The group members, mostly senior citizens, held strong views on the subject. I was struck by the civility of the discussion on what was essentially a political topic.

We all agreed it was a debate the country needs to have and that action was better that acquiescence.

The best notion that came out of the discussion was the need for a program similar to the one that grants us a free, annual look at our credit reports.

Wouldn’t you feel better if you could take a periodic — and free — look at the data dossier of personal information various services maintain on each of us?

Wouldn’t you feel better to know who these various companies were sharing this information with?

I certainly would.

As I said Wednesday night, call your representatives in Sacramento and Washington and do so often.

We can and should defend our rights.

We have an election coming in two weeks, and I usually write a column about now pointing to places to find online info.

Beyond the party primaries, there are few matters that concern us deeply, with no propositions on the ballot dealing with life or death issues.

But I’ll share a tip or two. As usual, I always take a look at the California League of Women Voters.

The outfit routinely analyzes the issues in a reasonable and cogent way. This primary election has few issues on which they prefer to take a position. Do check them out, though, at ca.lwv.org.

Also, as usual, take a look at the voter guide at the California Secretary of State’s Web site at www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov. It’s the same pamphlet we get in the mail and often misplace before we read it.

See you at the polls.

I’m a guitar player, and I was restringing my guitar this week when I, as I usually do, tuned the new strings by singing the lowest tone I can sing, which is the B an octave below middle C. It’s a quick and dirty way that’s been reasonably reliable.

Then I thought, hey, everything is on the Web nowadays.

I got my laptop out, searched for and easily found www.8notes.com, a Web site for tuning your guitar.

There’s not only a guitar tuner—click on each of the guitar string notes and a tone sounds—but there’s also an online metronome.

It reminded me of my days of practicing my scales, something I could stand again for sure.

8notes.com also has free sheet music and midi files for popular and classical music, as well as something I really like: Guitar riff charts for popular tunes from various music groups along with a midi file and verbal description.

That’s great for aspiring guitar players who want to learn guitar riffs even if they don’t read music well if at all.

There’s a lot more at 8notes.com, so enjoy.