WSJ: Where Have The Good Men Gone?

[Oh, Gee!!]

Doubtful.

she's just kvetching is all

[greyforest]

What of those that actually agree with the spending? Are they too being exploited?

Yes, but without their understanding.

Do you agree with sending $12,000,000,000 to Iraq on pallets instead of building schools?

The data you supplied was inconclusive outside of saying, look, we spend money on stuff.

The data I supplied shows that our tax money is not being spent on us, but instead is being squandered on foreign wars and Wall Street banks.

Tax money is unarguably not being spent on us because our local school districts are having to borrow billions of dollars just to perform at a mediocre level. Anecdotally, about half of my K-12 education was not in buildings, but in trailers called portables. Nearly all of my history teachers in HS were athletic coaches.

The educational data itself is quite flawed. I don't want to completely shoot the wheels off this thread, so we'll save that for another.

We are well past derailed.

What specific bits about

http://www.window.state.tx.us/comptr...and/wws0512ed/

or

http://bond.nisd.net/

do you believe are flawed?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

This is a clear attempt by yet another baby boomer attempting to denigrate their descendants and deflect attention away from the utter ing failure that is their generation.

They took power following the peace, love and happiness of the sixties and seventies and quickly turned the US into a culture of debt, greed and instant gratification.

Yes, many kids are socially awkward with the new forms of communication and personal isolation that you see common today.

That does not mitigate that this country is not going to be a better place until that generation as a whole dies off and leaves the power structure.

If you are under the age of 50 you have every right to be livid and the legacy that is being left by s like her.

Oh and as an aside, she attributed the marital 'problems' on poor black people.

Its rich white people that are the ing problem.

[CosmicCowboy]

This is a clear attempt by yet another baby boomer attempting to denigrate their descendants and deflect attention away from the utter ing failure that is their generation.

They took power following the peace, love and happiness of the sixties and seventies and quickly turned the US into a culture of debt, greed and instant gratification.

Yes, many kids are socially awkward with the new forms of communication and personal isolation that you see common today.

That does not mitigate that this country is not going to be a better place until that generation as a whole dies off and leaves the power structure.

If you are under the age of 50 you have every right to be livid and the legacy that is being left by s like her.

Oh and as an aside, she attributed the marital 'problems' on poor black people.

Its rich white people that are the ing problem.

[phxspurfan]

This is a clear attempt by yet another baby boomer attempting to denigrate their descendants and deflect attention away from the utter ing failure that is their generation.

They took power following the peace, love and happiness of the sixties and seventies and quickly turned the US into a culture of debt, greed and instant gratification.

Yes, many kids are socially awkward with the new forms of communication and personal isolation that you see common today.

That does not mitigate that this country is not going to be a better place until that generation as a whole dies off and leaves the power structure.

If you are under the age of 50 you have every right to be livid and the legacy that is being left by s like her.

Oh and as an aside, she attributed the marital 'problems' on poor black people.

Its rich white people that are the ing problem.

I'm glad I came back to this thread, so I could just read this post. gg

[FuzzyLumpkins]

If I made you laugh or want to post 'you mad?' pics then thats all good but I am quite earnest about this.

This is the exact same type of that I heard 20 years ago from exactly the same group of people.

What I do not hear about is the colossal failure that they have been.

There are about 310 million people in the US. Of those about 240 million can vote. Of those about 80 million are aged 47 to 67. Thats a third of the electorate.

The population has grown so this percentage over the last thirty years has been more.

i think that if you would look at cons uents of various legislative, judicial and executive bodies both private and public you would see an even greater percentages. I think its more than half.

For example there are only 29 people under the age of 40 in the 112th Congress out of over 500 members.

I do not know about you but personally I feel that the two party system under this cons utional framework is fundamentally broken. I also feel that given an economic reality of resource scarcity and a culture of far reaching, instant and impersonal communication that its going to get worse.

Its the twilight of the idols.

