Veterans, can you help us help homeless veterans? UPDATE

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Friday January 30, 2009 · 1:01 PM PST

2009/01/30 · 13:01

UPDATE: I moved the original intro to below the fold. Here I want to update what happened a few days after I called Rep. Allen Boyd's office. I got a call back from Michael, who told me he was going to contact the veteran I spoke of in this diary and work to get him hooked into services. He said they are aware of the problem with homeless veterans and are working hard to be sure the community is able to better support them.

We talked a bit about the cops running homeless veterans off who are standing with signs asking for work and such, and he agreed with me that this is no way to treat those who have sacrificed so much in service to their country. I asked him to work with Rep. Boyd and the Obama administration to come up with ideas to facilitate individuals like me in the community who want to help but don't know how to.

When we hung up, Michael surprised me by saying he'd call me later, after he'd called the veteran. I got the distinct impression that he had actually listened to me and was going to make it a priority to do something to help. So I'm feeling so much better about this now.

dkistner

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Thursday January 29, 2009 · 8:03 AM PST

2009/01/29 · 08:03

After reading TylerFromNE's diary yesterday, I'm rethinking my strategy for dealing with debt. Other than the fact that (when possible) I'm a compulsive bill-payer, I'm decidedly not a member of the "investor class."

I'm going to toss out in some detail my own situation, in hopes of prompting a discussion about what folks are going to do with their auto loans. I'd be willing to bet I'm not the only one in this boat, and I really want to hear from folks what the best approach is, given the way things are now and what's likely to unfold over the coming few years. (And if somebody here understands both financial planning AND has a sense of how tried-and-true strategies might NOT be the course to take now could advise, I will send your way all the cyber-blessings I can possibly muster, and then some.)

Join me below the fold for my piece (apologies for the length, but I'm trying to be thorough) and, please, let's discuss amongst ourselves what our best positioning strategies are now. How can we use what little money we have not only to stay stable but, hopefully, force the kind of changes we need to happen in the marketplace?

Poll

67 votes Show Results

If I were in your situation, I would

67 votes Vote Now!

If I were in your situation, I would

Make regular payments, no extra

15 votes

Make regular payments, plus extra amounts online

5 votes

Make regular payments, plus mail in extra and watch them like a hawk

11 votes

Stop paying and let them come get it

16 votes

Trade it in on something now and drive a super-hard bargain

17 votes

Other (in comments) plus pie

3 votes

THE BLUE SWEATER (a great book)

dkistner

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Friday January 02, 2009 · 9:26 AM PST

2009/01/02 · 09:26

Here's my review that I just posted on Amazon of Jacqueline Novogratz' book, "The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World."

I can't stop thinking about this book. I encourage everyone to read it and think about it in the context of transforming our own country, which will help transform the world.

dkistner

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Saturday November 22, 2008 · 5:11 AM PST

2008/11/22 · 05:11

I was gratified recently to find that my diary about telling veterans about EFT made the front page. There was some good discussion going on it, but then somebody posted a comment about how they had googled "EFT" and "cult" and then somebody else piled on and insulted me. So, forgive me, but I have to rant in an effort to undo the damage that was done.

Here is the original posting with comments. My response is below the fold.

http://www.dailykos.com/...

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that I personally do not practice EFT on anybody but myself. I have been disabled since 1999 and no longer work, as I did then, as an LCSW specializing in trauma therapy from a constructivist orientation. I did not encounter EFT until after I stopped working, at which time it proved more efficacious for alleviating my own reactivated trauma symptoms than any other method I had ever encountered in my own years of therapy or my professional training. The fact that anyone can learn the basics free and can easily obtain free copies of the training DVDs through someone who owns them if they are interested in learning more is what prompted me to post my original diary.

dkistner

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Saturday November 15, 2008 · 7:30 PM PST

2008/11/15 · 19:30

I posted this as a comment in answer to idahospud44's excellent, very disturbing diary (and comments), Bobby Sent Me a Human Ear in the Mail:

http://www.dailykos.com/...

Then I realized that it was important enough to merit a diary on its own that, hopefully, won't get buried before the word gets out. Briefly, EFT is a technique soldiers and veterans and their friends and loved ones can learn quickly and do for themselves, and I can tell you that it is a remarkable FREE treatment for people suffering from PTSD--or many other ailments we humans are prone to suffering from. Follow me below the fold for a video and more information.

UPDATED: I just had to rant a little in the comments.

dkistner

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Friday October 31, 2008 · 1:05 PM PDT

2008/10/31 · 13:05

I just received an email from TrueVote.us asking me to sign a petition to allow international election observers in to observe our election and ensure fairness. Here's the link if you'd like to go sign it:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/...

