Old People

But if they don't keep you in Menudo after age 16, I don't know why we can't ease these people out of outrageously-important decision-making positions at an age before they qualify for the fucking Denny's 3:30 blue-plate grand slam (stool softener a lá carté.)

I've wondered before HERE about why we're so okay with our Supreme Court justices being older than dirt, and I've also thought the same about Congress HERE.  Turns out that all across the land, federal judges are hearing cases even though they're older than fuck:

About 12 percent of the nation's 1,200 sitting federal district and circuit judges are 80 years or older, according to a 2010 survey conducted by ProPublica. Eleven federal judges over the age of 90 are hearing cases—compared with four just 20 years ago. (One judge, a Kansan appointed by President John F. Kennedy, is over 100.) The share of octogenarians and nonagenarians on the federal bench has doubled in the past 20 years...But judges of advanced years are clearly at increased risk for trouble with memory and cognition. According to the Alzheimer's Association, about 13 percent of Americans over 65 have Alzheimer's and nearly half of those 85 and older develop it or suffer from dementia.

Appointed by Kennedy?!?!?!


Senility, dementia. In a girlfriend, sure, but a federal judge? How comforting!