The holidays came early this year

Joared at Along the Way gave me the perfect gift today. She heard me. And she told other people that she liked what she heard. Joared gifted me with an absolutely amazing review in her blog, and at the same time, introduced me to some other truly wonderful, thoughtful, creative, world-changing people who are quietly blogging about things that matter to all of us, from the local to the global.

And elderbloggers rule! We've been there, tried that, given up, tried it another way, failed, succeeded, and learned from it. Now we want to share. Not only with other people our age, but with anyone who recognizes that we have something to share.

I invite you to visit the blogs joared recommended--you'll see what I mean.

Thank you, joared, this is an exquisitely thoughtful gift. I am humbled, and gratified.

S 1959--say goodbye to Grandma and freedom

How many of you know about S 1959? Have you heard anything via the MSM? I haven't. I first ran across it on Time Goes By, and figured I'd better do a little investigating.

If this bill goes through, you are liable to find your blogging grandmother in a federal pen at some unknown location, or worse, in a black hole in some country the US keeps on retainer to hide their most egregious human rights violations.

Again, this is not a Chicken Little post. The further I read, the lower my jaw dropped. This is the one, folks, this is the bill that will excise the First Amendment cleaner than laser surgery. The last door slamming on what used to be a free, democratic society.

This is the most audacious, stunning attempt yet in the witch-hunt to rid the US of any healthy, intelligent, fundamentally democratic debate. Not satisfied with simply lying, the administration is attempting to block our right to peacefully dissent by criminalizing free speech.

I urge you to read the bill for yourself. If it scares you as much as it does me, then educate everyone you know. Write your leaders, your churches/synagogues/mosques, your local and national media. Ask THEM if they've heard about S 1959. If they haven't, be afraid, be end-of-life-as-we-know-it afraid.

Want to know who the most courageous, patriotic Americans are in this country today? Elderbloggers who are trying their best to get the word out. Koko kisses to you all :)

Christmas is killing the planet

This is my own conclusion after viewing "The Story of Stuff," by Annie Leonard--produced by Free Range Studios, who brought us "The Meatrix." Not that I have anything against the real Christmas. What terrifies the stuffing out of me is that we don't need to worry about terrorists as much as we do our own capitalistic society. Mass consumerism is devastating the planet to a much greater extent, and more quickly than all the so-called terrorist countries put together. Mass consumerism will get us faster than global warming, and I've seen enough change in my lifetime to notice.

It's us. We are gobbling up resources to the point that we are teetering on serious shortages. This is compounded by all the toxins that go into "stuff" gludging up the world. Toxic air, water, food, you get the idea.

I am not an alarmist. I've never uttered the phrase "The sky is falling" in my entire life. I am intelligent. I do read about and research controversial issues. So far, I've been able to sift the garbage from the truth, and never have trusted main-stream media as my own personal savior.

And spare me the "we need consumerism to support jobs, keep the economy strong" argument. That is utterly untrue and one of the three biggest piles of horse shit ever dumped on mankind (the other two being "We have to fight them over there to protect us over here," and "Don't worry, honey, I'll pull out in time.") I am living in a house built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's. This program, under the Works Progress Administration created boodles of jobs, used local, natural materials with little or no extra chemicals, and were built so solidly they'll be standing for at least another hundred years or more. Many of our state parks were built and maintained by the CCC, and they're doing just fine. We could reduce our unemployment ranks to nothing by putting folks to work in alternative energy projects, sustainability projects, so many more intelligent, humane, healthy, SUCCESSful projects.

Annie Leonard is funny. Yep, you read that right. She's warm, and informed, and sings it out clear as a bell.

If you've not yet watched it, open another tab, copy and paste that url, sit back, learn, and enjoy! Here it is again: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120907E.shtml. Annie said it was OK to spread it around, so do it :)

The sublimation of Ronni Bennett

Ronni Bennett is retiring "Time Goes By," her ground-breaking, nationally known blog on what it's really like to get older. Authentic, warm, humorous, and intelligent, Ronni led the way for many bloggers over fifty, and was generous in sharing her knowledge and wisdom about the way things are for many of us as we age. She even shared her blog space, inviting elder bloggers to guest from time to time.

She crafted thoughtful memes for her readers and blogosphere to encourage them to engage with each other. In one, readers were to choose and visit a blog from her prodigious elder blog roll that was new to us, and report in the comments to that post.

Ronni created and will continue to maintain "The Elder Story Place," encouraging folks to write the stories in their lives, offering a space to record memories, or special wisdom we received from our elders.

Ronnie researched and wrote about global and personal issues on aging. You can count on Ronni to be rigorous and timely on the latest information. She did not flinch from the truth. She did not sugar-coat getting old. She did find and share vital facts, figures, comings and goings, inconsistencies, legislation, the whole nine yards, on the latest, expert reports about age, aging, and how the US treats its aging population.

She issued a call to arms to learn about and vigorously resist the insidious S.B. 1959.

Oh, frabjous day! Ronni has reconsidered! That doesn't change this post a whit. I am relieved that she is still with us on this journey into elderhood.