Now it can be told: the 60's "sucked"

Geez, I'm getting worked up about it all over, which is not a good sign. Could I be becoming as obsessed with rampant boomerism as the rest of my generation, only from a negative rather than a fawningly positive standpoint? If so, I'd better leave it there, thought not without a final word of warning to any younger readers who might still be tempted to romanticize the 60s: don't. They sucked. Bad fashions, bad hair, smelly, obnoxious people rolling around in the mud and listening to music rendered palatable only by staggering doses of mind-distorting drugs, and constantly ranting like homeless derelicts about how they were going to save the world and abolish money and build spaceships to colonize new planets that would be just like Earth only better because, you know, everyone would be high and enlightened and love one another. "Boomer Bashing" LarryLivermore.com

Public mood darkens towards boomer Congress, President

The survey found only 35 percent approve of how Congress is handling its job, down 5 percentage points in a month. That gives lawmakers the same bleak approval rating as Bush, who has been mired at about that level since last fall, including his dip to a record low for the AP-Ipsos poll of 32 percent last January. "Poll: Congress, Bush Share Low Approval" ABC News

Reality bites: day of reckoning for the "Me Generation"

The Washington Post's economic columnist Bob Samuelson, a boomer himself, estimates that sustaining present benefit levels could require tax increases of 30 percent to 50 percent by 2030. Moreover, he expects boomers to be dissatisfied with present benefits and to lobby for more. He characterizes his generation as one of "careless self-absorption committing a political and economic crime against our children and perhaps -- when they awaken to their victimization -- even ourselves." "Today Is the Tomorrow Boomers Didn't Worry About Yesterday" Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Let the kids pay for it: boomer war waged on credit

Like all debts, however, the bill for Iraq and Afghanistan will eventually come due. While it is unlikely to cause economic upheaval, such as the devastating inflation that followed the Vietnam War, economists foresee substantial increases in government spending to rebuild the nation's exhausted armed forces, care for its disabled veterans and cover rising interest payments. Administration officials say those payments will be easier to afford because Bush's tax cuts strengthened the economy. But even many conservative economists are skeptical. Some worry that the bill for Iraq will come just as the baby-boomers start retiring, further straining a budget that will require deep cuts, higher taxes or bigger deficits. "Iraq War Bill Goes on America's Credit Card" Hamilton Spectator (Canada)

Don Imus vs. the "anti-boomers"?

America's recovery from its Fourth Turning crisis, which I discussed last week, will rely heavily on the energy and ideas of a rising younger generation. Because of this, it was with particular fascination that I read the details of Don Imus's 30-year career and his sudden and spectacular fall from public favor last month. The Imus story embodies something of extraordinary significance that (of course) went unnoticed by the mainstream media, which chose instead to focus on the issue of race. While race was no doubt significant, looming even larger is evidence of a profound generational shift in the making. The nascent contours of a new generation's ideals can be seen sprouting and taking root - ideals which could soon eclipse the current 'me-first' Boomer culture that has dominated America for the past 40+ years. "Millennial Generation 1, Imus 0" Gold Seek

Does Obama threaten boomer leadership?

But if Obama is correct and this really is his generation's moment, doesn't that mean that the moment is ending for the baby boomers — you know, the generation that said it would never get old, that it would never leave the stage, that it would redefine retirement, etc? Boomers must realize that if Obama is elected, it could make it less likely that one of them will ever again be elected president. From that point on, the question will be whether to elect a Democratic Generation X'er or a Republican Generation X'er. But either way, chances are that the candidates of the future will be of that generation. "Obama Presidency Would Spell End of Baby Boomer Leadership" Asbury Park Press (New Jersey)

No way out: why can't boomers accept aging?

What generations before us were spared is the relatively recent invention of middle age as a sustained mentality — one predicated on an awareness of its own growing remove from that elusive property known as hipness. Indeed, the enshrinement of hipness as a long-term attitude — the idea that first you’re cool and then you’re uncool and then you die — is probably the worst legacy of the culture of the 60s. The result, the evidence of which is all around us, is a collective failure to maintain our generational integrity. Our lives are characterized by a sophomoric vicariousness: we behave as though our children’s triumphs and disappointments were our own and, facilitated by an increasingly euphemistic attitude toward extinction (now coyly referred to as “passing”), as if our deaths belonged to someone else entirely. They are not, we hurry to reassure ourselves, “ominous and intimately” our own, as John Updike, that connoisseur of waning potential, observed in “Rabbit at Rest.” "Reinventing Middle Age" New York Times

