HOLIDAY GIFTS

Check out the store in your local museum. Here in Silicon Valley we have The Tech, the Children's Discovery Museum and the San Jose and Stanford Art Museums. All have gift shops with gifts most people have NEVER seen before. The shops have doors separate from the museum so you do not have to pay to shop.

I especially like the wind up toys at The Tech. Good for kids over 6 - adults. For adults with good manners, there is almost always notepaper based on the art work.

Almost every museum has a shop with unusual presents. People get tired of the things they can get from stores.

Puzzles that are fairly hard can be gotten at a game store. Puzzles are good presents for older children as they will have fun showing the puzzle to their friends. The best puzzles are three dimensional. The ones that are little pin ball games can be taken to school.

Metaphysical stores can have crystals and other unusual items.

Ethnic stores are great for inexpensive gifts. I especially like San Francisco's Chinatown for fun toys. The silk boxes are inexpensive and useful. I am told the lipstick holder makes a great travel box for earrings.

A present does not need to be expensive. Sometimes something inexpensive that shows that you PAID ATTENTION to what the other person likes has more impact than an expensive present.

OCCUPY MOVEMENT AND VALLEY FORGE

The winter is coming and people are still camping in their cities to call attention to the economic decisions which further enrich the 1% as the 99% become poorer. You all know what I believe. I believe that letting the rich bully more than their fair share out of the economic pie is bad for both the rich and the poor.

My nightmare now is that a fire will rage through the OCCUPY tents, killing protesters. This is because the winter in the US is much colder than the winter in Tahrir Square. Occupy people are using space heaters to heat their tents. They are using open flame to cook their food. And their tents are so close to each other and the fires that it is frightening to think about.

Yes, the camping through the winter does bring up images of Washington's troops at Valley Forge. I guarantee you that Washington had strict standards regarding tent placement and fires. This is why the paintings always show the tents at least one tent space apart from each other, and the fires in front of the tent, at least one tent space away from the tent.

You have made your point. Now, go register people to vote, work for charities, or join a political party. May I recommend the Democrats? By now you have all learned that any group of people will not agree on all things. But you, I and the Democrats all agree that the Republicans want to make the rich even richer.

I again remind you, protests do NOT elect your representatives. VOTING elects your representatives. And it is the elected representatives who make the decisions. There is almost never enough lobby money to get an elected representative to vote for something that will cause her/him to for certain lose the next election. YOUR VOTE DOES COUNT. But only if you cast your vote.

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER

First, you get your victim to go into any inner city slum. It is preferable that the inner city slum is racked with the violence caused by the prohibition of some drugs.

Second, you shoot the victim with an older gun that you bought at a gun sale.

Then you sit back and watch the police deem it another horrible death by gang violence.

(THIS BLOG IS NOT INTENDED AS A PLAN FOR MURDER, BUT AS A COMMENT ON DRUG PROHIBITION VIOLENCE IN POOR NEIGHBORHOODS. As a murder plan, there are some large holes in the plan.)

SPECULATION & ITALY

I do not understand how speculators can be allowed to take out European country after European country. The speculators are going after entire countries in the same manner that banks foreclose on houses as interest rates rise.

I am beginning to wonder if it is a conspiracy to make money or perhaps again try to bring down the world wide economy. One can have economic warfare as well as conventional warfare.

I do know that speculators get addicted to the money to be made from using the stock market to gamble with unthinkable funds.

It is interesting to note that much of the speculation is coming from Asian markets. It is also interesting to note that China refuses to allow its currency to be treated the same as the currencies which get traded openly on the markets.

It is hard to know the cause, but we all are being damaged by the effect.

THANK YOU, MISSISSIPPI

So much for all of the people who thought that they could convince Mississippi to make abortion, and some birth control, illegal.

We spend so much time judging large groups of people by outdated criteria.

The 'LET US CONTROL WOMEN and force them to have babies' people thought Mississippi would be an easy win.

Mississippi is full of educated and thoughtful people who made the right choice.

SAVING BABIES

People who want to save babies care about the babies until the baby can support itself as a grown person. Caring for babies means making certain that the baby has food, at least one caring parent, education, shelter, and health care.

A person who believes that all human fertilized eggs should be carried to term, but who does not care at all about a baby already born, does not really care about babies. A person who thinks that it is OK to allow a baby to die because the parents do not have health insurance, does not care about babies.

The person who respects fertilized eggs over actual children in need, is probably just trying to control women.

The biological instinct to have children and grandchildren is really strong. As women become masters of their own destinies, men wonder whether a woman will agree to have THEIR baby. Many men prefer not to ask. If these men only have to seduce, or rape, they can insure that their genes go on if they can force women to gestate THEIR baby.

People forget so easily. Doesn't anyone remember the horrible back alley abortion clinics where women died of blood loss or infection?

If you want to stop abortion, help a girl become what she really wants to be. Provide family planning, such as birth control to any female who asks for it.

Please do not force a girl or woman to have a child that she does not want.

To use having a baby as a kind of punishment for having intimate relations with a male is WRONG.

OCCUPY OAKLAND -- GOOD JOB

The general strike in Oakland was mostly peaceful, with a minimal police response. The Occupy Oakland protesters tried hard to keep the violence under control.

Suggestions:

Do not hold an evening protest. Violence can escalate when the sun goes down. Plan a way to encourage people to go home. Make certain that the "peacekeepers" in the movement save some energy to deal with those who wait for the peaceful to go home before starting violence.

But overall, an amazing demonstration of the frustration of the 99%.

What next?

May I suggest that you all start registering people to vote? Protest is exciting, but politics only changes when the politicians KNOW you are going to VOTE. Also, voting in some states has gotten more complicated, thanks to the conservatives. It will be necessary to teach people how to comply with the new laws.

I also admire the tax on financial transactions proposed by the President of the EU. The Church of England has pledged to help the Occupy London get this "Robin Hood" tax passed. (This tax may also dampen speculation on financial markets. Speculation hurts us all.)

"KEEP ON TRUCKING!"

OCCUPY AND RESPECT

Tomorrow there will be a general strike in Oakland. At this point, no one has any idea how many people will participate.

FOR THE PARTICIPANTS:

Please refrain from violence.

Please do not insult those who chose to go to work or to shop. It is impossible to judge another until you walk in his/her shoes.

Please allow people to get home. BART makes a lovely target, but too many people depend on BART and the buses in order to get home to their children. People who use BART and buses are NEVER the 1%.

The police are not your enemy. Many police officers lost their homes when the loan sharks allowed them to include overtime in the income used for the loan. When overtime for police disappeared, officers lost homes. Please do not throw things at the police.

FOR THE POLICE

The protesters are not your enemy. They are protesting because of the income disparity and job losses in the US. These events also harmed you, so give the protesters the respect they deserve for putting themselves on the line to help millions of other people.

EVERYONE REMEMBER THAT THE WORLD IS WATCHING.