Opinion

Let’s begin with the basics. To the extent that anything can be thought wrong, shooting other people is generally thought wrong. Circumstances vary, of course, but one of the less acceptable “reasons” for murdering others is that their culture differs from one’s own. Some religions use pictures and statues to inspire reverence. Others refuse to […]

There are three important recent issues whose impact could affect the financial well-being of seniors. The first issue is a change in the PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation) that affects blue-collar workers in multi-employer pension plans. These pensioners no longer have pension protection because of a change in the PBGC that was passed at the […]

A few years ago I retired. My wife, Claire, and I sold our house and most of our belongings and moved to southern France. We lived in a vineyard village on the Orb River. It was beyond beautiful. The down side—only three of the 600 people in that village spoke English. After lots of struggle, […]

The concept of trust is getting a bad name of late. Will you ever look at a rerun of “The Bill Cosby Show” in the same way again? Will you ever look at all? Will Brian Williams ever have the same gravitas if he comes back to The Nightly News? Bernie Maddof, remember him? How […]

Nothing horrifies me more than being invited to a party with an all-woman guest list. Baby showers, wedding showers, Tupperware parties, bachelorette…… you get the idea. It’s not that I hate women, I hate what they talk about. For me it’s fear. Women have no fear, and frankly, they over share. Men get along just […]

Have you ever been to the Wagon Wheel on a Saturday night? If you were “lucky” enough to have been there a few weeks ago, you would have seen quite a spectacle—six women, all over 60 (so they should have known better), attempting to sing “Walking After Midnight” and then “Dancing Queen.” One young woman […]

Ann Katzenbach’s article in the January PRT about Marshal Patterson’s laudable support of the injured Canadian motorcyclist was just the vehicle I needed to prompt me to write about a topic that has become almost an obsession with me of late: the badly broken US health care system. Marshal Patterson is to be commended for […]

My first job was at a fast food restaurant. After lying about my age to the manager at the local McDonalds, I secured a cushy $4.10 an hour job, with no benefits and, unfortunately, no French fries. I worked the drive-through with my best friend, Kim. At 15 you don’t really appreciate the seriousness of […]

My first wife, Judy Wolf, a.k.a. Fang, grew up in a wooded section of Bethany, Connecticut, the oldest of three kids. Her mother, Alice, had been at Smith College, one of the so-called Seven Sisters (prestigious eastern girls’ schools), and had withdrawn, pregnant, under suspicious circumstances. (Gamma rays were suspected.) Fang’s father, Ted, was the […]