This Week in Elder News: 23 February 2008

In this regular Saturday feature you will find links to news items from the preceding week related to elders and aging, along with whatever else catches my fancy that I think you might like to know. Suggestions are welcome with, however, no promises of publication.

I realize I’m about ten days behind on this, but in case you are too - did you see this Google Valentine’s Day logo? Nice. (Hat tip Nancy Belle at eChronicles)

As we reported last Tuesday, stimulus package rebates are not taxable next year on your 2008 federal tax return. Apparently, that is not necessarily so for your 2008 state tax returns. On Friday, New York and Pennsylvania governments announced the rebates will not be taxed. For those of you in any of the other 48 states, you’ll need to check with your local tax department.

Columnist Ellen Goodman has written a fascinating piece on how eating in the U.S. has been transformed into “a science rather than an art. How did food become conflated with medicine?" she asks. "We now have shelves full of boxes with bragging rights promising better eating through chemistry. Meanwhile, our uncertainty is growing as quickly as our waistlines.” More here.

Senior Journal reports that several cell phone providers, including Verizon and AT&T have introduced new, cheaper plans for elders who don’t use their phones as much or for as many services as younger people. Maybe you can find a less expensive plan.

We recently discussed the phenomenon of time seeming to speed up as we get older. Thirty-year-old, Grammy-winning blues artist and songwriter, John Mayer, has already felt the poignancy of it in regard his parents’ getting older in this video of his tune, Stop This Train. (4:44 minutes)

The ageist attacks on Republican presidential candidate John McCain continue apace. This past week, Wonkette reached for new depths of bigotry starting with, “The only person surprised by John McCain’s win in Wisconsin tonight is apparently John McCain himself, who was rudely awakened from his daily 19-hour nap…”

Quote of the Week:

“How to get people to vote against their interests and to really think against their interests is very clever. It’s the cleverest ruling class that I have ever come across in history. It’s been 200 years at it. It’s superb.”

- Gore Vidal

Comments

[zuleme]

With cell phones I think the best deal is for families to add in a couple of phones for their elders. We did that and have four phones for 120.00 a month. And plenty of hours. So those elder plans aren't really such a bargain.

[Darlene]

I love Gore Vidal's quote. Sadly, he has it just right.

[Katie]

Like John Mayer, I am also 30 and this song hit home. My parents are in their sixties and I constantly wonder about how lonely the world will be when they are gone. I wish we could 'stop this train.'

[Jen]

Thanks for the helpful info. As for time speeding up...When my brother was 5 or 6 he noticed this phenomenon as it applied to himself. He mention it to my father who agreed. My brother look at my father , who was all of 34 at the time and said "Wow it must be whizzing by for you" Out of the mouths of babes.

[joni]

I solved the problem of expensive monthly cell phone bills by just getting a phone with a prepaid program--you buy a card for as many minutes as you want. I seldom use one and don't need all the bells and whistles, but need it for emergencies.

[Cowtown Pattie]

Thanks for sharing the John Mayer video. Excellent song, though it does make me a bit melancholy.

[Sheila Halet]

Ronni - you just seem to know how to get me to open up your link. The song touched a nerve...eyes filled up with tears remembering the dear parents no longer here.
As for the phone - trac phone works for me - for $ 100 a year I can make loads of calls but the ones I want to call are in heaven and I don't think there is cell phone service there. But maybe....

[Mizmell]

Thanks for the John Mayer link. That piece is exceptional.