Ruby Gifford, 86, has come to see Armon B. Neel, Jr., out of fear and perhaps even desperation. Gifford (her name has been changed in this story to protect her privacy) hasn’t been feeling well lately, and the list of symptoms that have prompted her to come to Neel’s office in Griffin, Georgia, might well mark her as a hypochondriac in the eyes of many doctors.
Charles F. Hinckley, Jr., thought he was doing the right thing in 1995 when, after months of careful study, he bought long-term care insurance for himself and his wife, Nancy. The Hinckleys were looking for a way to make sure their children wouldn’t have to worry about how to provide them with nursing home or other custodial care —
Over nearly 20 years, the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon has raked in tens of millions of dollars for his wars against pornography, the teaching of evolution in public schools, reproductive freedom for women, and civil rights for homosexuals. But now Sheldon, the founder and chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition in Anaheim, California, has embarked on a new crusade:
United Seniors Association, based in Fairfax, Va., calls itself an “influential and effective” advocacy organization for older Americans. The Seniors Coalition, based in Springfield, Va., describes itself as an “advocacy organization that represents the interests and concerns of America’s senior citizens.” The 60 Plus Association, based in Arlington, Va., describes itself as “an advocacy group with a free enterprise,
Late last month, the wife of former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay tearfully told a national television audience that she and her husband were struggling to avoid personal bankruptcy following the collapse of the Houston energy-trading company. What Linda Lay failed to tell viewers of NBC’s “Today” show, however, was that she and her husband had shifted millions in personal
On October 17, 2001, almost two weeks after Robert Stevens died of pulmonary anthrax at a hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Bush administration unveiled its plans to build up, in a big way, the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile — the drugs, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other medical supplies that are kept at the ready to respond to
Visit any of the 55 plants that manufacture coal-based synthetic fuels and you might think that somebody has finally gotten serious about reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil. Well, think again. While all of the plants turn out products that pass as “synfuels” — coal that supposedly has been processed to burn more cleanly or efficiently — the facilities
My father was a martini man to the core (vodka, with two cocktail olives), but I trace my fondness for Canadian whisky directly to him. You see, he loved to play Scrabble, and in his retirement years he was able to indulge this passion — sometimes it verged on addiction — as if there were no tomorrow. On my
MY FATHER HAD A NIGHTCLUB in Greenville, North Carolina. It was called the Burnie Street Hall, and it was down by the high school. My father played piano and had a band — Hamp’s Jam Session, that’s what he called it. I started picking up the piano when I was seven or eight years old. My father showed me a few licks, but
After being told that there would be no “freebie” tickets to President Jimmy Carter’s 1977 inaugural parade, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger was reported to have said: “If I have to pay $25, then I’ll charge Carter $50 to swear him in.”