Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • February 11, 2009 Poland, took over Czechoslovakia and Hungary, attempted to seize Berlin, and touched off wars in Korea and Malaya; a system that attacked religion and free speech and often crushed human rights was antithetical to the vast majority of Americans; and, crassly put, we needed a state of war with somebody to keep the booming war-time economy from collapsing. Liberal professors to the contrary, no meaningful peace would have been possible with Stalin because Stalin was every bit as evil as Hitler. His heirs probably could have patched things up in a decade if they had lifted religious restrictions (even under Stalin, 60 percent of Russians opted for religious funerals) and freed those political prisoners whose “crimes” consisted of honest criticism of a very bad government. They didn’t. The United States, confronted with people who remained dogmatically communist, remained dogmatically anti-communist. That dedication may have saved us from an odious tyranny, but it also allowed people with ulterior motives to use the “communist” label for their own arcane purposes. One of my favorite commie stories took place some years ago, back during the first telephone tap. A few years before, a Middle European named Waldo had been confronted by a venerable old Lakota man named John who wanted to share the wealth that Waldo was presumed to be making writing about Indians and taking their pictures. “Waldo, you make money from Ind’in people,” John said. “You give me money, Waldo!” “How much money do you vant?” “I want one hundred dollar!” “Dot’s ridiculous – I’ll give you fife!” Old John squinted with menace. “You give me one hundred dollar or I make trouble for you, Waldo!” Waldo stalked off in a huff. John remained seated on his bastion in White Man Country, the steps of the trading post, where he could keep on eye on things. A few years later, the Wounded Knee uprising occurred. Special Agent McCarthy of the FBI, himself no mean observer, spotted John at his vantage point hawking out tourists and decided to befriend him with ulterior motives. “Hi there, Chief, it’s a hot day, isn’t it? Would you like a beer?” “Huhgnh!” “Think I’ll have one too…Now that we’re friends, tell me…who’s this guy Waldo with the funny accent I see around here all the time? “HUHGNH! Waldo!” John’s eyes glittered with Schadenfreude – I know of no equivalent in Lakota. “He’s communist!” John said forcefully. WHAT?” Agent McCarthy almost fell off the trading post steps as he opened another beer. “Waldo is leader of all communist in New York City! He come here and tell Ind’in people everything be good when you communist.” Agent McCarthy and John both enjoyed their conversation immensely. Waldo – a card-carrying anti-Nazi in his youth who beat it out of Europe one jump ahead of Hitler’s headsman, and as gleeful a capitalist as ever drew breath – did not enjoy the aftermath. Within two days, his phone had been tapped, he was being watched by crew-cut men in polyester suits, and publishers were rejecting his work and refusing his phone calls. He finally cleared himself. It took years. He was never the same. It seems funny in retrospect. A couple of Indians owe me $100, but nobody ever denounced me to the FBI, though I was once introduced to a known FBI informer as “Major Kosterkov of Soviet Army Intelligence.” The informer blanched. A couple of years later I found out that there actually was a Major Kostakov of Soviet Army Intelligence working in Chicago. It was my turn to blanch. However, through my immense patriotism and diplomatic skill, I was able to turn the whole right wing of the American Indian Movement into an anti-communist strike force against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. I don’t expect a birthday card from Daniel Ortega, but a grateful government could at least give me the Distinguished Service Medal. Communism was a great evil because it was a great blasphemy. Karl Marx, rich spoiled brat, Jewish anti-Semite and failed poet, took some humane and useful principles from The Bible and tried to turn them into a religion that rejected God but revealed Marx as the Messiah. Anarchist leader Nikolai Bakunin, who knew Marx, pointed this out while Marx was still alive. Bakunin also asked, in light of Marx’s pronounced anti-Semitism, what kind of a name “Marx” was. Marx would have been a forgotten crank if the German General Staff had not dropped off Nikolai Lenin at the Finland Station in Saint Petersburg in 1917 to take Russia out of World War I. The revolution that Lenin and Trotsky touched off was the major event of the 20th century. Hitler’s takeover of Germany never would have happened without the threat of Bolshevism. The Holocaust never would have happened without Hitler’s takeover and his maniacal, obsessive rant that “Judaism is Marxism!” The collapse of the white man’s colonial empires in Asia and Africa happened, at least in part, because a communist in the U.S. Treasury Department triggered the U.S. war with anticommunist Japan to save Stalin from fighting Hitler and the Japanese at the same time. None of this, however, should mar the perception that post-industrial societies like ours cannot survive without some sort of safety net for unemployed workers and their children and some sort of pension plan for older people who cannot be fed and housed for free because the family farm was sold 100 years ago. If