Florida partiers need a place to stay and a place to drink

There’s a lot criticism being heaped on gen Z-ers partying on the beaches in Florida.  Fine.  They are self-centered azzbags.  But the people offering them hotel rooms are probably not gen Z-ers.  Nor are the bar owners. Nor are the parents footing the bill for this foolishness. 

So sure lambaste the gen Z partiers, but also lambaste their boomer enablers.   

Today’s JG Rant
It’s hard to figure who is more foolish and simple-minded, Mar 22, 2020 Golden Pen awardee Chester Baran or an entire editorial staff who would examine his foolishness and decide to heap great praise on such a weak effort with an award.  Well, we are in the era where we no longer keep score and give all the boys a trophy regardless of effort or merit.

All we’ve done for today’s youth in the last 20 plus years is to hand them the longest life expectancy in history; the cleanest air and water we’ve achieved in two generations; technological advances that literally makes nearly all of the world’s knowledge available at their fingertips with few key strokes.

While our humanity has forced us to remain engaged in seemingly endless wars that we refuse to win, no one, young or old, as in in past generations, is sent to fight those wars against their will.  The effect on the home front of those wars is nearly invisible except for the loved ones of those who choose to volunteer to fight them.

Now compare those American heroes to the pampered whining class that participates in and watches the waste of humanity that makes up much of what appears on the Grammys or the dysfunctional hypocrites warning of the dangers of climate change.   

When Baran himself accepts the blame for gen Z’s shortcomings, that’s fine.  It is in large part probably his and people like him who are to blame.  Baran is a lefty liberal and most of today’s problems can be traced directly to failed lefty lib social policies and ideas.  What’s ridiculous is Baran’s inane effort to turn the blame for a generation’s weaknesses on a guy who has been president for just three short years.       

Sunday, March 22, 2020 1:00 am

Golden Pen: February

Is it any wonder youth are so angry?

Music, song and dance are traditional cultural means to express celebration, reverence and protest. Each generation makes use of these arts to make a distinctive statement about themselves and their times.

With that in mind, I tuned in to this year's Grammys to see what the younger generation feels about their present. I watched about 45 minutes of what I considered glaring costumes, frenzied dancing and intense lyrics that were at once angry and desperate. I didn't know what to think. I spent a restless night trying to make sense of the spectacle.

In the morning I took account of the world I took a part in creating for our children. Twenty years and counting of continuous war with enemies of our own making; the West Coast on fire in early autumn and a continent on fire now and the response from the White House is to insult the youthful spokesperson demanding action to avert climate catastrophe; a president who not only lies but lies again to deny his lie; serial school shootings which evoke 'thoughts and prayers” but nothing else from a Congress with no principles; a community of faith whose only moral concern is its fixation on repealing the legality of reproductive rights; disguised racism in the form of mass incarceration and police brutality; all of which constitute an abandonment of our children for them to face unprepared and alone an existential crisis not of their making.

Hmm, would they be satisfied with a growing economy with “good-paying” jobs? That seems all we can think of to offer them.

About the author

Chester Baran of Fort Wayne has been selected as February's Golden Pen Award winner. In the judgment of the editors, his Feb. 10 letter was the month's most effective.

Baran, a retired steel worker, has been a consistent letter writer in the five years since he and his wife of 52 years, Marianne, moved to Fort Wayne from northwest Indiana's Lake County. They are the parents of two children who live in Texas and Missouri; they have two grandchildren.

A Vietnam War veteran, Baran spent four years in the U.S. Navy. He has volunteered in elementary schools and with the Literacy Alliance. He lists tennis among his hobbies.

Of his letter-writing hobby, Baran said: “I take an active interest in American life. ... I try to stimulate discussion ... and hope maybe to give someone else a thought.”

Baran received a gold-plated inscribed pen for his efforts. The Golden Pen Award was established to express our appreciation for the contributions of our letter writers to the editorial page.