Susan Reimer

Susan Reimer's Monday column now appears on the Commentary page, which is Page 9 in today's Sun. Her gardening column will continue to be published in the Thursday Live section.

We baby boomers get blamed for just about every economic hiccup, because there are so many of us. And our children are particularly furious because they believe the crisis in Social Security, which may affect their ability to retire, can be laid at our feet like kindling for a burning at the stake. They are convinced we boomers, with our outsized appetites and sense of entitlement, are going to consume everything on our way to the cemetery, right down to the amount of ground we leave for those who die after us. But data from the Social Security Administration itself, provided by chief actuary Stephen Goss, demonstrates that boomers are not the pig-through-the-python that we have been described as being.

Susan Reimer seems extremely misguided; her sympathy for Sgt. Robert Bales, who massacred men, women and children, is an enigma to me ("War makes you crazy, both there and here," March 26). But since these are her feelings, why is she ashamed to admit them? Geraldine Segal, Randallstown

It is hard not to give in to despair. In the hours since bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, forever marking in blood a day that celebrates spring, our nation's founding and the joy of the human body, there has been a lot of talk about resilience. About the resilience of the American people, of Boston people, of running people. "Boston is a tough and resilient town," President Barack Obama told the country. "So are its people. " The Boston Globe's columnists are defiant, too. "Tomorrow, this city is going to get up and live its life," wrote Farah Stockman.

I found Susan Reimer 's column about the Casey Anthony verdict extremely disappointing ("Anthony trial is over but verdict is still out," July 7). She seemed to want the worst for Casey Anthony, and I cannot understand why. I suspect the jurors in the case knew more about the details than Ms. Reimer did. She mentions Nancy Grace, who has been irresponsibly cruel in some of her broadcasts. I hope Ms. Reimer will not imitate her negative spirit in the future. Robert J. Jones, Washington, D.C.

Beginning this week, the features columnists will appear on new days. Here's who to look for, when.Monday: Susan ReimerTuesday: Mike LittwinToday: Alice SteinbachTomorrow: Susan ReimerFriday: Mike LittwinSaturday: Alice Steinbach and Rob KasperSunday: Mike Littwin

Beginning this week, the features columnists will appear on new days. Here's who to look for when.Today: Susan ReimerTomorrow: Mike LittwinWednesday: Alice SteinbachThursday: Susan ReimerFriday: Mike LittwinSaturday: Alice Steinbach and Rob KasperSunday: Mike Littwin

Here is contact information for the Red Hat Society, subject of a cover story by Susan Reimer in Tuesday's Today section. Women interested in finding a Red Hat Society chapter in their area should e-mail Dee Vallair and the Red Hat Hons of Baltimore at redhathons@hot mail.com.

I am a subscriber and read The Sun every day, and I force myself to review The Sun's editorials and commentaries. I do this to stay informed about the oppressive activities of the ever present liberal government leadership in this beautiful state. Two articles written by Susan Reimer and Paul Jaskunas ("Presidential campaign 'legitimately' toxic?" and "A false self-reliance") in the Friday, August 24th edition of The Sun are examples of the typical political climate that is alive and well in Maryland.

As our parents age, family holiday celebrations inevitably are handed down to the next generation, who must plan and play host.Is Christmas or Hanukkah at your house this year? If so, Sun columnist Susan Reimer would like to hear from you.Let us know if you will try to import the traditions your mother and father made famous. ("It can be at my house, but Mom is still going to have to bake!") Or will you begin some new traditions -- ones distinctly your own. ("It's going to be on Christmas Eve this year, with a buffet supper after church."

Kudos to Susan Reimer for her column exploring the difficulties experienced by mothers traveling alone with babies and toddlers ("Babies on a plane: Can the rest of the flying public cut mom some slack?" April 4). As a grandmother of five, I have witnessed first-hand the tribulations moms with young children endure whenever I travel with my daughter and daughter-in-law. One must be physically fit, mentally strong and spiritually sound to juggle the incredibly cumbersome equipment, deal with a baby whose ears are popping and entertain restless toddlers unaccustomed to being confined in tight quarters - all while enduring the withering looks of other passengers.

