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 progressive? Now's the time to make that happen. If you aren't already involved in your local Democratic Party organization, you still have time to get involved. Make a difference!

In caucus states, caucusing on the precinct level is on the immediate horizon. Go to your precinct caucus. Become a caucus officer. Frankly, if you're willing, you'll probably become the chairperson. Become a delegate to your district convention and caucus there for a worthwhile candidate. Become a state convention delegate. Find out how to do that in your state and go for it. Then, you can work to select strong candidates.

In non-caucus states, get involved in your local Democratic Party organization. There is one right in your district or precinct. Be active. Be heard. Become a delegate to anything you can. Use your knowledge and dedication to make things happen. These are small organizations and you can make a difference.

Campaign during the primary period for the candidates of your choice. You'll be one of the few out there doing that, frankly. Contact the candidates of your choice and find out how you can help during the primary. I guarantee you'll be more than welcomed by the candidates. During the primary season, volunteers are scarce, and you can make a real difference.

Once the primaries are over, work to campaign in your own precinct for candidates you support or for Democratic candidates in general. Knock on doors. Talk to anyone who will listen. Get and distribute campaign literature. You'll meet interesting people in your own neighborhood and you'll be surprised what you learn from them and what you can help them to understand.

2012 is a crucial election year. If we can retake Congress and the state legislatures, we can begin to reclaim our government. Right now, legislatures have terrible public support. It's a prime year to replace poor legislators with people who will make a difference. We can do it, if we're willing. If we don't do it, we may find ourselves in states and a nation that is controlled by people who will further destroy our country.

This is not a demand on my part. It's just an encouragement for DUers who want to make a difference in 2012. It's more than worth doing, if you are willing to do it. If you're not, that's OK, too. But do, please, show up at the polls. Vote for candidates who support your views, even if they don't support everything you do. Their opponent supports none of your views. There is a difference.

You can make a difference if you want to. If you don't want to, then this post isn't directed at you at all.

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.

President Obama has not accomplished all we hoped for since 2009. He has accomplished some things we hoped for. As always, the world fails to reach perfection. It's all a slow movement towards a goal. President Obama has not been a perfect President. He has had a lot of obstacles before him. Some were insurmountable. Some of those can be overcome with the next Congress and the one after that.

If we work our asses off in 2012, and work together toward common goals, we can pull it off. If we do not, the alternative is far from our goals.

It's worth thinking about as 2011 winds down, I think.

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 government run on Islamic principles. Here in the US, we have a hard time understanding the dominance of Islam in the Middle East, so we're sometimes surprised when the people in countries there elect Islamists to run their country.

We shouldn't be. An extremely large majority of Egyptians are devout Muslims. It's not like the US, where no single religion with a unified culture is dominant. Christianity may be the majority religion here, but Christianity is splintered into thousands of denominations, and there is no central core of Christianity that represents the social views of a majority of Americans. That is not the case in Egypt or most other Islamic nations. Islam does not have the deep divisions that Christianity has. There are sects of Islam, but the disagreements between them are not as broad as with Christian denominations.

The Egyptian people demanded democratic elections. They got them, and voted for an Islamic government. We should not be surprised at that outcome. It was inevitable. We misunderstand the social structures in that part of the world, and we do so to our detriment. Our expectations that democratic elections will somehow end with an open, secular society in Middle Eastern countries are misplaced.

Egypt is what Egypt is. We should not expect drastic changes. The new government will not suddenly produce an open, secular society. That will simply not happen.

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 others to forego voting in 2012, they will disenfranchise themselves and potentially defeat their own purpose.

Elections aren't just about the Presidency. They are about all levels of legislation and governance. Skipping elections is not a strategy for success. It is voluntary disenfranchisement.

Occupiers need to vote. We all need to vote. In fact, we need to do more, by participating in the process by which candidates are chosen for the general election. That process is underway in some jurisdictions and will get underway soon in others. If we want good people in our government, we must work to get them there. Any other course is simply to allow what happens to happen. If we do not participate fully, we have only a tiny voice that will go unheard in the noise.

Please, everyone - do not disenfranchise yourselves. Rather, begin now to select candidates who will do what you want. It is the only way the changes we all need will take place.

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, but they are a minority of veterans. Some don't mind being thanked. Some go out of their way to make sure you know they are veterans. Others keep their service to themselves.

My father's a veteran. He was a B-17 pilot in WWII. If you thank him for his service, he'll just nod at you and smile. He thinks your thanks are irrelevant, unless you know him and his experiences. He served for his own reasons. I'm a veteran who saw no combat duty during the Vietnam war. My reasons for enlisting are complicated. If you thank me for my service, I'll thank you for your support, because I'm a polite person. Then I'll attempt to change the subject to something more current. I have a good friend who was a combat veteran during the same time period. Thank him and you'll get a stern lecture about the Vietnam War. Three veterans - three different responses.

