Free Republic

We need you in America’s workforce. Some of our aging baby boomers may be delaying their retirement because of current economic conditions, but eventually they’ll step away. In fact, we expect 40 percent of the U.S. workforce to retire over the next five years. What kind of workers will replace them? Where will the U.S. stand in the global economy if we don’t have skilled and knowledgeable people to take their place?

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- When Paula Symons joined the U.S. workforce in 1972, typewriters in her office clacked nonstop, people answered the telephones and the hot new technology revolutionizing communication was the fax machine. Symons, fresh out of college, entered this brave new world thinking she'd do pretty much what her parents' generation did: Work for just one or two companies over about 45 years before bidding farewell to co-workers at a retirement party and heading off into her sunset years with a pension.

Talkin’ about my generation”: the Who song once expressed the hope and self confidence of the Baby Boomers as they reached biological if not emotional maturity. It was an attack on the older generation, a defense of the young, but it includes an ominous refrain: “Hope I die before I get old.” Already, perhaps, the shadow of generational failure hung over the twenty something Boomers. Those shadows have darkened considerably as the Boomer sun moves past the meridian and an unmistakable air of twilight infiltrates into the declining hours of the long Boomer day. Talking about our generation is not...

In record-setting numbers, young adults struggling to find work are shunning long-distance moves to live with Mom and Dad, delaying marriage and buying fewer homes, often raising kids out of wedlock. They suffer from the highest unemployment since World War II and risk living in poverty more than others — nearly 1 in 5. ... really high levels of underemployment and unemployment will haunt young people for at least another decade

During the recent GOP presidential debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that Social Security is a "monstrous lie" and a "Ponzi scheme." More and more people are coming to see that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, but is it a lie, as well? Let's look at it. Here's what the 1936 government pamphlet on Social Security said: "After the first 3 years — that is to say, beginning in 1940 — you will pay, and your employer will pay, 1.5 cents for each dollar you earn, up to $3,000 a year. ... Beginning in 1943, you will pay 2...

Israel’s Boomers On the Rise By Joe Buff — Defense Tech Undersea Warfare Contributor The State of Israel has long followed what early nuclear war-fighting theorist Henry Kissinger called a policy of nuclear ambiguity. Israel, officially, neither confirms nor denies possessing any nuclear arms, although many defense analysts, politicians, and diplomats the world over have long considered Israel an undeclared nuclear power. To have nukes for strategic deterrence would make sense for such a small nation surrounded by enemies. These enemies don’t just include today’s dangerously volatile nuclear aspirant Iran but also Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War (he...

A 4-year-old boy who was fatally shot while fishing with his father in northeastern Indiana was struck in the head by an errant bullet, a sheriff and a family friend said. Wells County Sheriff Monte Fisher told The Associated Press on Sunday that Jacob Michuda was shot in the head late Friday night while he and his father were fishing from a pier at a pond outside Ossian, a rural community about 15 miles south of Fort Wayne. Trisha Ulmer told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne for a Sunday story that the boy's mother told her the boy was...

Baby Boomers Will Upgrade U.S. Sub Fleet Mar 2, 2011 By Michael Fabey With its ballistic-missile submarine replacement program anchored by milestone authority and a fiscal 2012 request for about $1.1 billion in R&D funding, the U.S. Navy is set to develop and build SSBN(X) boats without sinking the rest of its shipbuilding plan. While it is apparent the Navy plans to use the Virginia-class attack submarine program as a template for the SSBN(X), there is uncertainty about whether the new boomers will resemble a modified Virginia, improved version of the current SSBN model or a hybrid of both. What...

The Clayton County police officer who shot and killed a family's pet did not violate any laws or department policy, an internal investigation concluded. In December, a golden retriever started barking and running toward an officer on foot patrol. The officer ordered the dog to stop, and when it didn't, he shot and killed the animal in its front yard, police said. The King family, of Jonesboro, said "Boomer" was contained by an electric fence and barked when people approached. Boomer had never bitten anyone, Lawrene King, a mother of six, previously told the AJC.

Well, it’s happening. About a month before Defense Secretary Robert Gates unveiled his budget plans that emphasizes strategic weapons, the Pentagon gave the Navy the green light to start developing technology for a 21st century fleet of ballistic missile subs. The service received the go ahead, called Milestone A approval, after the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer Ashton Carter and the Defense Acquisition Board approved the project on Dec. 9. Now, the Navy can figure out exactly what it wants the new class to do in terms of operational requirements and determine what technology will be needed to meet those requirements....

