The shade of your teeth has a lot to do with your genetics. In other words, not everybody’s teeth are the same shade of white. With that being said, there are some external and internal causes that can change the color of your teeth. If you are aware of these, you can help to keep your teeth as white as possible.

If you are not comfortable with the color of your teeth, you have two options available. You can either have them whitened, or you can move forward with veneers. Both options have been proven effective, and are common among people who want whiter teeth.

There are many external causes of tooth staining that you need to keep in mind. By simply avoiding the following, you will be able to keep your teeth whiter.

1. Smoking or using chewing tobacco will turn your teeth yellow in no time at all. Not only can this affect your teeth, but it can do the same to other areas of your health as well. No matter who you are, it is safe to say that tobacco of any kind is going to stain your teeth.

2. Foods or drinks that are pigmented can stain your teeth. Some of the most common include coffee, tea, cherries, and certain types of red wine. If you are going to eat or drink any of these items, make sure that you are constantly brushing your teeth. Even then, you may find it impossible to avoid staining. Most commonly, people who drink coffee excessively find this to be a major problem.

3. Plaque build up can cause your teeth to lose a couple shades of white. There are two ways that you can prevent this. First off, make brushing twice per day. On top of this, visit your dentist twice per year for a professional cleaning. This can definitely help to get rid of unsightly plague buildup.

Now that you are aware of the common external problems, you will want to become familiar with those that can come from within.

Would you like to become a more effective activist? Are you considering running for office? Or helping run a campaign? Or just being a super volunteer?

If you want to know more about how to be a more effective political advocate, Sonoma County DFA wants to help. We are offering scholarships to up to five people who want to attend DFA Training Academy when it comes to the Berkeley Campus on March 1st and 2nd.

A Rare Opportunity

Since its founding in 2004, the DFA Training Academy's mission has been to focus, network, and train grassroots activists in the skills and strategies to take back our country. Democracy for America's unofficial motto has always been "You have the power." The DFA Training Academy empowers ordinary Americans to manage successful campaigns and run for office themselves. Every weekend in cities across America, the DFA Training Academy is building a grassroots infrastructure of skilled progressive activists in all 50 states.

At the DFA Training Academy, top campaign consultants with decades of experience give you the skills to run a winning campaign. Topics include: field planning, voter contact, fundraising, communications, volunteer recruitment and more.

Attendees will also get to hear directly from some of the most exciting 2008 candidates in their area and get a copy of the DFA Training Manual packed with over 180 pages of campaign info.

Refreshments will be provided throughout the day and a social event will be organized Saturday evening so you can mingle and network with other activists in your area.

This is a comprehensive and intensive training, running from 9am to 6pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

The workshops cover:

• Field Plans: Vote Goals, Targeting and Strategy
• Building an Activist Base
• Developing a Message
• Fundraising
• Voter Contact
• Get Out the Vote
• Working the Media
• Networking
• Precinct Organizing
• Mobilizing Young Voters
  
• Online Fundraising

Tuition to DFA Training Academy is extremely reasonable: $60 to attend both days worth of sessions... but Sonoma County DFA is prepared to cover tuition costs for up to five local volunteers.*

If you're interested in a sponsorship, contact Kathleen Shaffer at: dfasonoma@gmail.com

For more information, check out: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=26527

* Travel expense and lodging not included

East Bay for Democracy, a fellow DFA organization, is planning on introducing a motion to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein at a meeting of the California Democratic executive committee this weekend.

Feinstein was one of only two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote to approve Michael Mukasey's nomination for Attorney General. Mukasey refused to admit waterboarding was torture.

Feinstein now says she supports granting legal immunity to telecom companies that shared customer email and phone messages with the federal government as part of the warrantless surveillance program.

Click here to add your name to the Courage Campaign's petition to censure Senator Feinstein for these votes... and many other instances in which she has voted against the interests of Californians.

TBRC is hosting what looks to be a memorable event: a chance to sample the food and wine of rural Northern and Central California. Hosted by Josh Korbluth and featuring Lt. Col. Charlie Brown and Dr. Bill Durston, running for congress in CA-04 and CA-03, respectively.

"Take Back Red California" is working to elect more democratic candidates in the rural areas of California and is fully supported by Sonoma County DFA in this effort.

Check it out!

