Memorial Day 2011

While I am considered (and not only by myself) to be a clever writer, I am also clever enough to stand aside when others have said it better that I can.  Today is such a day:

From Meng Ko [or "Mencius"] (c. BC 372–289); Chinese philosopher and student of K’ung Fu-Tzu [Confucius]) —

I dislike death, but there are things I dislike more than death, therefore, there are some circumstances in which I will not avoid danger.

From the fictional Lt. Col. Jean DuBois, a character in Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein —

Citizenship is an attitude, a state of mind, an emotional conviction that the whole is greater than the part . . . and that the part should be humbly proud to sacrifice itself that the whole may live.

From the movie Patton, a speech attributed to General George S. Patton, Jr. (1885-1945) —

No dumb bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.  He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country. . . . Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.  It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.

From the military services—

First to fight for the right, And to build the Nation’s might,
And The Army Goes Rolling Along
Proud of all we have done, Fighting till the battle’s won,
And the Army Goes Rolling Along.

(US Army, founded 14 June 1775)

Stand, Navy, out to sea, Fight our battle cry;
We'll never change our course, So vicious foe steer shy.
Roll out the TNT , Anchors Aweigh. Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray!
 (US Navy, founded 13 October 1775)

First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean:
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine. 

(US Marine Corps, founded 10 November 1775)

Flying men, guarding the nation's border,
We'll be there, followed by more!
In echelon we carry on. Hey!
Nothing will stop the U.S. Air Force! 
(US Air Force, founded 18 September 1945)

From Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) —

We cannot overstate the sacrifice our military personnel – all volunteers – are making to ensure the security of their fellow Americans.

From Pres. Abraham Lincoln, who spoke, about one battle, words that apply to every battle —

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

From Dennis O'Brian, USMC chaplain, quoted in The Federalist Patriot –

It's the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of press.
It's the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It's the veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom of assembly.
It's the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It's the veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.
It's the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.

They say "brevity it the soul of whit," they should also say, "brevity is the soul of wisdom."  I conclude with the briefest of words, which, I hope, will echo in our hearts every day, for all the men and women who have given, who now give, and who, in days to come and conflicts yet to begin, will yet give their lives "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic" —

All gave some . . . some gave all.
 

Thanks for listening, tune in next week for another rant.

The Reagan Question

If I was to sum up Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, I think one question would do it: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"  I doubt Reagan was the first to ask it, he certainly wasn't the last, but I give to him the credit for making it the core question of presidential campaigns.

Pres. Obama has been in office more than two years, and I think it safe to say that the second two will reflect closely the first two.  What then, have the first two brought us?  I found this table on the Web recently.  While I cannot personally vouch for its accuracy, it tracks with every such summary I have seen over the past few months:

Economic Indicator	Jan 2009*	May 2011*	Change	**
Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall (U3)	7.6%	9.4%	+23.7%	1
# of unemployed (U3)	11,616,000	14,485,000	+24.7%	1
# of federal employees	2,779,000	2,840,000	+2.2%	1
Avg. retail price/gallon of gas: US	$1.83	$3.44	+84%	2
Crude oil: European Brent (barrel)	$43.48	$99.02	+127.7%	3
Gold: London (per troy oz.)	$853.25	$ 1,369.50	+60.5%	3
Sugar: Cane, raw, world, lb. FOB	$13.37	$35.39	+164.7%	3
Real median household income	$50,112	$49,777	-0.7%	4
# of food stamp recipients	31,983,716	43,200,878	+35.1%	5
# of unemployment benefit recipients	7,526,598	9,193,838	+22.2%	6
# of long-term unemployed	2,600,000	6,400,000	+146.2%	3
People in poverty in US	39,800,000	43,600,000	+9.5%	4
US $ / Japanese ¥ exchange rate ($1 =)	89.76¥	82.03¥	-8.6%	3
US Money supply, M2, in billions	8,310.9	8,852.3	+6.5%	13
National debt, in trillions	$10.627	$14.052	+32.2%	14

*Column headers are approximate; they reflect most current figures available on those dates. **Sources:  (1) US Bur. of Labor Statistics; (2) US Energy Information Admin.; (3) Wall Street Journal; (4) US Census Bur.; (5) US Dep't of Agriculture; (6) US Dep't of Labor; (7) US FHFA; (8) Standard & Poor/Case-Shiller, (9) RealtyTrac; (10) Heritage Foundational & Wall Street Journal; (11) The Conference Board; (12) US FDIC; (13) Federal Reserve Bank ; (14) US Dep't of the Treasury.

