Scathing new video mocks boomer drug war hawks

Does your politician suffer from Chronic Re-Election Paranoia (CREEP)? Do you think our nation has an Incarcerex dependence? Tell your elected officials to give up the quick fix and create a new bottom line for the war on drugs. "Incarcerex" Drug Policy Alliance This is the real "civil rights legacy" of the boomers...

They'll buy anything: status-hungry boomers seek cutting edge lawn mowers

Just before Memorial Day, Rod Reams ditched his clunky old lawn mower. His new ride: a ZTR, or zero-turning-radius mower, which can spin around in place and cut a four-foot swath of grass at up to eight miles an hour.Reams, of west suburban Batavia, likes the way his John Deere Z445 cuts cleanly and trims his chore time to two hours from four. He likes something else, too: "One of my neighbors uses a smaller lawn tractor, and he looks at mine with admiration," Reams says "Big Honkin' Lawn Mowers Are Latest Status Symbol" Chicago Tribune

Boomer tyranny: prison population at "all time high"

The slammer is getting slammed -- with an increase in inmates. The nation's inmate population is at an all-time high, and has seen its largest year-to-year increase in six years, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report. The findings, examining the time frame from July 2005 to June 2006, totaled up more than 2.2 million people incarcerated in the nation's federal and state prisons and local jails. That includes an increase of 62,037, or 2.8 percent, compared with numbers available in 2005. In other words, one out of every 133 U.S. residents is behind bars. "US Prison Population At All Time High" ABC News

It takes a village...to create a child-free boomer beach

Pails, shovels and the kids who tote them no longer will be allowed in a kid-free zone that opened this summer on the public beach in Lake Forest. "We're creating a quieter space for those adults that are in search of that type of atmosphere," said Sally Swarthout, program manager for the north suburban city's Parks & Recreation Board, which created the 21-and-older beach at the request of several residents. About a quarter of the city's nearly mile-long beach is now for adults only. Baby Boomer Cindy Janke called it a welcome oasis. "Adults Draw Line In The Sand" Chicago Tribune

LTE: 'disgusted by boomers'

I am a 62-year-old baby boomer who is disgusted and repulsed by my generation. We went from having the greatest generation to the worst overnight. We have lived our lives as self-indulgent spoiled brats. Nothing is sacred or worth fighting for if it interferes with our lifestyle or pleasure. "A Baby Boomer Disgusted By Boomers" Arizona Republic

Boomers lag behind children, elders in charitable giving

Why don't affluent Baby Boomers give more money away? We ask this question not to guilt-trip, as Boomer slang would put it, but because solving some urgent social problems hangs on the answer. People between 51 and 64 donate less than three-fourths of one percent of their investment assets, on average -- significantly less than those either younger or older than them, according to New Tithing's analysis of 2003 IRS data. These numbers gall us because we're Baby Boomers ourselves. We'd like to believe that as a generation, we are living up to our '60s ideals. How could we lag behind both the Gen-Xers and the WWII "Greatest Generation"? "Why Don’t Affluent Baby Boomers Give More Money Away?" Alternet HT: The Worst Generation Ever