Sunday October 21, 2007
2:00pm - 5:00pm
Marinwood Community Center
775 Miller Creek Road, San Rafael

adult $50.08 / student $25.08
checks payable to TBRC (address below), or
http://www.actblue.com/page/tbrc, or
checks at the door

415-457-3914 / 916-743-2782
21 Convent Court
San Rafael, CA 94901
info@TakeBackRedCalifornia.org

Click here for a PDF file of the flyer

Hear Howard's speech from the Yearly Kos

If you need encouragement and inspiration in light of the recent setbacks in Congress, come and listen to his speech. We are talking to our original DFA members and asking all to come back, listen to Howard and get motivated for another presidential election year.

We'll also be talking about efforts to push back against cynical Republican efforts to steal the 2008 election... by rigging the electoral votes here in California!

We'll have pizza and beer and much to talk about.

Many of our members have been active in campaigns and legislative action, so come back and tell us what you've been doing.

Wednesday, September 5, 7:00pm,
111 Sebastopol Road, Democratic Party Office.
Call 696-0664 for questions.

Well, sports fans, we have a problem. It's those Damn Yankees. They look like they could go all the way in 2008. Again. Don'cha just get tired of them winning the World Series all the time?

But, we could throw them a real knuckle ball. Here's an idea. Let's change the rules for every game that's played in Yankee Stadium. The changes won't affect any other stadium in the Major Leagues.

Now, anywhere else, when a team wins a game, it get a "one" added to its win column, and when it loses, it gets a "one" added to its loss column. It doesn't matter whether it's squeaker or a laugher; a win is a win. This is known as "winner take all."

But, in Yankee Stadium, this is how it's going to work: every inning will have a winner. So, if the Yankees get two runs in the third inning, and the visitors score only one, the Yankees win that inning. If both teams score the same number of runs in an inning, that inning goes to the overall winner of the game. This is called "allocation by inning."

How would this scoring system be reflected in the league standings? In each game, the total number of innings won by each team would be divided by the total number of innings played, usually nine, but it could be less due to weather or more if a game goes into extra innings. So, the Yankees might win the game overall, but win only five of nine innings. League value: five-ninths. That's a lot less than one. The Yankees win two-thirds of their games at home, and the value of all of those wins would be dramatically reduced.

At the same time, all of their losses on the road would still be counted according to the traditional "winner take all" system; the home team gets one, they get zilch. The Yankees would need to have a winning record in just about every other stadium around the country to have any hope of winning their division.

Democracy for America, evolving from the internet grass roots organizing success of Howard Dean in 2004, is now thinking local and environmental. A good decision, and welcome to the many county groups who recognize that all politics are local. Sonoma County Conservation Action has acted locally for sixteen years with a year round canvass to educate voters about issues and progressive candidates. We would like to think that the voter turnout in 2006, which marked Sonoma County next to Alpine County as having the highest voter turn out in the whole state, was partially the result of our canvassers talking issues to over 70,000 households each year.

Democracy requires civic participation beyond just going to the polls. Call our office at 571.8868 and learn about our Know our Neighbor (KYN) project to bring neighborhoods together and to lay groundwork for civic involvement at election time.

SCCA has educated voters on urban growth boundaries, water issues, wastewater reuse, forest practices, general plans, SMART rail, housing issues, greenhouse gas, GMO, heritage lands, renewal of the Open Space District, and dozens of other environmental issues. When you have an environmental, progressive council and Board of Supervisors, good decisions are made and there is less reason to organize into advocacy groups. Paul Hawken quotes an NGO chairman in Seattle who is so impressed with the initiatives being undertaken by Mayor Greg Nichols that they are questioning their need to exist. Let us all concentrate year round on finding and electing progressive candidates for public office.

Bill Kortum, President
Sonoma County Conservation Action

DFA is spearheading an assault on the nation's current health care policies and we're calling on DFA-link groups and members from sea to shining sea to join ranks and help us in the effort.

The time to act is now, towards universal health care, and a better America.

In the past week alone over 300 Americans died because of lack of health insurance, can we afford to wait any longer?

We appreciate everything you do, and we know everyone has their own busy schedules, but we'd be thrilled if you'd check out democracyforamerica.com/healthcare to see if there's any part of our plans that your group could fit into.

Thanks again for all that you do.

-

Mike Cooper
Democracy for America