Russian strategic sub recalled for inspection MOSCOW | Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:03am IST MOSCOW (Reuters) - One of Russia's premier nuclear submarines, slated to carry its next generation of strategic missiles, has been called back from sea trials, possibly delaying deployment, a top weapons designer said on Monday. The Yuri Dolgoruky, Russia's first Borei-class submarine, was designed to carry the nuclear-capable Bulava intercontinental missiles, which the Kremlin hopes to make the cornerstone of its arsenal over the next decade. "Right now the cruiser is returning to the shop. I think the work will last half a year," Yuri Solomonov,...

An Allegheny County judge denied a Green Tree man's petition to change his name to Boomer the Dog, saying it would cause confusion and have unintended consequences, possibly "putting the public welfare at risk." Gary Guy Mathews -- a 44-year-old fan of the "furry" lifestyle, which celebrates giving human characteristics to animals -- made the case to change his name in a hearing before Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald W. Folino on Tuesday. The judge issued a page-and-half denial late Wednesday afternoon.....

My generation could well be the first generation in American history to leave our country worse off than we found it. I am a member of the baby boomer generation. The generation that came of age in the late sixties during the turbulent times of Woodstock, Watergate and Vietnam. The generation that is now holding the reins of power in most American institutions, from politics to media, to education and culture. The generation that will likely be responsible for squandering America's hard won freedoms and changing America into a third world country, all in the name of 'equality' and 'social...

Guiness Book Record Breakers Boomer from North Dakota is now the world's biggest dog.Boomer, a 180-pound Landseer Newfoundland dog, stands with owner Caryn Weber at her home south of Casselton, N.D. The dog measures seven feet from nose to tail and stands 36 inches tall at the shoulders. Weber will send his measurements to Guinness World Records for consideration as the tallest living dog. The previous record holder was a Great Dane that died this summer. He measured just over 42 inches at the shoulders.

- Boomer may be a buster: Measuring 3 feet tall at the shoulders and 7 feet long from nose to destructive wagging tail, his owner thinks she may have the world's tallest living dog.

A loss of confidence has resulted in the temporary reassignment of a submarine's commanding officer at Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, Navy officials announced in a written statement on Monday. Although there were no major incidents reported after Capt. Charles Hill's first patrol as the commanding officer of the USS West Virginia, he was temporarily reassigned to the office of Submarine Squadron 20. According to the written statement by the Submarine Group 10 public affairs office, Hill was relieved from his position as commanding officer due to a loss of confidence relating to the command environment aboard the USS West...

An ugly, unrecognizable recession Most of us haven't seen an economic decline like this one before, and as the slowdown gets slower, few will be unaffected. Are you ready for the 'frugal future'? [Related content: stocks, investments, recession, consumer goods, Jon Markman] By Jon Markman MSN Money Feeling frugal? You're not alone -- not by a long shot -- as butchers, bakers and billionaires alike are feeling the credit crisis this month in a way not experienced since at least 1946 or even 1938. It's not just a temporary wave of Scrooginess that's to blame for a retail-sales drop of...

While the Right blogosphere is hailing and the Left blogosphere is snarking at Senator McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Palin (See the round up at Instapundit), every observer I have seen so far has missed a real point. The Republicans have no Baby Boomers on their Presidential ticket. This also remarkable because neither major American political party picked Presidential front runners who are Baby Boom Southern White Males after 15 years of such men being President.(snip)Gov. Palin is the first of the Generation X demographic cohort to be selected for Federal Executive Office. She will not be the last. What...

At Wichita State recently, a college debate coach dropped his trousers after a foul-mouthed argument with the opposing coach in a debating tournament. YouTube shows it for the world to see.  Coach William Shanahan, who sports a caveman beard reaching below his belt, said later that, yes, his reasoning might seem "convoluted," but his trouser-dropping act was intended a sign of respect for the opposing coach.  ""Obviously it got out of control, but to be honest I thought I was in a safe house," Shanahan said. "I thought I was part of a community that handled its problems internally and...

A generational struggle is underway. What's so unusual is it's taking place within a single generation [Obama] represents a new generation of leadership, even though technically he's part of the same generation as Hillary, the baby boomers. Here's where it gets a bit complicated. This tussle pits an Early Boomer vs. a Late Boomer, and the two cohorts have little in common... In the case of boomers—those born between 1946 and 1964—the whole frame is wrong. It's based on birthrates, not common cultural and political affinities... Worse, the Early Boomer sensibility gets all the attention. Five decades of newsmagazine boomer...