So, what does this mean in real terms?

Unemployment: For a larger discussion of this issue, read "Unemployment – the Real Story," which I posted here some weeks ago.  The bottom line is: 1 out of every 6 American workers isn't working or isn't working up to his/her ability.  PolitiFact.com estimates 8.75 million people lost their jobs from Jan. '08 to Feb. '10.  Fortunately, there is good news: In Arizona's 15th congressional district, 30 jobs were saved with $761,420 in federal stimulus spending. (No, wait -- Arizona has only 8 districts.  Oh, no! Someone in government lied, cheated and stole money!)  In February 2011, the Congressional Budget Office announced the $821 billion stimulus saved or create "between 1.4 million and 3.5 million" jobs.  Let's split the difference, call it 2.45 million jobs.  That means each job saved or created cost the US taxpayers over $335,000!  (Wish somebody would pay me a third of a million, I could've saved my job and created another – yes, Mr. President, gimme' 300 grand and I'll give you two-for-one!)

Prices: Have been going up.  No news here, but the administration keeps saying they can't do anything about it, especially gas prices.  Hey, remember the 2008 summer of $4/gallon gas?  (I do, I was driving 40 miles to & from work every day!)  Pres. Bush authorized domestic oil production increases and the price dropped to about $1.60/gallon by December 2008 – that was a 60% drop in about 6 months!  Since then, gas prices have gone steadily up, as domestic production has gone steadily down.

Income:  Now here's a bit of trivia for you:  The Census Bureau says there the average US household has lost $335 in income over two years.  The Census Bureau also says are over 105 million households in the USA.  What do you get when you put those together?  You get Americans losing over $35 billion in real income!  I heard recently that major industries in the US employ about 45 million people.  Food stamp recipients have almost matched that number – over 43 million.  Number of long-term unemployed has more than doubled.  What does it mean?  It means your income has gone down, if you're lucky enough to still have an income.

Prices & Income:  Back in '08, people like T Boone Pickens were telling us we were sending $700 billion to foreign countries to buy oil.  Now we find that American incomes have lost $35 billion.  What would happen if $735 billion got put back into the US economy?  The great recession would be over in a heartbeat!

Finally, the Money Supply:  The M2, if I understand it correctly, is the cash in circulation, in checking & savings accounts and other accessible places.  In short, it's the money we can use right now to buy the things we need and want.  Less is being produced, less is being bought, less is being earned, but the number of bills floating around is increasing.  No wonder the buying power of your dollars is dropping like a stone!

The Bottom Line—

Ronald Reagan asked one simple question, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"  The answer was "no" and the people knew it, so Reagan won in a 49-state landslide!

Barack Obama campaigned on one simple statement (not even a complete sentence), "Hope and change." Well, after all the trouble the Obama administration has caused over the last two years (and I didn't even get into the $5 trillion in new debt!), I hope I have some change left!

Thanks for listening, tune in next week for another rant.

Heroes

Look, up in the sky!

Friday, May 13th, 2011 — Smallville, the latest entry in the eight-decade Superman saga, broadcast its series finale with Clark Kent taking the last steps on his journey to becoming the Man of Steel, while saving the world, getting the girl and writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning story about it – don't you just love a guy who can multi-task!

I admit it, freely; I was a total comic book geek as a kid.  I loved Superman, Batman, the Fantastic Four, Thor (I'm half Swede, I couldn't avoid that one if I tried) and a host of other superheroes from DC, Marvel, TV (Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel, 8th Man, Astro Boy) and the movies (Commando Cody, Flash Gordon).  They were among my heroes – I looked up to them, I wanted to be like them, heck, I wanted to be them.