TrueVote.US is a project of the
Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics
and a development of
TrueVoteMD

OMDG! Saxby Chambliss is robo-calling FLORIDA! UPDATE

dkistner

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Monday October 27, 2008 · 8:59 AM PDT

2008/10/27 · 08:59

I kid you not. I'm in Tallahassee, and I just got a robo-call from Saxby Chambliss, virtual hat in hand, "humbly" asking for my vote. (I admit that it felt good to yell at the recording, "When have you ever been humble, you manipulative, arrogant asshole?") I listened to him far more carefully than he ever listened to me when I've written him in the past about various issues of importance to the residents of Georgia and the country. (We lived in Georgia in 2007, so conceivably we could still be listed in the RNC database as still being there--although I know for sure we were officially taken off the voter rolls because we got a letter when we moved here. You would not believe the obnoxiousness of the "response" emails I got from him every time I took the time to write his office.)

While I was listening to the robo-call, aware that as I did so I was tying up the line so somebody else had to wait for the privilege of hearing from him...

dkistner

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Sunday October 26, 2008 · 1:31 PM PDT

2008/10/26 · 13:31

It was Jill Biden, with a very professional, to-the-point message urging me (if I hadn't already voted) to vote early and vote "all Democrats." (Good coattails work there, Dr. Biden.) But the best thing about the robocall was that it asked for volunteers for the Florida for Change office and said "press 1 if you want to volunteer" to be put in touch with the campaign. (I didn't press 1 because I'm already volunteering, so I don't know what happens if you do.) Then Dr. Biden gave phone numbers for questions.

There was no ugliness whatsoever (of course) and no wasting of the person's time, either. It went very quickly and was in no way obtrusive. I can imagine even McCain supporters listening to it a good way through. The only thing that could have been better about it is if people were asked "If you've already voted for Obama/Biden, press 2." That way, the information could have been captured and funnelled into the Florida for Change database, liberating the phone bank volunteers to focus on calling those who have not already voted.

dkistner

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Sunday October 19, 2008 · 7:58 AM PDT

2008/10/19 · 07:58

My sister (in Georgia) and I (in Florida) have had major political disagreements over the decades, but this year she early-voted for Obama. Not only that, she'll wake up at 3 a.m. worried about what will happen if McCain ("and, ohmigod, PALIN!") wins, and she gets herself back to sleep by designing Obama t-shirts and signs and other messages of hope for the planet (/donnaoverall* at Zazzle.com). Isn't this great? (Download it and the "Republicans for Obama" original below the fold.)

dkistner

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Saturday October 18, 2008 · 1:10 PM PDT

2008/10/18 · 13:10

I have nightmares extremely rarely. Like maybe one every ten years. But last night I had a TERRIBLE nightmare about this empty shell of a person who looked like a combination of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann that had been taken over by some alien reptilian lizard-being from outer space, and she was smiling, coming after me. I kept running and running, scared to death, desperate to get away, and I'd fall down and then get up just in time and turn the corner to safety...but then there would be ANOTHER carbon-copy empty shell of a cutesy Barbie-doll lizard-eyed thing right there in front of me. And what really creeped me out was how its EYES were breathing...breathing lizard eyes. I mean, I thought the winking was bad! This scared the bloody hell out of me! I mean, REALLY. And I'm pushing 60.

And then I watched the video of Michele Bachmann from Hardball last night again today, watching her eyes through the whole thing instead of looking over at Chris Matthews when he talked. And I was terrified all over again and felt like I had fallen back into that nightmare again, except I was awake! BREATHING LIZARD EYES!

Anyone else having nightmares over this election? I mean, besides the nightmare we've actually been living through these last eight years?

NowNow...

dkistner

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Monday July 14, 2008 · 11:27 AM PDT

2008/07/14 · 11:27

Amazon’s Kindle has something called NowNow, where you can send them a question about anything via your Kindle and you’ll get up to three answers "from real people." This was my question, just to see how they would answer it:

In the event that the U.S. closes down like Nazi Germany did, will people be allowed to leave? Who is most likely to be in peril?

Here’s the three different answers, which arrived via different emails and apparently were written by different people. I thought this was very interesting! I mean, you’ve gotta love it. Now I’m tempted to really start messing with their minds! LOL!

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Veterans, can you help us help homeless veterans? UPDATE

Strategies for paying an upside-down auto loan (with poll)

THE BLUE SWEATER (a great book)

EFT and cults? [Rant-On]

Please tell all the veterans you know about EFT (Updated)

Sign Petition for International Election Observers

OMDG! Saxby Chambliss is robo-calling FLORIDA! UPDATE

Just got a GREAT Robocall in Florida! How about you?

A gift to Kossacks from my Republican sister

Are others here having scary nightmares, too?

NowNow...