Quindlin's Still Life With Bread Crumbs
Joan L. Cannon reviews: After too many novels whose focus seems (if the reader is honest with herself) to be on the sexual antics and sensations involved with falling and being in love, this is a welcome rendition that allows for how real people after the flush of youth must behave. It seems likely that it would take a writer of Quinlen’s reputation to be allowed to have her two main characters act as they do. You will believe it all, and really root for a happy ending. more »
Senate Subcommittees Holds Hearings on Global Violence Against Women & Campus Sexual Assault
"When universities fail to respond adequately to campus sexual assault, they may be forcing the affected students to attend school in a sexually hostile environment. This environment deprives them of their freedom to go to class without being re-traumatized by a perpetrator sitting a few seats away, walk on campus without being harassed by a perpetrator’s friends, attend a party on-campus, or even feel safe in their own dorm rooms." more »