It's up to you to say what you wish. If you're sincere about your gratitude for every veteran's service, then your thanks will be sincere and you'll not encounter many who will reject those thanks. If you're saying thanks just because you think its the thing to do, your thanks will be insincere, and that will also be recognized. The reaction will vary in sincerity, just as your thanks did. If you have something negative to say about military service, keep in mind that it's your opinion only, and may not be welcome to someone who spent time in the military. The response, in most cases, will be for the veteran you address to ignore your rudeness and move on.

In any case, please keep in mind that anyone who says they're speaking for veterans is not telling you the truth. Nobody speaks for veterans. They speak individually for themselves. Veterans each have a voice, and can speak for themselves. If you want to know what a particular veteran thinks, ask him or her. In most cases, they'll tell you. You're welcome to speak your mind, whether it's in thanks or criticism. Just know that the reaction will depend on your presentation and on the individual, unique experience of the veteran to whom you're talking.

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 board positions. Why will it be disappointing? Because if we get a 12% turnout, that will be about typical. Does the election matter? It does. The leader in the City Council race is a solid Democrat, and has the endorsement of the DFL party. The only opponent is a Green Party candidate, who will undoubtedly lose spectacularly. The School Board election is another thing altogether. There are several good candidates, and several really, really bad candidates. Right wingers who want to dismantle the Saint Paul school system are among the 8 candidates for the four seats.

So, who do you suppose is going to show up for this election? The normally good turnout in my ward won't be there. They know that the current city councilmember will win. The school board? Who cares? That's the attitude among many in my ward. What does it matter, really? So, who will turn out? The local evangelical churches are heavily engaged in turning out their members and supporters. There is a strong chance that the right-wing "Christian" candidates will win most of the four seats. They want the schools to fail. That is their goal. They may just win and get their wish.

There are far too many people who vote only when the most visible race has clear competitors. They'll show up to vote for the DFL-endorsed candidate for a race for the City Council, for example, but only if the race is contested. This year, it's not really in question, so a lot of people won't bother to show up at the polling place. A lot of other people will, though, and they may succeed in electing a slate of candidates whose goal it is to destroy the public schools in the city. Those schools are already struggling, largely due to the crappy economy and a state government run by Republicans that borrowed money from the schools to balance the state budget. It won't take much to tip them over the edge of the cliff.

Is there an election where you are? Will you show up to vote? Think about it. It may not seem to matter, but it probably does. It's worth finding out about those little races...the school board, and such things. Who's running? What do they want? Who should you support with your vote? Some will be elected, regardless of how many show up to vote. Will they be ones who support your goals? If you don't vote, you won't get to decide.

Please go vote in the little elections. They may be as important to you as the big ones. Don't let the right win them.

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 of it."

When I was born in July of 1945, my father was just 20 years old. He was a First Lieutenant in the USAAF, and piloted B-17s. He was based in North Africa, at Port Lyautey in Morocco at the time. I was conceived during a leave before he was sent overseas. He came into WWII fairly late, and first flew out of a base in Italy, the name of which I can't remember. He participated in a number of raids over Europe. As the war wound down, his B-17 was converted to passenger service, and as part of the Green Project, he and his crew ferried military personnel on their way home. Finally, three months after I was born, he got to fly that B-17 home to the US himself, a flight that took him down the coast of Africa, across the Atlantic to Brazil, and then hops northward until they got to the US. The B-17's range was somewhat limited, so it was quite a journey.

Once my dad and I got past the belated birthday greetings, we shifted the discussion to Iraq and Afghanistan, led there by some discussion of his time in Morocco. My father is nothing if not a very pragmatic man, one who seeks a reasonable path to things. His opinion about Iraq and Afghanistan is that the US should never have meddled in Middle Eastern affairs. A long-time Republican, he switched his vote in 2004, in protest to Bush's stupidity in going into a war that was irrelevant to anything. He's been voting for Democrats ever since, something that gives me even more respect for him, although I had tons of it in any case. What he said is correct. We screw up everything we touch in the Middle East, because we don't understand that region. We appear to want it to be something it will never be, and don't learn our lessons and the lessons of history.

I haven't seen him and my mom since Christmas of 2010, so I'm eagerly looking forward to our trip to California for Thanksgiving. Who knows how many more times I'll have a chance to sit around and swap stories with him? Both of my parents are in pretty good health, for being 87 years old. My father still runs the tractor around their little citrus and avocado farm, spraying weeds and doing other chores, although he's contracted out most of the work now.