Of course, not all my heroes had super powers and spandex tights:

Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, the irreverent, but brilliant, doctor from M*A*S*H.  He was great.  My favorite line from the whole series was Hawkeye's response when asked why he made so many jokes:  "Sometimes, it's the only way I can open my mouth without screaming in terror" (or something like that).  To a skinny little kid who was targeted by every bully in school, to a young man who spent his life viewing the whole world as pro-actively hostile toward him, this was life-saving advice.  And, it wasn't just his humor, it was also his compassion (a level which I have yet to achieve); his passion for his work (which I think I have achieved) and his devotion to living life to the fullest whatever the circumstances (still working on that, too).

And, yes, you who know me have been expecting this – Commander Spock, the Vulcan/Human first officer of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.  His cool logic; his brilliant mind; being a child of two worlds, never one nor the other, always feeling a little lost in either, all spoke to me very directly.  Anytime anyone comments on this blog or a Facebook post or my journalistic endeavors, saying something like "convincing argument" or "well-thought out article" or "clear and concise presentation"; I credit that "green-blooded, pointy-eared Vulcan."  He taught me how.

We need heroes—

I knew they were fiction, I knew I wasn't and would never be like them.  But, really, we all need heroes.  We need examples, people to look up to, people who have achieved something greater, people who inspire us to be better than we are.  Isn't that what a hero has always been?

Even in childhood, I had real heroes:  Neal Armstrong didn't have a superpower, but he did something superhuman – he walked on the moon.  I also knew he was just the front man for thousands of engineers, technicians, researchers, tradesmen, craftsmen and wives & children, who dedicated themselves to something that was impossible.  They created the technology (that made possible the technology) that took three men to the moon.  They really did change the world.  The computer on which I compose this post is a direct descendant of the fact that it cost something like $1,100 to put one pound of anything into Earth orbit.  In other words, it had to be smaller or we couldn't get it to the moon.  We couldn't shrink the men or the food, so we had to shrink the tech.  Yes, sports fans, it was the moon program that gave birth to the micro-electronics revolution – and many other consumer products.  But, as another childhood cartoon used to say, "That, Little Adam, is another story."

As I grew older, I gained new heroes:  Kent Nelson Hickenlooper and I met when I was 14, and, at first, didn't like him much.  As I got to know him, we became close friends, and over the decade we knew each other, I grew to respect him as I never had respected anyone.  Kent was born with serious hemophilia, but he, like Hawkeye, lived his life to the fullest.  He never let his genetic flaw define him or control him, despite the fact that every adventure could, literally, have cost him his life.  At age 25, it did.  His body had worn out, but his spirit never soared higher.

As I got into politics, I gained new heroes:  Ronald Wilson Reagan wasn't perfect, but he was so much closer than anybody else who has sat in the Oval Office recently.  He understood how politics worked, and he tried his best to make this country work.  More than that, after the disaster that was Richard Nixon (they were all crooks, he just got caught); after the disappointment that was Gerald Ford; after the national embarrassment that was Jimmy Carter (really, a US president named "Jimmy"?); Reagan was a patriot!  Ronald Reagan loved America, and he gave us permission to love America, and to do it publicly, again.

Heroes of a greater order—

As a lay minister of my church, I am a lifelong student of the scriptures.  I have come to realize, probably a whole lot later than I should have, that the characters I've been reading about my whole life are also my heroes:

Noah and his sons spent about 120 years building the ark.  Alone, probably, because anybody who saw this old man and his sons putting together a ship around 450 feet long and maybe 75 feet wide and 45 feet tall certainly would have called the anti-deluvian equivalent of the Rubber Room squad.  I have trouble following a project for 12 weeks, let alone 12 decades.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego rose from conquered slaves to imperial governors as young men.  They were smart enough to understand political intrigue, and the reality of the threat of death regarding Nebuchadnezzar's golden idol.  Still, when the king said bow, they stood.  Nebuchadnezzar warned them; they stood, declaring, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."  They knew God could save them, they didn't know God would save them – that is the kind of real faith to which I aspire.

