Newspaper Page Text
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♦ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2005
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OPINION
Daniel F. Evans
Editor and Publisher
Julie B. Evans
Vice President
Rex Gambill Foy S. Evans
Managing Editor Editor Emeritus
First baby boomer to turn 60
on Jan. 1; watch out
By SEAN MUSSENDEN
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON - As
if we haven’t spent quite
enough time obsessing over
all things baby boomer, now
comes Jan. 1, 2006. On this
day, the oldest sliver of the
“me” generation turns 60,
a milestone that will spark
endless reflection on the
boomers’ legacy.
Revolutionized corpo
rate America. Transformed
Hollywood. Changing
Washington.
Enough already.
When I think of boomers,
pretty much the only thing
I reflect on is my wallet. As
in: how quickly the boomers
will drain it dry.
The boomers are getting
dangerously close to retire
ment age. They will begin
drawing on Social Security
in a few years. In a little
more than a decade, there
won’t be enough members of
my generation - I’m smack
between X and Y - pay
ing into the system to sup
port all the retired boomers
taking money out. Future
generations are looking at
higher taxes or smaller ben
efits than promised.
By now, this problem
should be obvious to every
one. President Bush visited
29 states last year to sound
the alarm about Social
Security’s problems. And
still his campaign to intro
duce private accounts to the
system failed miserably.
His critics accused him of
overdramatizing the impact
of the baby-boomer retire
ment wave, calling it a
scare tactic to sell private
accounts.
His critics were wrong.
Bush actually undersold the
burden retired boomers will
place on younger genera
tions.
That’s because he didn’t
make Medicare’s problems
a serious part of the conver
sation.
Haven’t heard much about
Medicare’s rapidly approach
ing financial woes? That’s
because few in Washington
are talking about it.
The reality is that the
boomer retirement wave will
cause just as many problems
for the massive senior health
program as it will for Social
Security, and for basically
the same reasons. In both
The New York limes (Idiotarian newspaper of record) vs. America
2005 was a banner year
for the nation’s Idiotarian
newspaper of record, The
New York Times.
What’s “Idiotarian”?
Popular warblogger Charles
Johnson of Little Green
Footballs (littlegreenfoot
balls.com) and Pajamas
Media (pajamasmedia.com)
coined the useful term to
describe stubborn blame-
America ideologues hope
lessly stuck in a pre-9/11
mindset. The Times cru
saded tirelessly this year
for the cut-and-run, troop
undermining, Bush-bash
ing, reality-denying cause.
Let’s review:
On July 6, Army reserve
officer Phillip Carter
authored a freelance op-ed
for the Times calling on
President Bush to promote
military recruitment efforts.
The next day, the paper was
forced to admit that one
of its editors had inserted
misleading language into
the piece against Carter’s
wishes. The “correction”:
“The Op-Ed page in some
cases, seniors will milk out
money faster than younger
workers can replenish it.
Medicare, though, has spe
cial challenges. Rising health
care costs and an expen
sive new prescription drug
benefit will make Medicare
even harder to pay for in the
future. Despite Bush’s focus
on Social Security, bureau
crats familiar with both
programs say Medicare’s
problems deserve the most
attention.
“We’re going to have to
restructure Social Security
and Medicare. And, frank
ly, Social Security will be a
lot easier than Medicare,”
David Walker, head of the
Government Accountability
Office, Congress’ investiga
tive arm, said at a presiden
tial forum on aging issues
last month. “If there’s one
thing that could bankrupt
America, it’s health care.
And it’s out of control.”
In their most recent
annual report on the health
of Social Security and
Medicare, the trustees that
oversee both programs had
this to say:
“Medicare’s financial out
look has deteriorated dra
matically over the past five
years and is now much worse
than Social Security’s.”
In 2017, Social Security
will start paying out every
year more than it takes in,
and by 2041, boomers will
drain all the money from
the “trust fund” surplus the
program has built up.
Sounds bad, right?