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 are still ongoing to determine the exact role these nutrients have in preventing that disease, which is one of most common reasons for vision deterioration as we age.

Since both are natural parts of most people's diets, and are found in everything from egg yolks, corn, and many other vegetables, people who eat a balanced, healthy diet probably get all they need of these minor nutrients. However, not everyone eats a well-balanced diet that supplies adequate amounts. So, increasingly, ophthalmologists and other physicians are suggesting supplementing dietary intake of these nutrients to some of their patients, particularly those who show signs of early macular degeneration. To that end, the two nutrients have been added to many multi-vitamin supplements, and are available in other forms as well on the market, both at local drugstores and at vendors of nutrient supplements.

Studies are still going on, and optimal levels have not been set for these nutrients, but many physicians and ophthalmologists do make specific recommendations, often suggesting a product from Bausch and Lomb, a major manufacturer of optical products, including contact lenses. Similar amounts are available in a wide variety of supplement products, so consumers have a wide range of choices, if such supplementation is recommended by medical professionals.

To learn more about these two nutrients, you can visit the Wikipedia pages below, which also contain many links to additional sources. If you think such supplements could benefit you or they are recommended by a health care professional for you, the available products that contain them are many, and are available everywhere, including your local supermarket. In the articles, you'll also find which normal foods you may include in your diet are rich in these nutrients. The more you know, the less likely you are to be ripped off by marketing claims for expensive supplements that are identical with less expensive options. Get the facts from objective sources, then make your own choices, based on information rather than marketing claims.

Lutein - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutein
Zeaxanthin - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeaxanthin
Macular Degeneration - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macular_degen...

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 urine. The body knows how much of any particular nutrient it needs, and discards any oversupply. For the fat soluble ones, though, it's not so simple. Those are gotten rid of by the liver, but can be stored as well in body fat, where they sit and can be released under certain circumstances. Some nutrients, taken in excess, can cause serious illness. Vitamin A is one such nutrient. It can be downright toxic.

And then there are all the "natural" remedies sold by the same supplement suppliers. Many of those have real pharmaceutical qualities, and some have been used in real pharmaceutical medicines. It's entirely possible to take an overdose of many "Natural" "Herbal" and other nostrums that can lead to very serious side effects. It happens a lot, since people don't really know what they're taking and what actual effects the "remedies" have on their bodies. They can also interact with other medications and you won't get any warnings from the pharmacist about taking the wrong combinations of "Natural" "Herbal" medications. You won't find warnings on the sites that sell them, either. They don't want you to be frightened off from buying plenty. What you will see on those sites is this disclaimer:

"The statements regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information on this Web site or in emails is designed for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting your pediatrician or family doctor. Please consult a doctor with any questions or concerns you might have regarding your or your child’s condition."

That disclaimer is on every site that sells these remedies, usually in very small type at the bottom of the page. It's seldom read by site visitors. But, you'll find it or something very similar on every site that sells these supplements and other nostrums. Why? Because that disclaimer keeps the FDA from investigating them. That comes from a case that went to court decades ago. If they put that disclaimer in all their advertising, the FDA leaves them alone. They don't want too much scrutiny.

So, see your doctor. Ask about the supplements and "remedies" you're taking or thinking about taking. Most won't object. Most supplements are harmless, when taken in moderation. That's the advice you should be taking from that disclaimer on all of those sites.

Note: Personally, I take a multi-vitamin supplement, formulated for old farts like myself, and Vitamin D, based on my doctor's recommendation.

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 to be asked for or given. DU doesn't allow it, either. There's a good reason for that:

People with health concerns usually know their own symptoms. They're often worried and come to a familiar place to ask about those symptoms. Someone with similar symptoms might offer some sort of advice, perhaps some over-the-counter thing they took that made them feel better. Or, they may stumble on a thread that seems to be about their concern.

The problem is that a set of symptoms can fit a wide range of medical problems. For example, lower GI distress is a common issue for many people. The same symptoms, however, can be caused by a wide range of conditions, from benign and easily-corrected, to life-threatening and potentially deadly. Because of that, giving or taking advice regarding lower GI symptoms can easily lead to not getting a proper diagnosis from a medical professional. That could prove deadly, through failure to find out about something until it is too late to be taken care of. The same is true for many, many health issues.

Usually, a typical discussion forum won't have many medical professionals as members. If it does, the first thing any of them will do when they encounter a thread asking for advice is to recommend seeking medical attention from a professional in the field. They know that attempting to diagnose problems from internet posts is not only unwise, but represents a form of malpractice. Most advice offered on discussion forums is given by amateurs, not medical professionals. Either they had symptoms that were similar, know someone who did, or read something somewhere about something similar. Sometimes, the advice is based on faulty knowledge, poor memory, or on something else altogether. In all cases, however, it is given without knowledge of the actual condition that is causing the symptoms for any individual.

