Tony's Blog

If you're a "mature" boomer, you know, born in one of those early baby boomer years (that's boomer code for turning 60 this year or just topping that distinction), and you'd like to strengthen your computer skills, you're in luck. Wayne County Community College District in Detroit is offering free computer training classes for people 60 and older, who are residents of the district's service area. Beginning Wednesday, April 15, call the college district to register at 313-496-2600.

Class locations:

Detroit Public Library - Parkman Branch
1766 Oakman
Detroit, MI 48238

Detroit Public Library - Douglas Branch
3666 Grand River
Detroit, MI 48208

Detroit Public Library - Bowen Branch
3648 W. Vernor
Detroit, MI 48216

Neighborhood Club
17150 Waterloo Street
Grosse Pointe, Michigan 48230

WCCCD Downriver Campus
21000 Northline Road
Taylor, MI 48180

WCCCD Downtown Campus
1001 West Fort Street
Detroit, MI 48226-3001

WCCCD Eastern Campus
5901 Conner
Detroit, MI 48213-3457

WCCCD Northwest Campus
8200 West Outer Drive
Detroit, MI 48219

WCCCD Western Campus
9555 Haggerty Road
Belleville, Michigan 48111-1404

WCCCD University Square
19305 Vernier Road
Harper Woods, MI 48225

With the nation's economy a real treat, with Americans losing their jobs, their homes, their dignity, what we really need right now is to mix in a little hate and class warfare. Let's do that. Let's mix it all up and see how it works out.

Oh, wait a minute. It's already begun. CNBC's Rick Santelli, who has nothing on Marie Antoinette, did his journalistic best this week to throw objectivity to the mob. Did you see this guy on CNBC? I mean, did you? If you don't know the definition of arrogant, if you're not quite clear on smug, well, look no further than the Rickster.

Santelli, who pandered to his Chicago Mercantile Exchange friends, describing them as typical, everyday Americans (I'm sure the typical American makes a living trading futures contracts on agricultural commodities), trashed Boomer Obama's $275 billion deficit-financed homeowner bailout plan.

There are a lot of hits in Santelli's tirade. How's this one?

"How about this president and new administration, why don't you put up  a website to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to  see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and  give them to people that might have a chance to actually prosper down the road and reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water," Santelli said.

Losers' mortgages? Did you get that? Yeah, that's what we need,  Rick. Didn't Americans throw out the angry, divisive, we versus them agenda, last November?

Here's White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, who must feel like he's back combating the "Obama pals around with terrorists" cabal.

"I...think that it's tremendously important that for people who rant on cable television to be responsible and understand what it  is they're talking about," Gibbs said. "I feel assured that Mr. Santelli doesn't know what he's talking about."

And this is fresh. Santelli thinks our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves, because it's clearly a bad, bad thing to help people in greatest need. Yep, I bet that "we the people" gang just doesn't know what to do with itself.

Hey Rick, I'm embarrassed to admit, we share one thing. We're both Italian, and by extension, we likely enjoy a good meal. But, I'll never invite you over for dinner. You don't even rate the cake.

Bob Herbert's column in the New York Times this morning makes it pretty clear. Although our nation's 76 million baby boomers are known collectively as the children of the feel good post World War II era, that's just about where the comparison ends, and the distinctions begin.

For example, let's take the individual cases of three boomers: our baby boomer president, and those of two baby boomer United States senators.

Herbert on Senator Lindsey Graham, (boomer birth date of July 9, 1955):

“This bill is stinking up the place,” said Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina who not only opposed the legislation but wanted to make sure that no one would mistake him for a class act.

Herbert on Senator Bob Corker, (boomer birth date August 24, 1952):

Even as the report of an agreement was being circulated, Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, was bad-mouthing the package on CNN. “This bill is a disaster,” he said.

Herbert on John McCain, a non-boomer, whose comments on the stimulus package served up a hanging curve ball for our boomer president:

Senator John McCain echoed many of his Republican colleagues on Friday when he indignantly asserted, “This is not a stimulus bill; it is a spending bill.”

It was an objection that had been addressed by an incredulous President Obama on Thursday night. “What do you think a stimulus is?” the president asked, his voice rising. Spending, he said — to laughter from his audience — “is the whole point.”

That ball is still in flight.

Who speaks for you?

Not sure what's in the stimulus bill? Take a look: The Stimulus Break Down

On Tuesday at 12 noon, Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States. Soon thereafter, George W. Bush will return to his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Both men, both baby boomers, are not only headed in different geographic directions, but as today's edition of the New York Times reports, different (actually, "differently" for the grammar-conscious) is how Americans rate both men.

As the nation prepares for a transfer of power and the inauguration of its 44th president, Mr. Obama’s stature with the American public stands in sharp contrast to that of President Bush.

Mr. Bush is leaving office with just 22 percent of Americans offering a favorable view of how he handled the eight years of his presidency, a record low, and firmly identified with the economic crisis Mr. Obama is inheriting. More than 80 percent of respondents said the nation was in worse shape today than it was five years ago.

By contrast, 79 percent were optimistic about the next four years under Mr. Obama, a level of good will for a new chief executive that exceeds that measured for any of the past five incoming presidents. And it cuts across party lines: 58 percent of the respondents who said they voted for Mr. Obama’s opponent in the general election, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said they were optimistic about the country in an Obama administration.

I'm a happy guy, today. Actually, I'm a happy guy pretty much everyday. It's just my nature. OK, I guess that means that today, I'm really happy.

Want to know why? Well, it wasn't until I hit my 30's that I became a vegetarian, and soon thereafter a vegan. Yes, it's got my Italian mother in church even more often than usual (and that's a lot) praying to be forgiven for her failure (an Italian and no veal!?) and praying especially for her son to come home, both figuratively and literally, I might add.

I have to laugh at the use of the word "became." I don't think I anymore became a vegetarian, than I became an entrepreneur --- it was always in there, it just took some time to come out.

Just as I left TV news to start my company in 1999, I left meat behind just a year later. My path was always leading me to this place. I just hadn't arrived, yet.

OK --- now that I've got you just straning to know why I'm feeling so good today, here goes. Today, 50PlusPrime.com is happy to welcome People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), to our online space for baby boomers.

PETA's commitment to animal rights will expand to Prime Living, our articles center about boomer lifestyles, resources and services. PETAPrime.org bloggers will be regular contributors to Prime Living, publishing articles on the interrelationship between the humane treatment of animals, healthy eating and a clean environment.

“We are very excited about our new partnership with 50PlusPrime.com. It will be a great way to share the compassionate, humane and healthy ideas we feature every day on PETAPrime.org with a new audience," said Karen Taggart, Manager of Fundraising Innovations at the PETA Foundation.

As for me, I not only support PETA's work on behalf of the millions of animals who are abused and slaughtered for human consumption each year, I place my corporation firmly behind promoting PETA's mission. I'm thrilled that PETA will be publishing its content on our site, to further sensitize boomers to the ties between our health, animal cruelty and global warming."

From PETA's website:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), with more than 2.0 million members and supporters, is the largest animal rights organization in the world. PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. It also works on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds and other "pests," and the abuse of backyard dogs.

PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.

PETA and 50PlusPrime.com --- it was always in there, it just took some time to come out.

Tony Fama, a former TV news anchor and investigative reporter, is president and founder of Maria Madeline Project, Inc., parent company of 50 Plus Prime TV and www.50plusprime.com, a social networking site for baby boomers. Tony can be reached at tony.fama@50plusprime.com.