Have you ever been hit by a rock?  I have and it hurts, but the size of rocks that most people can throw won't kill you.  It takes a lot of rocks to stone you to death.  Stephen, otherwise unknown to history, stood there and took it because that was the price he had to pay for his faith in Christ.  I'm no doctor,  but I'm guessing it went something like this:  Pain, bruises, small lacerations, a concussion, broken bones (maybe a broken nose), a bruised liver or burst spleen, cracked ribs, internal injuries and bleeding, finally a lucky (for Stephen) shot that brought unconsciousness and coma, followed soon by death.  Not fast; stoning is a hundred small injuries, not one of which is, by itself, fatal.  If they wanted to, they could have made it last for hours.  For Stephen, the answer was, "But if not."  He took it – that, too, is the kind of real faith to which I aspire.

Heroes are all around us—

I could go on forever listing all the great and small heroes from history: Jacob Broom, "a plain good man with some abilities, but nothing to render him conspicuous" who represented Delaware at the Federal Convention.  Mary Fielding Smith, a young widow with small children, who drove her covered wagon west because she could not stay where she was, and built a life for herself and her children in Utah in the 1840s.  My father, Fred Roberts, who had great dreams for his life, and never achieved one of them, but he provided food, shelter, clothing and the other necessities for our family, and a few other things, by working long hours, sometimes 7 days per week, and never taking a vacation when I was a child.  Given his limitations (we all have them) that was a heroic achievement.  I probably should have said that to him once or twice.

I was at a concert recently, which ended with a couple of patriotic songs.  The conductor, as per custom, acknowledged and asked to stand, all the members of the armed forces – those who'd served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard.  Then he asked to stand all those who had served or were serving in the other uniformed and protective services, federal and local – the police and fire departments, forest rangers and highway patrolmen, the FBI, the CIA, the ATF, the ICE, the . . . oh, just pick any three letters of the alphabet . . . all stood to receive a round of applause from the audience.  That was the first time I'd ever seen that, and I was impressed.  Like most people, I had never thought to include all those who "serve and protect."  It reminded me of that great photo from the Bergen Record, the firemen raising that tattered US flag over the ruins of the Twin Towers.

I don't know or care what the mental health community says about heroes, I have heroes and I'll always have heroes.  I hope you have heroes, and I hope you keep finding new people (real or fictitious) to call heroes.  You need them, I need them, we all need them.  We need to be inspired by them!

But, as we consider our heroes; let us not forget all the everyday, ordinary people who do heroic things every day.

In fact, let us be the ordinary people who do heroic things, at least once in a while.

Thanks for listening, tune in next week for another rant.

On the Death of Osama bin Laden

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer nor have I played one on TV. The conclusions presented herein are quoted from other sources or my understanding of the law after reading a variety of public sources.

Still a hot topic in the mainstream media and the blogosphere, the death of Osama bin Laden is a great day for America. Of course, I have thoughts on those who call it murder.

1) Clear and present danger.

Dr. Lawrence Van Cott Niven, a grand master among science fiction authors, once said "I don’t shoot a man for being incompetent in the Devil’s work. I shoot him for being competent in the Devil’s work. Admiration for his technique is part of the process."

In a series of Supreme Court decisions following prosecutions under the Espionage Act of 1917, the 1st Article of Amendment's protection of free speech were curtailed under the Court-created doctrine of "clear and present danger" – the Supreme Court's phrasing. You can look up the details of the cases if you're so inclined: Schenck v. United States (1919); Debs v. United States (1919); Abrams v. United States (1919) and Gitlow v. People of New York (1925), plus a later case, Dennis v. United States (1951). The essentials are these:

In Schenck, the American Socialist Party distributed an anti-draft leaflet entitled "Assert your rights–Do not submit to intimidation." Writing for the Court, Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes asked:  Do "the words create a clear and present danger that they will bring about substantive evils Congress has a right to prevent?" Did it matter that few, if any were persuaded to dodge the raft by this leaflet? The Court said yes and no – the leaflet was a clear and present danger, even if no one paid any attention. The act of distribution was criminal because its goal was criminal. The other cases followed that doctrine and the decisions were the same – guilty.

