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
How Seniors Change Their Asset Holdings During Retirement
More generally, our results indicate that most of the older population is extremely cautious in formulating their spending plans as they age. This may be because of a very strong bequest motive or because of a concern that they will face emergency expenditures, most probably related to health care. However, the conservatism is so extreme, especially among the more affluent, that one cannot avoid the suspicion that many are unnecessarily forgoing consumption. more »
Goosed
They began by arguing the merits (or rather, the lack of merits) of sweet side dishes that had marzipan in them. “That was a lot of WORK,” my sous-chef growled. “Eat it and shut up.”“This rice is hard and funny,” said another son, “and the chestnuts look like little brains.” “I made it exactly the way the recipe said to,” said his brother.“Eeeew!” said the third as he poked at the slaw. I looked down the table in an effort to enlist their father’s support in quashing the rebellion. John was sitting hunched over, eyelids at half mast, face quite green. He hadn’t touched his food. more »
Book Review: The Education of a Black Radical: A Southern Civil Rights Activist’s Journey 1959-1964
Jo Freeman writes: Colleges and universities were a major source of civil rights activists in the Sixties. Whether black or white, as long as they did their activism after leaving school, they were heralded as heroes. But if they were active while still students, even off-campus, they were troublemakers. This was particularly true for state supported schools. Legislators often wanted the schools they funded to keep their students off the streets. When campus administrators couldn’t control student activists, someone suffered. more »
Palin vs. Gore Climate Showdown
From FactCheck.org: "On Dec. 9, an op-ed by Sarah Palin on climate change ran in the Washington Post. Al Gore responded to Palin’s piece and made some fresh claims of his own later that day in an interview with MSNBC. We find that both engaged in some distortions and have been rightly called out by experts in the field." more »