A fool and his money: Grateful Dead auction brings in millions

SAN FRANCISCO During their heyday, the Grateful Dead promised in their folksy lyrics to "steal your face right off your head." Some Deadheads figuratively lost their shirts on Tuesday, when big bidders pushed up prices during an auction ofGrateful Dead memorabilia collected by the group's longtime road manager. The auction of Dead memorabilia in San Francisco brought in more than $1.1 million for items ranging from guitars to ticket stubs, suggesting that Deadheads have live wallets. "S.F. Grateful Dead Auction Brings In Over $1M" CBS5.com (San Francisco)

(Yet) another boomer messiah

Miranda said he is known as God in at least 30 countries. Local 6 reported that he was born in Puerto Rico and admits to being a recovering heroin addict. He also spent times in prison on drug and petty theft charges. Miranda is the founder of the Miami-based Growing in Grace Ministry. "Crowd Packs Amphitheater for Man Claiming He's Jesus Christ Reincarnated" Local6.com (Florida)

Boomers retirement likely to destroy Medicare, Social Security

Fewer benefits, more taxes and some accounting magic will buy an extra year of life for Social Security and Medicare, trustees of the government's two largest benefit programs said Monday. The oncoming crush of 78 million retiring baby boomers still will crash the Medicare trust fund by 2019 and the Social Security trust fund by 2041 unless Congress and the White House can agree on a way to save the programs, the officials said. "Retiring Boomers Will Crash Medicare and Social Security, Trustees Say" KOMOTV.com (Seattle)

Thus spake Kurzweil: boomer futurist seeks immortality

Note that by "forever" we mean "forever": The man literally intends not to die. With an acute memory of his father's early death, he's been getting weekly blood tests and intravenous treatments. He also takes pills - lots of pills, more than 200 vitamins, antioxidants, and other supplements every day. It's all part of his effort to "reprogram" his body chemistry and stop growing old. "I've slowed down aging to a crawl," he claims. "By most measures my biological age is about 40, and I have some hormone and nutrient levels of a person in his 30s." "The Smartest (Or The Nuttiest) Futurist On Earth" CNNMoney.com

Rolling Stone: 40 years too many

In any case, whatever authority Rolling Stone might have claimed as a musical tastemaker has long since been eclipsed by savvier sources, beginning with Spin and expanding to include British imports such as Mojo and Q, specialty publications like No Depression and, now, the cyber punditry of Pitchfork, PopMatters and the rest. No matter, Wenner and company have moved on to higher pursuits. "Over the past six years, Rolling Stone has been unrelenting in our opposition to, and coverage of, the Bush administration for its domestic and international lawlessness," claim the editors in a letter to the readership. Funny, I thought Rolling Stone spent the last six years engaged in a relentless pursuit of Britney Spears, leaving the heavy, investigative lifting to Seymour Hersh over at The New Yorker. "Recalling The Summer of Relevance" Toronto Star

In the UK: Hippie festival marred by spam attack

Anyone wanting tickets for this year's festival had to pre-register at the official website. Organisers had promised that no personal data would be shared and that all of it would be destroyed one month after the event. But, of the 400,000 who registered for the world's largest muddy, mooing music festival, many never got as far as See Tickets in the booking process to bag their spot because the system was hopelessly overstretched. A Glastonbury festival spokesman told us yesterday that an apology had been sent out to all those hit by Latitude's email, however he refused to comment further on how the personal data had ended up in the hands of Mean Fiddler. "Glastonbury Hippies Force-Fed Spam" The Register

Too lazy to rock: boomers perfect art of armchair headbanging

I don’t get it. Standing and stomping and moving to the beat are so much a part of what a rock concert is about. You go to live shows to feel free! Express yourself! Maybe even make a fool of yourself (okay, paunchy, balding guys doing air guitar in the crowd may not be pretty – or safe—but rock isn’t necessarily meant to be pretty – or safe). How can you let go if your hands are folded neatly in your lap? How can you let out a whoop whilst seated? At all three of these concerts, many of the audience members were in their 40s and 50s. Are we to surmise that the majority of middle-aged people simply can not stand for any length of time? I’d like to believe (I need to believe, as I’m a boomlet myself) that boomers are not yet so decrepit that standing for, let’s say, 20 minutes at a time is an extreme sport. "Vox Pop: Please Do Not Remain Seated" PopMatters