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.

Joshua McKenty, whom I met at the Gnomedex conference in Seattle last summer, has written a remarkable post titled How-To Change Your Life: 11 Steps to Carbon Neutral. It is based on his father’s four directives for “taking responsibility for who you are, and how you behave. The obvious corollary was learning how to change.” It’s thoughtful, doable and brilliant. Don’t miss it.

Mary Jamison sent a link this week to a story in The Christian Science Monitor with advice about resumes for “the over-50 crowd.” I haven’t covered this topic for a long time, but CSM is handing out the same old, patronizing stuff that can be found on dozens of employment websites. It’s always about how elder job seekers must jump through hoops to overcome the admitted prejudice against them from corporations and young interviewers. Will mainstream media and job advisors ever suggest that employers follow the law?

There was a powerful story in The New York Times this week from health reporter Jane Brody titled Graceful Exit making a case for choosing to die when life is never going to get any better. Calling it “assisted suicide” is, for me, too clinical for such a personal and momentous decision, and Brody’s piece is worth every word.

That bane of all airline travelers, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has launched a blog titled Evolution of Security that, in just a week of operation, has taking on all complaints – and they are many. To their credit, they are cheerfully acknowledging mistakes, offering solutions and clearly explaining their policies. You too can complain or leave suggestions on the blog. (Hat tip to Cop Car who used to blog at Cop Car’s Beat.)

While experts argue whether the U.S. is yet in an “official” recession, everyone knows we are in serious economic trouble and the national debt has reached more than $9 trillion dollars. A large portion of that is due to the money squandered on an unnecessary war on which the Bush government spends $720 million per day. Here’s a little video from the American Friends Service Committee about what good that money might otherwise have done for us. (1:46 minutes)

Quote of the Week:

“The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.”

- Gore Vidal