Medicare is worse. The cor
nerstone of the program,
Medicare Part A, which cov
ers hospital stays, already
pays out more than it takes
in. And its trust fund sur
plus likely will be exhausted
by 2020 - two decades before
Social Security’s trust fund
runs dry.
Unless these problems are
addressed - and the sooner
the better - the greatest
boomer legacy will be the
mountain of debt they leave
to their kids and grandkids.
(Thanks, Mom!)
Unfortunately, the pros
pect of a fix for either pro
gram seems unlikely any
time soon.
Seniors love Social
Security and Medicare and
get very nervous when poli
ticians talk about change.
See MUSSENDEN, page 7A
Michelle Malkin
Columnist
Creators Syndicate
copies yesterday carried an
incorrect version of an article
about military recruitment.
The writer, an Army reserve
officer, did not say, ‘lmagine
my surprise the other day
when I received orders to
report to Fort Campbell,
Ky., next Sunday,’ nor did
he characterize his recent
call-up to active duty as the
precursor to a ‘surprise tour
of Iraq. ’ That language was
added by an editor and was
to have been removed before
Apprehension, anticipation about new year
We’ll turn the calendar
tonight, bringing to a close
another year.
The evening will mean
different things to differ
ent people. There seems to
be something about turning
the calendar and welcom
ing a new year that inspires
many people to do some
unusual or odd things.
Some people believe a big
party, stimulated with alco
hol, is necessary. They like
to bring in the new year
with revelry and, in the
eyes of some, an adolescent
display of frivolity.
Some people go to church.
Some stay home and watch
the shows on television ush
ering in the New Year.
There are many ways to
observe the occasion. To
each his own.
I can’t recall when I
stayed up on New Year’s
Eve to see the new year
come in. I am not a party
person. So I go to bed at
my usual time and wake up
"Who needs a designated driver? ...I'll see you home!"
limes editorial
far from truth
Editor:
Your recent editorial criticizing the
New York Times is basically far from
the truth. President Richard M. Nixon
and Watergate and the publication
of the Pentagon Papers changed the
history of our nation for the better.
The recent scoop by the NYT on NSA
spying on our own citizens is the latest
probable unconstitutional act of this
the article was published.
Because of a production
error, it was not. The Times
regrets the error. ”
Carter told Times ombuds
man Byron Calame: “Those
were not words I would
have said. It left the impres
sion that I was conscripted”
when, in fact, Carter volun
teered for active duty.
Funny how the “produc
tion errors” of the Times’
truth doctors always put
the Bush administration
and the war in the worst
light.
Not content to meddle
with the words of a living
soldier, the Times published
a disgraceful distortion of a
fallen soldier’s last words
on Oct. 26. As reported in
this column and in the news
pages of the New York Post,
Times reporter James Dao
unapologetically abused
the late Corporal Jeffrey B.
Starr, whose letter to his
girlfriend in case of death
in Iraq was selectively edit
ed to convey a bogus sense
of “fatalism” for a massive
WjfpWL IPPI
Foy Evans
Columnist
foyevansl9@cox.net
the next morning and find
out that January came in
on time.
I prefer how I feel at that
time to the way the party
going celebrants feel.
Most of the media (news
papers, television and radio)
will have recapped the past
year for us ad nauseam. I
am able to do without these
recaps since I was there all
year long to see and hear
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
maniacal/monarchical presidency!
From tortures at Abu Ghraib,
Guantanamo, to secret CIA prisons all
over the world. To CEOs of oil com
panies secretly meeting in our Vice
President Cheney’s office, the list of
secretive wrongdoings is lengthy. A
poorly planned, manned, and execut
ed war in Iraq that Democratic Rep.
Jim Marshall now tells us could go
on for five to ten more years. And
our increasingly autocratic, stubborn,
president and his war with our liberal
media who keeps trying to tie 9/11 to
piece marking the anti-war
movement’s “2,000 dead in
Iraq” campaign. The Times
added insult to injury by
ignoring President Bush’s
tribute to Starr on Nov. 30
during his Naval Academy
speech defending the war
in Iraq.
