And I'm an ...

See end for edit addition on 12/6. . .

Many years ago I learned one very important truism about life.  I honestly don't recall now, probably 60 or more years later, just what situation led me to that knowledge.  If I had to give it my best guess, though, I'd probably say through literature.  As a teenager, I was a prolific reader.

The lesson was simply before one can "fix" a problem, one must first admit the problem exists.  "Hello, my name is **pick one** and I'm an alcoholic."  That was my first introduction to the truism, but it wasn't my name in that "Pick one" place, which is why I suspect I learned this through reading.  Quite simply, before the person could escape his disease, he had to admit one existed.

Addiction to salt has been my nemesis.  For at least 15 years after my first heart attack, my cardiologist and vascularist (I don't think I've ever heard that term before so I may have just made it up) along with my PCP have been telling me cut down on my salt intake.  Actually they wanted me go from about 5000-6000 mg/day to under 2000.  My legs, ankles, and feet had doubled in size due to a fluid buildup resulting in all that salt.  The fluid ran out of space in my lower extremities and began to surround my heart.

My body gave me what was probably a final warning last October.when I landed back in the hospital with another heart problem.  My doctors concluded my heart was drowning.  Salt, they said.

Hello.  My name is David and I'm a saltaholic.

There!  I said it out loud.  I admitted it.  And now I'm well on my way to solving my problem  My swelling is down, my weight is way down, I'm much more active, and my salt intake averages between 800 and 1200 mgs per day.  It's a pain in the sit-down place to count the milligrams of salt every meal, but, believe me, it's been worth it in the first six weeks.

"Dave.  Do you really think anyone cares about your salt?" you probably are saying.  My answer is, No, not really.  But there is a point to this truism.

President Obama, his administration, and all of us have an extremely serious problem and we seem to be refusing to admit it.  It's called terrorism and it's permeating our lives.  Watching the events from San Bernardino, CA, the last few days has emphasized our refusal to admit the problem exists.  We heard one of the government spokesmen say on television, "We have no proof that the killing of 14 people and the wounding of at least 21 others by two heavily armed people wearing masks, body armor, and combat clothing and carrying assault weapons and pipe bombs into the building and shooting anyone in sight was terrorism."

Just like the other mass shootings around the United States over the last few months have been the result of family disputes, religious disputes, ideological disputes, and racial disputes, among many excuses, our government could not admit to terrorism.  Forget that terrorism around the world has increased 80 percent over the last couple of years and we have virtually done nothing about it.  We are still being told by our President and his minions that climate change is what's destroying this world as we know it.

There is no proof man has caused or is causing the warming of our planet.  That warmth, you probably have never heard from our history re-writing college professors, has beeen taking place since long before man, or beast for that matter, ever began roaming the planet.  I'd bet you probably don't know how much ice and snow our little spot, Maine, was covered with three million or so years ago.

But a very few people, including many politicians, are getting very, very rich by our paying for the development of alternate environment ideas.  We taxpayers are not only paying for the development for corporations' profits but also will be paying much higher prices for everything after the development is completed.  Wind mills come to mind.

Remember, right here in Maine we had the best, least expensive source of renewal energy already in use.  But the government made businesses and people take away the dams from our rivers and streams.

We have a problem all right.  And it's simply terrorism, not climate change.  And that problem will continue to grow and get worse until our leaders can admit it exists.  Our President wants a resolution of climate warming to be his legacy.  Unfortunately for him, his legacy just might be his failure to stop terrorism.

Go ahead, Mr. President.  Try it.

"Hello.  I'm the President of the United States.  And we have a problem."

Edited Sunday, 12/6, AM . . . President Obama did admit we have a terrorism problem yesterday and will speak to the Nation tonight on the issue.  However, Mr. President, we have already learned that talk doesn't mean much.  We'll see tonight the "what" of how this problem will be faced.  Hint...John Kerry isn't the answer.   Too bad there simply aren't any George Mitchells left in national government.

Dave