The question was revived during the Cold War, when the High Court upheld the convictions of American Communist Party leaders. Despite the fact that the Party was getting less than 1% of the vote, the Court defined the Communist movement as "a permanently organized, well-financed, semi-secret organization," and that made their threat "imminent." The Party's success (or lack thereof) and their probability of future success were not issues in the proceedings. Because success was possible, the actions were criminal.

Now, here is the reality of these Court decisions:

Was Osama bin Laden a clear and present danger? That is, was he successful? Actually, his success, or lack thereof, was never an issue, as far as the law is concerned. What matters is the intent – bin Laden was certainly, absolutely, unquestionably trying to be a clear and present danger, therefore, he made himself a legitimate target.

2) Justifiable homicide.

The taking of any human life is a heinous act – all of us are God's children, the masterwork of His creation. That we should take it on ourselves to end the mortal probation of one of God's children is no small matter, as God Himself clearly stated:

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. [Deuteronomy 7:1-2, emphasis added]

However, God Himself made exceptions:

When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: [Genesis 9:5-6, emphasis added]

In modern times, the law and the courts recognize several reasons for the "use of deadly force" in what has become known as "justifiable homicide":

Self-defense is use of any force, up to and including deadly force, to prevent your death or serious injury by another person whom you believe is a clear and present danger.

Use of deadly force against a perpetrator who is committing a serious crime is usually, but not always, the act of a police officer.

Protection of another person from clear and present danger of death or serious injury, and in some states, protecting property, may involve deadly force.

If a police or court officer is serving a lawful warrant and the individual resists arrest, deadly force might be justified to complete the arrest or prevent flight.

Police may carry out a lawfully-issued death warrant, just as soldiers carry out lawful orders of their superiors in military action.

The action against Osama bin Laden falls under every definition of justifiable homicide.

The Bottom Line:

I have often said, and I repeat here: Raise your hand against my friends; I will cut it off at the wrist. Raise your hand against my family; I will cut it off at the neck. When deadly force is used or threatened, self-defense is not a game, it's not a joke, it's not a party platform plank. There are a lot of people in this world who want Americans dead (and by "Americans," I mean all of us). Ignore the politics, whether we should be in Afghanistan or Iraq or anywhere else; those are just excuses, they want us dead. You cannot negotiate with fanatics, anymore than you can tame a rabid dog.

Some people are wondering why we went after bin Laden at all. That's just silly – that pig in man's clothing clearly, publically and repeatedly admitted to conspiring to murder thousands of American citizens and citizens of allied nations. He admitted to planning & financing said act, to ordering those who carried out that act, to conspire to said act with malice of forethought, and of hoping, praying and planning for similar, future acts.

Osama bin Laden was a clear and present danger, and his death was justifiable homicide, under the laws of this nation or any nation. If the Obama administration takes seriously its oath, bin Laden will be seeing a lot of familiar faces at the gates of hell.

Thanks for listening, tune in next week for another rant.

I Come to Praise Alinsky, Not to Bury Him

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We interrupt our blog for this special news note:
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and Osama ought to be about room temperature by now.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled rant —
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Friends, Americans, countrymen, lend me your ears, I come to praise Saul Alinsky, not to bury him.

1) Alinksy did not hide his motives.

As you know, authors dedicate their books. This is no small matter, the dedication usually goes to a spouse, children, mentor or some other person who inspired or assisted in the creation of that book.

Alinsky's seminal work, Rules for Radicals, opens with this: "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history . . . the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer."

Lucifer? Satan? Beelzebub? Mephistopheles? The Adversary? The Enemy of all Righteousness? What was he thinking? I cannot say for certain, but a couple possibilities come to mind:

"I can really offend those religious b******s with this one, ha, ha, ha!"
"This will get me a lot of free advertising."

