Rules for Radicals

The truth may never be told as history is recorded, rewritten, and recited over and again.  Some of us must try to preserve the facts.

In 1971, I was hired to become a community organizer by a county organization which operated under the federal Office of Economic Opportunity, or O.E.O.  This organization, which was a forerunner of A.C.O.R.N., was disenfranchised by then President Richard M. Nixon.  The latter stated that OEO duplicated social programs such as the Department of Public Welfare.  This was true, except for the fact that DPW had the power to actually help the poor and OEO didn't.  I learned early on the true purpose of OEO.

Training consisted of reading, memorizing, and understanding Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals:  A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals.  Below are the tenets of Alinsky's way to social change:

  1.  Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
  2.  Never go outside the experience of your people.
  3.  Wherever possible, go outside of the experience of the enemy.
  4.  Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
  5.  Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
  6.  A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
  7.  A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
  8.  Keep the pressure on.
  9.  The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
10.  The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain constant pressure   
       upon the opposition.
11.  If you push a negative hard and deep enough,  it will break through into its counterside.
12.  The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
13.  Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

It is my most fervent hope that people read and study these tenets and think of all the ways they have been and are being used by our Administration, and then, hopefully, understand the purpose and intent of using Rules for Radicals.  Don't forget, Obama himself studied these rules as a community organizer and is notably a follower of Alinsky and his Marxist beliefs. He was raised by and associated with known Communists.   Learn what Marxism is, learn how it affects a population, and learn how to counteract it in the United States.  If we don't, we will soon not live in a free country.

Conspiracy Theories?

Were I a follower of conspiracy theories, I would be searching for information regarding the random shootings which have been occurring in the USA.  One of the theories I either read about or heard about is that the anti-psychotic medications currently being prescribed to people who would probably be better served in a controlled environment, are actually causing the psychic breaks that cause the shootings.  I don't know because I am neither a psychiatrist nor a pharmacologist and therefore cannot speak intelligently about the topic.  It does, however, seem a reasonable explanation.

Another aspect of the medication theory is that "puppet masters" (people like George Soros) are actually locating the people on these medications and using these ill people to create havoc and bloodshed.  Why would these unseen "puppet masters" engineer this kind of behavior?  Some folks believe it is to create a diversion from a sticky situation our government and its leaders find themselves trying to escape, or to divert attention from some new rules, laws, or plans that would be unpopular. 

It may be coincidental that every time media topics concern disapproval of the public over a public policy, program, or action, another shooting occurs.  Not only does it move the spotlight from our governmental leaders, but it also stirs up all the anti-gun people who I imagine wait with bated breath for any crisis involving guns.  Any intelligent person surely understands it isn't the gun, it's the person who pulls the trigger who kills others.Such demented people would use a knife, a bomb, or a poison to kill if they hadn't access to a gun. 

I received my new Medicare Insurance provider's formulary for 2014, along with what my costs will be.  Unfortunately, my prescription co-pays for preferred drugs will increase by six times.  Most service co-pays will also increase, with the exception of visits to my general practitioner.  The latter will drop very low, and I am hoping what the insurance provider pays him will not drop so drastically.  If it does, I have a hunch I won't be able to see a general practitioner any longer.  Dire conclusions may be reached about the future of senior citizens.

The Peter Principle, 2013 Variety

I would seriously begin to doubt my sanity or intelligence if I permitted myself to believe anything I read in the mail I am sent.  Today, I received three letters from Advantra, my Medicare Health Insurance provider.  The first letter states my prescription co-pays are going to be less, the second states my prescription co-pays are going to go up, and the third states I might not have paid enough so far this year and may have to refund any overpayment.  I know from experience that picking up the phone and dialing either the Medicare number or the Advantra number will only let me speak with people who will confuse me even more.  These people never give consumers the same information; each will tell you something different.

I have reached the conclusion this is a new social phenomenon.  Those people hired by our over-large government agencies, as well as those employed by supportive or parallel companies are not hired for their intelligence, education, or common sense.  This type of "dis-information" is inexcusable.  Circular thinking should not be an option in the United States of America, a country built on and ruled by laws that are based on Western linear thinking.  We have a problem, my fellow Americans.  The Peter Principle has reached its apex.  If you have a good brain, you will be lost in the shuffle of the incompetents who have to trample you down in order to keep their own brainless heads above water.  Tsk-tsk.

A Lesson For a Small Child

I moved my three children and myself into town after their father and I were divorced.  Shortly after, the children started school.  In those days, it was safe for kids to walk to school without adult protection.  Mine walked several blocks to the elementary school.  One day the following Spring, my youngest daughter came home from Kindergarten proudly carrying a beautiful bouquet of tulips, jonquils, and daffodils, which she presented to me with a big, happy smile.  As I placed the flowers into a vase with water, I casually asked her where she found all the pretty flowers.  She said, "I found them down the street."  I responded, "Were they in someone's yard?"  She said they were, and when further questioned, said she didn't ask anyone's permission to pick the flowers but that she wanted them for me.  Very gently, I had the mother's task of explaining to this loving and well-meaning child why it was wrong to pick flowers belonging to someone else without their permission.  It turned into a teachable moment, but I was saddened to see her joy in giving diminished.  

Some of my artwork can be seen at www.facebook.com/portraitsbysuellenmccollim

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Food Stamp Beraters

I'm noticing many negative comments on Facebook and other forums about food stamps, and I have a few comments. Why the concern over what recipients are purchasing with their food stamps? Sure, some people don't use the allotment wisely and buy junk foods and fast foods. However, the vast majority use the benefit to provide very basic food supplies. These are difficult times, and if you have a job then you should be grateful to be spared the humiliation of having to be "on the dole". I've seen more than a few posts by people who want to control what foods recipients can buy with their food stamps. There is a misconception by many Conservatives that poor people don't want to work. This couldn't be further from the truth. There aren't enough jobs available, and frankly, if you are bragging that you work not just one, but two jobs, then maybe you should give up one of those to someone who is in need. You say there are plenty of minimum wage jobs out there, but you fail to understand the economics of the situation. When a person who is receiving government help with basic needs takes a minimum wage job, they lose those "free" food and medical benefits. The worst part of that is they now cannot afford to purchase those basic needs. You say, "Let them do without, then." But here's the deal: When you continually carp about people getting free food, you negate your visit to your church for Sunday services. Christian charity is based on the words of Jesus admonishing us to take care of the poor, the needy, the widows. So, when you attend church services and then berate the poor for accepting help from the government, you are a hypocrite. Try making it on the current food stamp allotment (at least in Pennsylvania) of less than $50 a week for one person. Bet you can't do it!

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