After Starr died, Bush
said, “a letter was found on
his laptop computer. Here’s
what he wrote. He said, ‘[l]f
you’re reading this, then
I’ve died in Iraq. I don’t
regret going. Everybody
dies, but few get to do it for
something as important as
freedom. It may seem con
fusing why we’re in Iraq;
it’s not to me. I’m here help
ing these people so they can
live the way we live, not to
have to worry about tyrants
or vicious dictators. Others
have died for my freedom;
now this is my mark.’”
Stirring words deemed
unfit to print by the Times.
The Times did find
space to print the year’s
most insipid op-ed piece by
paranoid Harvard student
about these events first
hand.
So it will be out with
the old, in with the new,
regardless of how we wish
to observe the occasion.
I look forward to every
new year. There’s appre
hension and anticipation of
what lies ahead. At least
there is a feeling that, once
again, we are starting over
with a clean slate. It would
be nice if we were.
New year’s resolutions
are a matter of choice. I
never made resolutions,
because the odds are that I
would break them within a
short time.
How about resolving to
lose weight? I would like
to do that. But making a
resolution to do it is a sure
way to fail.
The same for most resolu
tions. It may make one feel
good to make them, but
I doubt that many people
expect to keep them.
I like to believe that I will
Fatina Abdrabboh, who
praised A 1 Gore for over
coming America’s allegedly
rampant anti-Muslim bias
by picking up her car keys,
which she dropped while
running on a gym tread
mill:
“ ... Mr. Gore’s act repre
sented all that I yearned for
acceptance and acknowl
edgment. ... 1 left the gym
with a renewed sense of spir
it, reassured that 1 belong to
America and that America
belongs to me. ”
I kid you not.
In June, Debra
Burlingame, sister
of Charles F. “Chic”
Burlingame 111, pilot of
downed American Airlines
Flight 77, blew the whistle
on plans by civil liberties
zealots to turn Ground Zero
in New York into a Blame
America monument. On
July 29, the Times edito
rial page, stocked with lib
erals who snort and stamp
whenever their patriotism
is questioned, slammed
Burlingame and her sup
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
be a better person next year
than I was during the past
12 months, but it will be a
long time before I am able
to pass judgment on that.
Whether we consider the
past year a good one or a
bad one is a matter of per
spective.
There are many ways
to decide. To some, hav
ing gained greater wealth
means the most. To some,
having survived serious ill
ness is reason enough to
consider it a good year. To
some, personal achieve
ments mark the year as
successful. It depends on
the individual and perspec
tive.
The fact that I have
reached this milestone in
reasonably good health,
have a loving family and
good friends fills me with
satisfaction that the past
year has been a good one.
I find it difficult to ask for
more when the calendar is
turned and we enter 2006.
Iraq and to patriotism is rightly facing
an increasingly, unhappy majority.
We now know that GWB has no
plan to extricate us from this unnec
essary and unwinnable war. Your
apparent advocacy of pseudo-patriotic,
Machiaevellianism versus constitu
tional methods of supporting anything
our president does is disappointing,
unrealistic, and will not fly for most
of us!
Frank W. Gadbois
Warner Robins
porters at Take Back the
Memorial as “un-American”
- for exercising their free
speech rights.
Yes, “un-American.” This
from a newspaper that
smeared female interroga
tors at Guantanamo Bay as
“sex workers,” sympatheti
cally portrayed military
deserters as “un-volun
teers,” apologized for terror
suspects and illegal aliens at
every turn, enabled the Bush
Derangement Syndrome
driven crusade of the lying
Joe Wilson, and recklessly
endangered national secu
rity by publishing illegally
obtained information about
classified counterterrorism
programs.
So, which side is The New
York Times on? Let 2005 go
down as the year the Gray
Lady wrapped herself per
manently in a White Flag.
Michelle Malkin is author
of the new book “Unhinged:
Exposing Liberals Gone
Wild.” Her e-mail address
is malkin@comcast.net.