Something like that, something self-serving, or just plain mean-spirited because he knew he could get away with it. You see, Saul Alinsky was many things, but "nice person" wasn't on that list. Just before passing on to his Jacob Marley-like reward, he gave an extensive interview to Jim Britell of Playboy. If you want to know this man, what better way than to know him by in his own words?

Britell followed Alinsky around for some time getting to know his subject.  During a plane ride, Alinsky tells a stewardess: "Will you please tell the captain I don't give a **** what our wind velocity is, and ask him to keep his trap shut so I can get some work done?" Wow, for a guy who claimed to work for the middle class, he certainly wasn't nice to that member of his constituency.

Alinsky also proudly describes his upbringing in Chicago of the 1920s and '30s: "My father started out as a tailor, then he ran a delicatessen and a cleaning shop, and finally he graduated to operating his own sweatshop." A sweatshop? Isn't that the kind of exploitation Alinsky the Younger was trying to end?

After college graduation, times were tough, but Alinsky managed to maintain his standards. "I went hungry . . . I suppose I could have gotten some help from a relief project, but it's funny, I just couldn't do it. I've always been that way: I'd rob a bank before I accepted charity." And, he did. Well, not a bank, he stole meals from cafeterias by switching checks. He even held a campus meeting to show other students how to do it. "We got the system down to a science, and for six months all of us were eating free. Then the bastards brought in those serial machines at the door where you pull out a ticket that's only good for that particular cafeteria. That was a low blow. We were the first victims of automation." Victims? He says he regretted his crimes, but he justified it by saying he was hungry, and claimed crime was preferable to charity. Oh, excuse me, Alinsky added, "Crime? That wasn't crime – it was survival." My mistake.

His graduate program was in criminology, (a subject with which, at that point, he had some acquaintance) and he decided to do his dissertation on Al Capone. Through a (fortuitous?) accident, he met Capone's enforcer, "Big Ed" Stash, and through him, Capone's right-hand man, Frank Nitti. Nitti, de facto mob boss, became Alinsky's mentor, 'the Professor," Saul called him. When asked, "Didn't you have any compunction about consorting with – if not actually assisting – murderers?" He replied, "None at all, since there was nothing I could do to stop them from murdering...I was a nonparticipating observer in their professional activities, although I joined their social life of food, drink and women: Boy, I sure participated in that side of things – it was heaven. And let me tell you something, I learned a hell of a lot about the uses and abuses of power from the mob [notice, not by the mob], lessons that stood me in good stead later on, when I was organizing." Well, that makes me feel so much better.

What does all this say about Saul Alinsky? Nothing more than he said of himself in this, his last major interview: When asked about the afterlife, he said, "Let's say that, if there is an afterlife, and I have anything to say about it, I will unreservedly choose to go to hell. . . . Hell would be heaven for me. All my life I've been with the have-nots. Over here, if you're a have-not, you're short of dough. If you're a have-not in hell, you're short of virtue."

Saul Alinsky would have known, and, by now, I'm sure he does.

2) Alinksy gave us a plan to defeat him.

In his most famous books, Reveille for Radicals and Rules for Radicals (both of which are on the National Education Association recommended reading list), Alinsky lays out the methods by which he organized neighborhoods, unions and others over the course of four decades. While honest, decent conservatives won't use Alinsky tactics – harassment, threats, crime – the principles can be used to combat the socialists, Marxists and other scoundrels who claim Alinsky as their patron saint.

From Rules for Radicals:

With advice to conservatives.

1. Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.

Understand that you will never be the majority. Those who refuse to be politically active, those who refuse to be counted as conservatives (even though they are), the moderates, liberals, socialists & Marxists, will always outnumber you. Therefore, fall back on that old adage, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease," and make so much noise you drown out the voices of opposition.

2. Never go outside the expertise of your people.
and
3. Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.

When your opponents know more than you do, they have the advantage, therefore, become the expert. Do what Thomas Jefferson did with the Declaration of Independence – "place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent."

4. Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. 

