Dear Mr. Warren,
What makes you think we ever come to terms with life? If your hypothesis was more about gaining insight and wisdom, I would be inclined to agree.
Funkin',
Tim

Elder Suicide: A Needless Tragedy

Older adult suicide is often triggered by elders’ loss of control over health conditions or financial circumstances that results in feelings of hopelessness.
By the time older adults enter their seventh decade of life, their thoughts inevitably turn to life assessments. What achievements or accomplishments have marked life’s journey to this point? What opportunities does life present over the upcoming decades? Has life fulfilled expectations? Are there goals still to be attained?

At the threshold of older adulthood, thoughts often turn to satisfaction in the past and confidence— emotionally, financially, and socially—in the life events yet to unfold. Unfortunately, for some older adults, such satisfaction and confidence are elusive or nonexistent. And in the face of hopelessness in the prospects for a satisfying future, some older adults choose to end their lives prematurely.

In 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available, there were 5,404 suicides in the United States among those aged 65 and older, according to the American Association of Suicidology. That figure translates into nearly 15 elder suicides per day, or one suicide every hour and 37 minutes. Although in 2005 older adults comprised only 12.4% of the population, they represented 16.6% of all suicides.

Unjust GOP budget and tax plan cuts the safety net for seniors

Tomorrow the House will vote on its 2018 budget resolution. Leadership says it has the votes to pass. That’s unfortunate, as it signifies that a majority of House Republicans favor a Robin Hood-in-reverse budget that cuts programs for the poor and elderly to give tax cuts to the rich. I delivered that message on Capitol Hill Tuesday with Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), Ranking member of the House Budget Committee, committee member Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Texas), and fellow advocates.
Congressman Yarmuth pointed out that a budget is a “moral document.” As such, the GOP resolution spectacularly fails the morality test. “The Republican budget and tax plan does not reflect the values of American people,” said Rep. Yarmuth.

Rep. Lee indicted the GOP budget as “doing little for ordinary Americans” and “inflicting harm on children, seniors, and people with disabilities,” in other words, the most vulnerable members of our society.

One has to wonder why, at a time of the worst wealth and income inequality since the 1920s, the party in power wants to shower the top 1 percent and profitable corporations with tax breaks — paid for by slashing safety net programs.
The Republican budget would gouge $1 trillion from Medicaid, more than 60 percent of which pays for long-term care for seniors who have already impoverished themselves to qualify. The budget resolution imposes per capita caps or block grants on Medicaid that won’t grow with the needs of the population, including emergencies like hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico.

I have a theory about men and aging. It is rather simplistic. Basically, there are two types of men, the men that mellow with age, and the crotchety old cranks that are pissy and mean. The old crank type, spreads misery, trying to drag the rest of us down. You can usually spot them by appearance.

Thanks for the tax break! And funk you!

It seems to me that these fellows legalized corruption and then dove into the deep end.

Five years after Citizens United ruling, big money reigns

If you're wondering why issues favored by a majority of Americans such as raising the minimum wage, gun control and net neutrality get scarcely any attention in the halls of Congress, the Citizens United case is the reason.
The Supreme Court's 2010 decision in the infamous campaign finance case marked its fifth anniversary last week. By taking the reins off big-money electoral donations by corporations and labor unions, Citizens United has unmistakably broadened the political influence of the wealthy and powerful.
But the ruling's pernicious effect goes well beyond merely inviting more money into politics. It has opened the way to a debasement of our politics by narrowing the definition of political corruption that can be fought by campaign finance limits.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last year termed Citizens United the worst of the current court's rulings. "The notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be," she told Jeffrey Rosen of the New Republic.
This is an even more frightening prospect — as the voices of the powerful (and rich) overwhelm those of average Americans.
The sheer torrent of dollars shouldn't be overlooked, however. Outside spending of the sort facilitated by Citizens United — money spent not by the candidates themselves, but formally unaffiliated groups — has "exploded" during the three federal election cycles since the ruling, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center at New York University.

On Senate elections alone, outside spending more than doubled from 2010 through 2014, to $486 million. In some competitive races, outside expenditures accounted for as much as two-thirds of the total. Small donors don't play a role: In most cases, fewer than 1% of all contributions are $200 or less. The average contributions are in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The most shocking finding is that spending by so-called Super PACs — organizations whose contribution limits have been eviscerated by Supreme Court rulings — has reached $1 billion since Citizens United. Worse, more than $600 million of that total has come from just 195 donors and their spouses. That's why Georgetown University law professor David Cole recently labeled Citizens United the Supreme Court's "billion-dollar mistake."

"Those 195 individuals have only one vote each," he wrote, "but does anyone believe that their combined expenditure of over $600 million does not give them disproportionate influence on the politicians they have supported?... This is a game played by, and for, the wealthy."

We are being governed by a criminal enterprise fueled by graft!

I am out of pocket, getting older, and squeezing some joy from life.

Today, I am on the short bus with six twenty somethings, my sister and brother in law. It is one of the twenty somethings birthdays and we are headed out, so I doubt I will make it here to wise off.

Have a great New Year! The thread is OPEN.