We do not have to leave for things to change. We just need for them to die.

The next twenty years are going to see an immense change in who is going to be in the power structure on every level.

We need to do a better job.

[DarrinS]

This is a clear attempt by yet another baby boomer attempting to denigrate their descendants and deflect attention away from the utter ing failure that is their generation.

They took power following the peace, love and happiness of the sixties and seventies and quickly turned the US into a culture of debt, greed and instant gratification.

Yes, many kids are socially awkward with the new forms of communication and personal isolation that you see common today.

That does not mitigate that this country is not going to be a better place until that generation as a whole dies off and leaves the power structure.

If you are under the age of 50 you have every right to be livid and the legacy that is being left by s like her.

Oh and as an aside, she attributed the marital 'problems' on poor black people.

Its rich white people that are the ing problem.

Wow, you really reinforce the arguments of the op ed with this epic tantrum.

[Marcus Bryant]

True, they lived well off their inheritance. Would any other generation have done differently?

[CosmicCowboy]

At least we moved out ASAP and got jobs and houses. He probably still lives with his parents.

[greyforest]

At least we moved out ASAP and got jobs and houses. He probably still lives with his parents.

Because it's just as easy for his generation as it was for yours, and they have had the same exact opportunities and economy.

[ploto]

I am fine with just about everything you said except this:

...some people want to do only whats necessary to exist in this life and thats completely fine. If that means working a job that barely hits 40 hours but pays the bills, I would say most people are content with that.

You seem to be saying that someone who only wants to work 40 hours per week is only doing what is necessary to exist in life and ignoring the fact that many people have other obligations beside their job. They may be doing far more than the minimum to exist just not all of it for you.

What if you had a great employee whose ill parent needed to move in with him and he needed to work fewer hours?

[Marcus Bryant]

My personal contentedness, or making reference to it, is false consciousness or some pious crap like that?

Is it necessarily a sign of a pure soul to be discontented? Or of a corrupt one to feel contentment from time to time?

The true believer must never admit any satisfaction with the status quo.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Wow, you really reinforce the arguments of the op ed with this epic tantrum.

Thanks milquetoast.

Its more like you need to pay the attention.

This type of piece is nothing uncommon from the baby boomers. If that had kids, it was long ago.

I first became aware of this type of generational smear campaign twenty years ago with all the questions surrounding generation x and their approach to life. My sister was in college around that time.

Ten years later and I am got the same .

Ten more years and its the same yet again.

All of this is an implication towards responsibility which in turn implies authority.

Thing is its from the same source.

The last ten years have been them at their zenith.

The proof is in the pudding though.

The embarrassment of American industry. A lack of a scientific iden y or inspiration. An economy not based on production or consumption but instead the transaction.

There is even historical precedent in the generation following world war 1 and the collapse that followed.

Things are not very good right now and awkward 20 year olds that a 60 year old woman does not understand are not the problem.

True, they lived well off their inheritance. Would any other generation have done differently?

So sayeth the man who sells the family home only to lose it to dice.

Who amongst them are great?

Bill Gates, leader of industry? Donald Trump, illusion of industry?

This is a generation who sends men off to wars without heros. When Norman Schwarzkopf is the best you have thats all you need to know.

Scientists characterized by innovation but with very little insight.

Religious authorities defined by hate and pedophilia. Its been a long time since Billy Graham, Mr. Hagee.

-----------------------------------------

To everyone else who may fit that demographic and that I have offended. I am sorry. I do not know you and in no way can know your character but as a whole, your peers are terrible.

[DarrinS]

Thanks milquetoast.

Its more like you need to pay the attention.

This type of piece is nothing uncommon from the baby boomers. If that had kids, it was long ago.

I first became aware of this type of generational smear campaign twenty years ago with all the questions surrounding generation x and their approach to life. My sister was in college around that time.

Ten years later and I am got the same .

Ten more years and its the same yet again.

All of this is an implication towards responsibility which in turn implies authority.