The liberals believe the end justifies the means, so, let them use all the underhanded dirty tricks they wish, then be sure everybody hears about those underhanded dirty tricks.

5. Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. 

Conservatives do not seek to humiliate anyone; however, we can and should make very public the hypocrisies, the inconsistencies, the long history of failure that is the liberal agenda. If that makes them look ridiculous, well, I'm not responsible for their personal problems.

6. A good tactic is one your people enjoy. 

Each of us has our specific talents; we should always get people involved in doing what they love. Some want to rally, others want to teach, others want to be at the Capitol dealing with the legislature. Some even want to run for office. There's plenty of work to do, matching talents with projects will get that work done faster, more effectively and with better quality.

7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. 

Americans have a short attention span, especially after they've spent time on the Internet. Most liberal proposals are full of flaws. Deal with its unconstitutionality this week. Talk about its damage to the economy next week. Discuss how it will limit individual liberty the week after. And so on.

8. Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.  

Campaigns for state offices or a good piece of legislation can take a year, or more, to accomplish. Growing up in near New York City, I often heard that Macy's starts planning next year's Thanksgiving Day Parade the Monday after Thanksgiving. If the legislature convenes in May, don't wait until April to get your program started. There are plenty of opportunities throughout the year to make political statements – without getting in somebody's face every time that face shows itself!

9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself. 

Conservatives don't make threats, but, when several dozen state delegates (the ones who select candidates for the Republican Party) met with a Republican governor (who is up for re-election next year) to request his veto on a bill they didn't like, that governor wouldn't be a very wise politician if he ignored them. (He didn't listen to them, but he isn't ignoring them.)

10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. 

Have a plan! It's tempting to say "I need to spend my time doing, not sitting around talking." Talk is good – talk wins you allies; talk gets people where they need to be at the time they need to be there; talk teaches people how to answer questions; talk helps you raise money; talk helps you allocate limited resources to where they will be most effective. Do you think Ike told 1.5 million soldiers "you just steam across the English Channel and start shooting."?

11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside . . . every positive has its negative. 

Huh? Well, the best explanation I've seen was in a Facebook note: "Imagine 50 years ago saying traditional values were bad, illegal immigration was okay, abortion was good for a society, God is dead in America, we are not a Christian nation. Imagine? Yes, hard to imagine isn’t it. Yet, those are the new societal norms of the day. They have yelled, screamed and protested for over 40 years and those negatives have become positives. Get it? I hope so."

We stand firm. God lives, abortion and illegal immigration are wrong, traditional values became traditional values over centuries because they work! And so on.

12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. 

People have been complaining about the Obama budgets since he declared his candidacy. Finally, Paul Ryan came up with something truly substantive – dare we say, radical? – a budget proposal that would cut $6 trillion over the next decade. This is not the whole answer, but it's more than we have seen so far from anyone else. Never say, "This is bad." Always say, "This is bad, and here's how to fix it." 

13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. 

Let's face it, when will government change? When we stop electing politicians and start electing statesmen. There is a professional political class in America, "the incumbent party" a friend of mine likes to call it. This is bad. Washington, Jefferson, Madison and others believed in term limits, they retired from public office; some of them several times. Adams also believed in them, after he was term limited by Americans who were offended by the Alien & Sedition Acts and elected Jefferson. Be nice, don't call him a jerk, tell the people: This legislator voted for this bill, and this is the negative consequence you are suffering because of that vote. Now, here's a candidate who's pledged to vote the other way, and you will like the result.

How can you not love such a guy?

Seriously, Saul Alinsky deserves infinite praise – he is honest about himself; he was a bad guy, a blackguard, a cad, a cur, a knave, a miscreant, a skunk, a snake, a stinker, a toad, a villain, a worm, a wretch, a yellow dog . . .

But, I digress.

Rules for Radicals has been favorably compared to Sun Tsu's Art of War, and not without reason. Its precepts – altered only by use of honorable means – are an effective plan for defeating all the evil that its author and his nyekulturny idealogue descendants have spawned over the last half-century.

Thanks for listening, tune in next week for another rant.