The Republicans and the Bush Administration are repeating a successful tactic by once again creating a climate of fear. The formula is simple, scare the living daylights out of the citizenry, then position Bush as the hero. This time it's Social Security.

Here, in Bush's own words, is the setup:

"You realize that the system of ours is going to be short Ö the difference between obligations and money coming in Ö by about $11 trillion unless we act."

But according to ABC News, "This is the biggest and one of the most controversial numbers the president has been using to make his case. First, some perspective on that number: $11 trillion is the size of the annual GDP of the U.S. economy! What the president is suggesting is that unless Congress acts now, Americans will have to make up a shortfall equal to the entire U.S. economy. It's unlikely this shortfall will ever occur. It's an estimate of the gap between promised benefits and revenues to pay for them if the government does nothing between now and the end of time.

Did you get that last sentence? "... through the END OF TIME." Frankly, I don't expect to be around for this measurement of infinity as it applies to Social Security, so I'll just guess that this is the biggest lie the administration has told to date and suggest that for the truth you look elsewhere.

Start by reading the full story at ABC News

Originally published 12-16-04
The popular image of baby boomers is of white, suburban kids who grew up watching "The Mickey Mouse Club" and protested the Vietnam War, not the children who came of age during the Reagan era.

But a new study by two Duke University sociologists, released as the last of the boomers is turning 40, shows the Baby Boom as a diverse group of people whose experiences differ not only from those of previous generations, but also from each other.

Called "The Lives and Times of the Baby Boomers," this study takes a look at the generation born between 1946 and 1964 as they enter middle age...
Read the complete text of the original article here.

UPDATE: 1-26-05 Kim Campbell of the Christian Science Monitor wrote an article about this new study.

For nearly 10 years now, I've answered every e-mail that asked "what are the Boomer years?" I actually got so annoyed with the question, I put the answer in the masthead.

Now it's my turn. What years comprise the Generation X (Gen-X)?

Finally, what characteristics are common to the generation? Inquiring Boomer minds want to know.

Are we getting more conservative as we get older? Will I start turning up my nose at radical music, radical lifestyles, radical politics, and alternative mindsets just because I'm getting old? Yes, according to this well-written opinion piece in the Asheville Citizen-Times.

When I was a little girl, I thought I'd magically become a grown-up one day and I would know when that day came because I'd wake up and suddenly prefer my parents' music to my own. Ok--I sort of do prefer their music these days---but 'their' music was jazz and classical, while mine at that time ran to The Monkees and Paul Revere & The Raiders. But, for godsake--please don't tell me I'll wake up on yet some other future day and wish I'd voted for George Bush!

A new report has come out examining the Baby Boomer generation and our ability to have a major impact on society and policy as we age. According to an article in The Mature Market , (doncha hate that name?), the report, released by the Harvard School of Public Health-MetLife Foundation Initiative on Retirement and Civic Engagement, looks at the our generation in terms of our interest in volunteerism and shaping public policy, as well as examining the way we handle our later years. Read a copy of the report here.

Our childhood heros or laughingstocks---those we remember and those we can only try to forget. We get a bit nostalgic with the new year and so a new occasional and randomly arbitrary series wondering where are they now?

Wavy Gravy
I was thinking about Woodstock the other day so naturally my thoughts
turned to Wavy Gravy, the master of ceremonies at the real Woodstock and founding member of the Hog Farm. During the sixties, he made activism fun. Still alive (now 68), still active, still a reminder that sometimes more can be achieved from manic pranksterism than from sober PC politicking.

Wavy and other Hog Farm members have founded a non-profit organizaion, SEVA, whose mission statement reads
"Seva is a donor-supported non-profit foundation
building partnerships to respond to locally defined problems
with culturally sustainable solutions throughout the world."

He is also the founder of Camp Winnarainbow, a circus camp for kids and adults, located in Northern California at the still alive-and-well Hog Farm.

This is an open topic. Feel free to rant or wax poetic by adding a comment . Remember this is a Baby Boomer site, so please keep it on target... like, "I Hate you *&%*%* Baby Boomers!"

Also, be assured that we won't laugh and point(well we may), but anything that borders on tasteless or racist will be silently removed.