As baby boomers, we have been spoiled all of our lives. When we were teenagers, the world took note because there were so many of us. Our music, our beliefs, our fashions, our styles dominated the culture of the age. When we took to the streets to protest the war in Vietnam and to support the Civil Rights Movement, we found a ready audience. Television came into its own and we splattered ourselves and our causes across the living rooms of America.

With the recent shakeups in the presidential cabinet, it has frequently been observed that the quality most treasured in the present administration is that of loyalty. Is that such an admirable quality?

All the indicators show an improving economy and, finally, the start of job growth. More than eight million unemployed workers see hope around the corner and re-enter the nightmare of job search with increased enthusiasm and the positive outlook they lost six months ago when they virtually gave up on ever finding a good position. What do they find?

One of my favourite pieces of music is the Sex Pistols' classic 'Holidays in the Sun' - a song that begins with the line, 'a cheap holiday in other people's misery'. This would have made a fitting epitaph for my holiday in Israel, except that the $3000 air ticket meant that it wasn't exactly cheap.

I watch the TV news and I get angry. I really need to quit that. It's not good for my blood pressure. However, there are certain things that always get me going no matter how hard I try to ignore them. They get me hot under the collar and I guess they always will. I feel a need to vent right now, so I'll discuss seven of them below. (Hey, that's a nice round biblical number).

One of Abraham Lincoln's claims to fame is the fact that he is best known for abolishing slavery. While he may have felt some personal satisfaction from liberating the Negroes from their bondage, Economy was the main reason why he made his emancipation proclamation. He wanted all of America to move into the Yankee version of capitalism. Over half a decade later, and after a series of civil rights "victories", the roots of Affirmative Action were laid into law.

Hello! Happy new year. May you live a long healthy life and prosper. According to a study by US dept. of Health & Human Services, 96% of Americans never achieve financial independence. They end up depending on charity, welfare, family, or are forced to keep working past their retirement age.

30 years ago, California, later followed by other states, decided to virtually close down the State Mental Hospitals.