So, here's my advice: Don't take any medical advice from random Internet discussion forums. Don't give such advice, no matter how good your motives may be. The only medical advice that makes any sense on a non-medical discussion forum is the advice to seek professional advice from a healthcare professional. Any other advice could be worthless or even dangerous.

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 impassable, the change doesn't happen. Here are a just a few of the things that need to be changed and the problems with the pathways leading to them:

Single Payer Healthcare - This one never had a chance. There was never nearly enough support in Congress for Single Payer Healthcare. There still isn't. So, we got a weak sister HCR bill passed, which doesn't fully come into effect until 2014. Congress could repeal the whole thing, if we're not careful. The pathway to Single Payer Healthcare is blocked by rubble in the Congress that got elected. The way to clear that blockage is clear.

Universal Marriage Equality - A few states have made this happen, but that's far from universal marriage equality. The pathway to this is blocked by barricades set up by Congress on a federal level and by state legislatures on a local level. The first path towards it is the repeal of DOMA. That's in the works and has broad support from the public and the President, but may not succeed in this Congress. The way to remove the barricades is clear.

Break up Big Banking & Wall Street - YES! However, Congressional action is the first step, and that pathway is completely out of commission and there's no sign of construction crews coming to make repairs.

Nationalize Industries - At the present time, no pathway exists leading to this change. The fundamentals of our system of government prevent that change from happening. A Constitutional Amendment, at the very least would be needed, and that doesn't even appear on the horizon. Eminent Domain won't work in this change.

Create Jobs - This is desperately needed. As with almost everything, though, it requires Congressional Action, and Congress is standing around the pathway looking in a hole and leaning on shovels. Nobody's working in the hole.

And on and on it goes. We need change, but the pathways are blocked. It seems to me like we'd better get busy on the 2012 election and regain control of Congress, which seems to be the primary player in blocking the paths to change.

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 that doesn't involve millions of people dying in some sort of revolution or starving to death.

I've read the writings of every socialist thinker from Marx and Engels onward to today. It hasn't helped to find a path to a socialistic society in this country.

I know all the slogans, and they're good ones, too. But how do the people get control of the means of production and keep production and the jobs it creates going? Every socialistic slogan, no matter how correct it is or how right it is, stops with the slogan. Rise up! Take Control! Power to the People! None of the slogans are very informative, however, of how we do those things. I know how it was done in the Soviet Union and China. I know how it was imposed on many other countries. I also see places like Sweden and Norway, which seem to have found some sort of balance. But, how do we do it here?

If all those who hope for some such solution would begin to construct a framework for the passage from this system to a new one - a framework that does not mean that millions die, then that would be a terrific thing. I'm an old man, now, and my health isn't that great. I'm not going to see any such new system. But, trust me: Slogans are not plans. Slogans do not create anything. They are just slogans. What's the plan, folks? How do we get from the capitalistic oligarchy that seems to be the state of this union and move toward something more equitable?

That's what's needed. A plan. A series of steps that takes us there. Broad steps, not details. Do this, then this, followed by this and this, which leads to this and this... Steps. There's no instant solution. There cannot be. Anyone who has read any Russian history that begins with the Revolution of 1917 knows that what happened after that is not an ideal situation. That experiment ended in failure anyhow, and sooner than anyone would have thought.

So, let's see some discussion of real world planning. I think that would be an excellent thing. I'd like to see a beginning before I die.

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! are an bounce-back punching bag with President Obama on it, in boxing shorts. The copy for the item begins: "Bop! Bop! Take out your frustrations with all the big issues, healthcare, unemployment, ...

The second item is a Barack Obama 2012 Countdown Calender. On the calendar are monthly photos of the President looking stupid. On the cover of the calendar, it says, "Yes! The End is Near! The Out of Office Countown. 2012 through the well-deserved end! (January 20, 2013}"

That's it for me. I've purchased a few items over the years from this catalog. I won't be doing it again.

BTW, their customer service phone number is: 1-800-232-0963. The company's website is www.lighterside.com .

If you wish, you can view the items at: http://www.lighterside.com/p2p/search/sear...
There are additional offensive items on that page.

I suggest a boycott of this company by all DUers. Let them know what you think, too.

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 means of understanding why the 700 arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge are the very best thing that could happen. Here's a link to a well-annotated copy of the essay:

http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html

Edit to correct the date. Stupid me. I had him writing the essay after WWII. Uff da!

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.