Susan Reimer 's commentary touched on an issue that has bothered me for years ("Babies on a plane: Can the rest of the flying public cut mom some slack?" April 4). As an executive, I have been required to travel by plane on business for well over 30 years. I fly about once a month and often more than that. As a result, I have been held captive many times to crying, screaming infants or toddlers who keep it up for most if not the entire duration of the flight. Somehow, this just doesn't seem fair.

You have to wonder what kind of fun Vatican mystery writer Dan Brown would have with the startling resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. As would be the case when any well-known CEO suddenly steps down "for health reasons," we are immediately suspicious. Was he, like the last pope to step down voluntarily more than 700 years ago, simply the wrong man for the job? A shy and aging scholar overwhelmed by the demands of guiding the church through the scandals of sex abuse and money laundering, who was happier in the library than on the balcony at St. Peter's?

Oh, the physical sacrifices I make for my job as a journalist. True, I have never been assaulted by a mob in Cairo's Tahrir Square, as CBS' Lara Logan was. And I've never been injured by a bomb, as happened to ABC's Bob Woodruff and CBS' Kimberly Dozier in Iraq. In fact, the last time I left Maryland for an assignment, it was to cover the Philadelphia Flower Show, and that's not exactly hazard duty. But I am recovering from injuries suffered while writing a food story for our Wednesday Taste section, and I'd like a little more attention to my suffering than I got in the emergency room.

A recent poll showed that 62 percent of Marylanders favor a ban on assault weapons, and 71 percent favor a limit on the number of bullets in a gun magazine. If the members of the General Assembly vote the way the polls are blowing, it appears Gov. Martin O'Malley's sweeping gun reform bill could become law. However, after attending a town hall meeting in Largo convened by Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown on the bill, my straw poll indicates the bill will go down to defeat: angry white men 1, sadly dismayed African-Americans 0. The meeting Tuesday night on the campus of Prince George's Community College roiled with barely contained fury, just as the first town hall meeting in Baltimore City did last week, according to Deborah Adams, who attended.

I was more than disgusted at Susan Reimer 's column on Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis' involvement in a 2000 murder investigation ("Note to Ravens: Sportswriters never forget," Jan. 24). Ms. Reimer should stick to writing about her usual stuff and leave the Baltimore sports scene alone. I question her motives in bringing up a subject that occurred more than a dozen years ago, then poking at it as if she were trying to create an atmosphere of negativity around the Ravens' achievement in making it to the Super Bowl this year.

Theater 'Dry Hours' at Center Stage Go to Center Stage to see Things of Dry Hours, a play taht takes in Alabama during the Depression. The 8 p.m. show will be in the Head Theater, 700 N. Calvert St. Tickets are $10 to $50. Call 410-332-0033 or go to centerstage.org for information Susan Reimer is on vacation. Her column returns next week.

In response to Susan Reimer 's column ("In birth control debate, where are the women's voices?" Feb. 16), let me also step forward to say that contraception gave me the option to actively make choices in my life about when or whether to have children. It is hard to believe that in 2012, access to contraception is in the national debate spotlight. Anita L. Feith

In reference to Susan Reimer 's commentary ("Our special relationship with 'Downton Abbey,'" Jan. 10), my wife and I were also discussing the reasons why we've been so taken with "Downton Abbey. " In our case, it has nothing to do with any preoccupation with royalty. The fact that all the people in the house, from highest to lowest, treat each other with basic respect and dignity is very appealing, not to mention that it gives us some momentary respite from the cultural cesspool in which we find ourselves at the moment.

Regarding Susan Reimer 's recent column on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's illness and the skepticism it has received ("Hillary and the 'clot plot,'" Jan. 3), Ms. Reimer is, indeed, athletic in making her leaps of conclusion. Even other writers in The Sun show a snickering attitude toward the blood clot plot, and it is interesting to recall that one of the great conspiracy shouters of the past was the first lady in the Clinton home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Dick Huffman, Timonium Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts