Expect more of the same: boomers dominate US politics

The baby boom generation largely came of age rebelling against the "establishment." Now, they are the establishment. Of 6,100 elected state and national officials across the country, a slight but significant majority are members of that enormous population group. "Boomer Power" Kentucky Post

Hypocrite boomers still waging Nixon-era "war on pot"

According to federal statistics, about 94 million Americans – that's 40 percent of the U.S. population age 12 or older – self-identify as having used cannabis at some point in their lives, and relatively few acknowledge having suffered significant deleterious health effects due to their use. America's public policies should reflect this reality, not deny it. It makes no sense to continue to treat nearly half of all Americans as criminals. "It's Been an 'All Out War' on Pot Smokers for 35 Years" LRC

Boomer-cons: no friends of Liberty

...[T]oday the Republican Party represents a conservativism that "has more in common with Ted Kennedy than with Ronald Reagan," observes Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute, in his depressing but utterly convincing new book, Leviathan on the Right. The Bush administration, in partnership with the Republican Congress, has been so effective in growing government that last November more voters viewed the GOP than the Democrats as the party of Big Government. Of course, that judgment is a stretch, given staunch Democratic support for the welfare/warfare state (military spending is set to keep rising, despite the Democratic takeover of Congress, for instance). Nevertheless, the GOP, supported by its neocon cheerleaders, has gleefully abandoned any support for individual liberty, limited government, and fiscal responsibility. We are all statists now, to paraphrase Richard Nixon. "Leviathan On the Right" Antiwar.com

The road to "fiscal hell"

Walker bluntly states that the most serious threat to the U.S. is not some guy hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility. You know he's sincere when he says he has given up on elected officials to take responsible action. He truly believes that the very survival of the U.S. is at stake if voters do not demand that their elected officials make some hard choices. Oversimplified, the catalyst for our fiscal predicament is that eat-drink-and-be-merry group of folks affectionately referred to as "Baby Boomers." They were born in the period between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Vietnam War, when the "culture of consumption" somehow became synonymous with the American dream. Warning: Fiscal Hell May Be Closer Than It Appears" Worldnet Daily

Don't call us old...we're just "of an uncertain age"

Our fathers’ generation seemed to have a more certain grasp on what it was to be an older man. They knew how to dress the part, what was expected of them, what their duties were, even all of the necessary secret handshakes. They were, after all the Greatest Generation the guys who fought the war that made the world safe for future generations. There was something so John Wayne about them, about their manly certainty. The generation of sons that they spawned, both as young soldiers and then later as heads of state, have waged and mounted two disastrous wars that have left the world less certain. It is a generation of men who are privileged beyond their fathers’ dreams, yet strangely more unsettled about their place in the adamant march of time. "Men of an Uncertain Age" Santa Barbara Independent

I don't want to cause no fuss, just want to drive my gas-guzzling bus

The recreational vehicle industry has been reporting record sales for the past five years, despite rising costs at the pump. Insiders credit a growing number of baby boomers who want the gas-guzzling vehicles for retirement and younger families opting for vacations closer to home for offsetting any potential losses because of soaring fuel costs. "Higher Gas Prices Not Slowing Down RV Industry" San-Diego Union Tribune

Above the ruins: surviving the boomer catastrophe

Generation X and proceeding generations will have a lot of burdens placed on them. The Boomers running the government and the corporate world have managed to thoroughly ruin all the enlightened movements they started as young people. Now we have to pay for their corporate greed and mismanagement. Not to mention that (in the US) the Social Security and Medicare programs won't be benefits that we can rely on. And since the Boomers are all going to live longer due to drugs and staying more healthy than their parents, they're going to bankrupt wall street when they start getting their disbursements from their IRA's and 401k's. Japan spent most of the 90's in a protracted recession due to their large retirement population. It's coming for the U.S. next. "We Boomers Blew It; Teens the Next Hero Generation?" CNET (blog)

Confessions of a pushy boomer

Yes, I can read the sign that says NO PARKING EVER," I always answer when Ted inquires. He doesn't understand that if it is after 5 p.m. and I just need to run in for a moment, the sign does not mean me. My husband is not a baby boomer. He was born before the United States entered the Second World War; he does not understand my sense of entitlement. My generation was catered to and we do not think we are meant to be inconvenienced "Related by Marriage: 'They Don't Mean Me'" Evening Bulletin (Pennsylvania)

Boomer obesity to impact healthcare costs

Dr. Suzanne Leveille, senior author of the study, said that although the obesity epidemic has affected both baby-boomers and the silent generation, boomers got a much earlier start and spent more of their lives in a state of obesity. Ironically, while boomers have access to better nutrition and information about exercise than the previous generation a forthcoming study to be published by National Bureau of Economic Research found that boomers report experiencing more pain, drinking and psychiatric problems. Boomers also complained of difficulty in carrying out everyday tasks such as climbing stairs, carrying more than 10 pounds as well as kneeling or crouching. "Baby Boomer Obesity Takes Its Toll on the Health Care Economy" Insurancenews.net

In Canada: expert warns of boomer suicide "epidemic"

Suicide among the elderly could soon become an epidemic if people don’t start talking about it, says a speaker coming to Vernon next week. Dr. Barry Hall, a professor at the University of Calgary and expert in adult suicide, said more must be done to raise awareness about suicide among older Canadians. “I don’t want it to be a hidden epidemic,” said Hall. “We’ve got to put this on the public radar. We’ve got to put this on the government radar.” Canada is the only G8 nation without a national suicide prevention program, he added. As Canada’s millions of baby boomers become seniors, suicide could become an epidemic unless mental health services are increased, he said. "Baby Boomers Face Hidden Epidemic" Daily Courier (British Columbia)

Boomer environmentalism: put up or shut up

Out of one side of our mouths and out of one side of our politicians' mouths came, "We love the environment, clean air, clean water, national forests, national parks and people." Out of the other side of our mouths and the other side of the mouths of our politicians came, "We ain't gonna pay for air and water pollution controls," "We ain't gonna pay for the care and expansion of national parks and forests" and "We ain't gonna pay for national health care." Well, all that pollution we refused to pay to clean up has resulted in global warming. And some people say we still are the same selfish and two-faced baby boomers we always have been. We will see. "Talk Now Should Be Replaced by Action" Newark Advocate (Ohio)

Boomers decry advertiser indifference

About 70% of the network's viewers are 40 to 54 years old, ad even if they spend more than the younger generation, they feel neglected by the advertisers. It seems difficult for television advertisement to target boomers who constitute a diverse group with different income brackets and lifestyles. TV Land's audience is brimming with baby boomers who tune in for an old episode of "Bonanza," "The Andy Griffith Show" or "I Love Lucy." In fact, about 70% of the network's viewers are 40 to 54 years old, said Kimberly Maxwell, TV Land's director of brand and consumer research. And lately this demographic feels it's being snubbed by advertisers, even though boomers outspend other generations by about 2 to 1 across all product categories, she said. "45% of Boomers Believe That Advertisers Are Ignoring Them" Seniorscopie What planet are these people on? Everytime I turn on the television it's either an anti-aging guru or (yet another) Woodstock-themed SUV commerical...

Hillary as "big sister": 1984-like video impacting Clinton campaign

Just who is ParkRidge47 -- the mystery figure who introduced an Internet political attack ad that has stirred the press and political junkies tuned into the early presidential campaign -- and what does the videomaker have against Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton? The political question of the week is the identity of the anonymous person who reworked the classic 1984 ad introducing the Apple Macintosh computer to the world into a biting attack piece against Clinton -- and posted it on the popular YouTube Web site. (To see the video, go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo) "Intrigue Grows Over 'Hillary' Video" San Francisco Chronicle

Satirical new novel envisions anti-boomer backlash

...[T]he title of “Boomsday” refers to the point at which this generation becomes eligible for Social Security — and ready to demolish the federal budget. So the book invents a prophetic heroine named Cassandra Devine who sounds a rallying cry to her fellow 20-somethings. Stop paying taxes, she urges, and create financial incentives for boomers to commit suicide. To his credit Mr. Buckley knows that this plan goes far enough. It’s much funnier to watch how these ideas are mauled by the legislative and electoral processes than to keep on one-upping them with wilder demands. "My Fellow Boomers, Time to Transition" New York Times