http://www.democraticunderground.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Fri, 24 May 2013 13:19:49 Fri, 24 May 2013 13:19:49 Forget about President Obama right now. He's managing his own campaign just fine and has a nice pile of cash to do it with. Instead, have a look at the process in your own districts for nominating candidates for Congress and state legislatures. Have a middle-of-the-roader in office? Want a progressi... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/220 Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:44:51 The time for taking sides is almost upon us. The time for tearing down the man who will run as President for the Democratic party is over soon. I maintain that we must begin to work together, instead of working against each other, starting on January 1, 2012, and continue that work until November.
... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/219 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:01:57 The Egyptian elections just finished have produced the results that everyone should have expected. The Islamic Brotherhood and an even more conservative Islamic party have taken about 60% of the seats in the election. What that means is that the Egyptian people have voted for Sharia law and a govern... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/218 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 10:34:18 are problems. They're forcing the media to discuss those problems. However, I'm concerned about one thing. From polls taken at Ocuppy sites, it appears that a sizable percentage of Occupiers did not vote in 2008 and are saying they don't plan to vote in 2012. If they do not, and if they encourage ot... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/217 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:21:09 Whether you're a veteran or not a veteran, you have no right to speak for veterans in any general way. Today, I've seen several posts about what to say to veterans. Some of those have been about not thanking them, for one reason or another. Some veterans object to being thanked for their service, bu... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/216 Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:47:24 It's election day in many places, and it's one of those elections that will doubtless disappoint me. What's on the ballot? Just two things: the city councilmember from my ward in Saint Paul, MN, and four school board seats. Two candidates for the city council and eight candidates for the four school... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/215 Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:57:37 Due to a lot of stressful financial matters, I forgot my father's birthday this year and forgot to send him a card. He turned 87 in late October. When I realized that I had forgotten, I gave him a call. His response to my apology was, "Well, when you get this old, you don't want too many reminders o... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/214 Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:47:44 In recent years, the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin have become better known than in times past. There is some evidence that suggests that the lack of adequate amounts of these two nutrients may play a role in age-related macular degeneration, a major cause of blindness in the elderly. Studies a... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/213 Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:36:16 There's nothing wrong with taking vitamin supplements if you need them. Nothing at all. The trouble is that the supplement industry is creating a demand for their supplements by people who don't need all the supplements they take. In most cases, the body just dumps the water soluble ones out in your... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/212 Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:51:17 On any Internet forum where there is a Health section, it's very common for people to ask for, receive, or post medical advice. It's usually done to try to help someone or to report on something that is a health concern from whomever posts. Most non-medical forums, however, don't allow such advice t... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/211 Sat, 15 Oct 2011 13:44:54 Lots of change is needed in the US these days. No question about it. President Obama ran in 2008 on a slogan that called for change. Yet, the changes haven't happened. Why? Is it President Obama's fault? Does the fault lie elsewhere? Every change has a pathway leading to it. If the pathway is impass... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/210 Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:26:54 than what prevails in the 21st century United States of America. That's been something I've believed for over 40 years. The big problem is finding a path from our current system to that better system. I've been thinking about that since 1965. I'm not smart enough to have figured out a path to it tha... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/209 Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:26:28 I just called them and told them not to send me any more catalogs. When asked the reason, I told them:

"On page 4 of the catalog I got in the mail today are two items that ridicule the President of The United States, and I can't support any company that does that. Ever."

The items, marked NEW!... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/208 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 20:14:15 In 1849, he wrote the essay "Civil Disobedience," which is a seminal document in the development of civil disobedience as a strategy for protests of all kinds. Gandhi and Dr. King were both influenced by this essay. It's short, so you can read in in one sitting. I highly recommend doing that, as a m... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/207 Sun, 02 Oct 2011 10:42:33 domain:

Birthday Song

It's your birthday, my dear.
So be of good cheer.
It's a common occurence,
And nothing to fear.


Sung to the same tune as Happy Birthday to You. Only the words of that song are protected by copyright. So sing away freely.... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/206 Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:16:58 I don't spend a lot of time in government offices. I rarely have occasion to go to them. On Tuesday, though, I had the need for a replacement Social Security card for a loan I'm applying for. It seems that the Homeland Security folks now insist that banks see an actual Social Security card these day... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/205 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:43:22 Back in the early 1960s, when I was in high school in a small California citrus farming community, we had some bullying problems. Mostly it was bullying of kids who were seen as geeks or nerds or somehow not up to the "standards" of some people. Kids who were gay or lesbian, of course, fit that cate... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/204 Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:13:33 Finally, people may serve in the military regardless of their sexual orientation. It has been a long time coming. DADT was supposed to prevent Gay and Lesbian military personnel from being harassed, charged and discharged from the military. It proved, instead to make matters worse. Now it's gone. An... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/203 Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:14:57 He was a B-17 pilot in WWII. His response: "I have never been to an air show or race. They are simply too dangerous and spectators should not be allowed at them. There are old pilots, and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots."

I must have gotten that philosophy genetically, because I hav... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/202 Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:20:46 [b]We Can Do It![/b]

This is my slogan for the 2012 election, which started last week, as far as I'm concerned. What can we do? We can get out and get people to turn out and vote for Democratic legislators, both at the federal and state levels. We can take back Congress and our state legislatures... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/201 Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:01:02 We always seem to be doing that, with pretty unremarkable results. And here we are, coming up on another important election year. I have an image of what I think an ideal outcome would be, but I know my ideal will never be met. Why? Because it's an ideal, and the political world is far from an ideal... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/200 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:40:17 My mother had a unique way of dealing with situations that were out of the ordinary. How she dealt with such situations taught us to react calmly to almost any unexpected situation and then to take an appropriate action. I grew up in a small California town in the 1950s

Completely unflappable, sh... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/199 Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:51:26 It's a great thing in this country, but with it comes another right: the right to disapprove of what people do. The Green Day guy who got kicked off the plane for wearing his pants too low made me think of that. I think he has the right to do that, but I also think the other passengers have the righ... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/198 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 14:31:23 After approximately 50 years, Earth humans abandoned their manned space exploration activities, for what appears to have been economic reasons. While they continued to launch robotic satellites and exploration vehicles, that ended as well when the number of satellites in close Earth orbit grew so la... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/197 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:09:14 If it goes up in flames or is destroyed in another way, it will not rise up again like the mythical bird. If the Republicans, particularly the Dominionist wing of that party, which informs the Tea Party movement and is represented by leading GOP Presidential candidates, win control of both the execu... http://journals.democraticunderground.com/MineralMan/196 Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:56:55