Thing is its from the same source.

The last ten years have been them at their zenith.

The proof is in the pudding though.

The embarrassment of American industry. A lack of a scientific iden y or inspiration. An economy not based on production or consumption but instead the transaction.

There is even historical precedent in the generation following world war 1 and the collapse that followed.

Things are not very good right now and awkward 20 year olds that a 60 year old woman does not understand are not the problem.

This rant was brought to you by Dave & Busters and Xbox.

[greyforest]

If the economy collapses, it would be the boomer's fault. They are in charge.

There would be anarchy.

The 20-year olds don't do anything but play murder simulating videogames.



Don't collapse our country baby boomers! Think it through!

[FuzzyLumpkins]

This rant was brought to you by Dave & Busters and Xbox.

Cannot argue a single point and resort to tripe like this.

You sit in front of a computer most every day trolling on computer message boards and you want to throw like that out there.

Nice.

[Capt Bringdown]

Baby boomers dropping acid to open the doors of perception


vs

Babies throwing acid

Zhanna Smsarian, 16, leaves Brooklyn Criminal Court after her arraignment for allegedly throwing acid on her classmate during chemistry class.

Your choice.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Baby boomers dropping acid to open the doors of perception


vs

Babies throwing acid

Zhanna Smsarian, 16, leaves Brooklyn Criminal Court after her arraignment for allegedly throwing acid on her classmate during chemistry class.

Your choice.

Baby boomers killing people, ing them and eating their flesh. Not necessarily in that order.



Oh and Timothy Leary the man who wrote The Doors of Perception was born in 1920.

You may have followed him but he was not one of you.

[Capt Bringdown]

Oh and Timothy Leary the man who wrote The Doors of Perception was born in 1920.

Oh, and Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) wrote The Doors of Perception, not Timothy Leary.

Oh, and famous musical tripsters such as Roky Erikson, John Lennon etc, certainly are baby boomers.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Oh, and Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) wrote The Doors of Perception, not Timothy Leary.

Oh, and famous musical tripsters such as Roky Erikson, John Lennon etc, certainly are baby boomers.

Which furthers the point. He was a man of the 19th century. Timothy Leary who was the figurehead in the tune in, turn, drop out acid eating binge in SF in the early 1960s that you are referring to was not of that generation.

I should have known better about Huxley though. Brave New World is one of my favorite books of fiction.

I will give you Lennon but it is my contention that the baby boomer's squandering of the momentum of the 1960s and early 70s is the tragedy of the twentieth century.

Lennon was not an american.

You killed Lennon, turned Elvis into a mockery, dismantled the technical progress of Kennedy, trashed the legal progress of both Roosevelts.

even Pink Floyd dissolved in a battle over power, prestige and money in the the early 1980s. Just as the baby boomers were coming into their own.

I have little doubt that Lennon would not approve of the actions of his peers. His idealism sits in stark contrast to the cynicism of the generation that holds growing older as an excuse to let go of your ideals.

[z0sa]

Supposedly Pink Floyd's accountants were making bad investments. The band took an unofficial vacation from England, and their debt, to write The Wall and pay things off.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Supposedly Pink Floyd's accountants were making bad investments. The band took an unofficial vacation from England, and their debt, to write The Wall and pay things off.

I have read a lot about how much infighting there was over credit and the like.

Gilmour and Watters could never just settle on a Lennon/McCartney.

Credit implies ownership and Watters seems like he was a real jackass. He wanted it all.

Its actually a pretty good allegory.

[greyforest]

Its somewhat mutually beneficial in that as the employer I know the morale of my crew is always high and dedicated. Expense-wise, it costs me more to do it this way but I would never consider the alternative. It may be a better for the bottom line, but then you'll have higher turnover, more scrap, less dedication and oodles of time dedicated to training and re-training.

Ah, so you're saying it wouldn't cost more expense-wise to handle the higher turnover, more scrap, less dedication, and oodles of time dedicated to training and retraining.