we want to survive the worst downturn since 1929, we cannot get into the habit of denouncing every measure to feed helpless people or find work for them as “communist” or “socialist.” We will make ourselves ludicrous in the process if we continue to do so. Let’s stick to truth in labeling and remember that social welfare programs – most of them distinctly Judeo-Christian and explicitly non-violent – existed centuries before Marx was born. You cannot go wrong by helping those in need. Read The Bible. Sometimes things happen that make you feel young again. A few days ago, I received an anonymous letter from a reader who used the word “commie” to describe someone he didn’t like, although I’m not sure whether it was me or the President. A far more lucid and literate person, whose erudition I respect, posited that the “economic stimulus” for might actually be a stimulus to socialism. When I got home, my wife told me the telephone appeared to be tapped again – first time in a quarter century – and when my son called to inquire after my fiscal health, he heard the same background noises she did and said she was probably right. What a relief! I always thought I had become boring. I think I can prove I’m not a commie. My authority is Patrick Buchanan. The first time I spoke with him – he called on my home phone, which is unlisted – he asked me a few questions. “I see you found out that some guy who was accused of being a Nazi was actually framed,” Buchanan said. “I’ve done a couple of stories like that myself and people have called me a Nazi. Prove to me you’re not a Nazi.” “Six of my relatives served in World War II and my son’s godfather is Russell Means,” I said. “Okay,” Buchanan said without missing a beat. “Now prove to me you’re not a communist.” “I volunteered for Vietnam and my first book was banned in the Soviet Union because I said Stalin was just as bad as Hitler.” “Okay,” Buchanan said. “Now we can talk.” Anybody else want to talk? Just send letters – snail mail – that have been signed and include a contact phone number. When Buchanan says you’re not a commie, that’s the end of the lucid discussion on the subject. The commie label was useful when there was a Cold War and a Soviet Union. We got through the FDR administration without being handed over to Moscow mostly because the American people were still strongly committed to Christianity, freedom of speech, and a distrust of foreigners in general and foreign murderers in particular. Large segments of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Treasury Department were leaking large amounts of information to the NKVD (later KBG) and Hollywood was turning out movies like “The North Star,” “Days and Nights,” and “Mission to Moscow” that were Soviet propaganda. I think the Russian people, caught up in a shoot-out between two homicidal maniacs who fought with the fury of jilted lovers, would have laughed at these movies if they dared. More than a million Russians and Ukrainians hated Stalin enough to fight, very effectively, in German uniforms. At the end of the war, the Allies repatriated them to be executed. I have not seen a movie about that one, though the British produced a couple of good documentaries. Stalin killed about three times as many people as Hitler did. FDR loved him almost as much as he loved Winston Churchill. Go figure. Anti-communism became America’s cause once Hitler and Mussolini were dead and Hirohito was reduced to a cartoon character for three reasons: the Soviet Union was a dangerous expansionist power under Stalin, refused to free This label may be worn out (continued from page 5) breast cancer and the importance of early detection. She is an active member of the New Jersey Education Association. While she was New Jersey’s First Lady, she served as ambassador to the Governor’s Book Club, which encouraged reading and literacy skills among elementary school children. In this role, Mrs. Codey visited schools around the state and was able to do what she loves best: read to children. Senate President Codey began his career in state government as an Assemblyman in 1973. He became a senator in 1982, and while serving as Senate President in 2004, he assumed the governorship when Governor James McGreevey resigned. During a career in state government that has spanned more than three decades, Senate President and former Governor Codey has earned a reputation as an independent thinker and a champion of change to benefit the public good. Throughout his distinguished service, Senator Codey has become known for his advocacy on behalf of the mentally ill, working tirelessly to improve treatment, care, and education for those with mental illness. From his now legendary undercover stint at Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital to his time as governor, Senator Codey has continued to bring the struggles of the mentally ill to the forefront of the public’s attention. His first official act as governor was to establish a taskforce to report on the direction New Jersey Codeys to be honored should take in delivering improved services to its mentally ill. Senator Codey has also been a vocal and lifelong advocate for public health issues, children, and families. He has signed or sponsored numerous landmark legislation including: the Indoor Smoke Free Air Act; the law raising the tobacco purchasing age to 19; the NJ Hero Act, which saves lives through organ and tissue donation; the nation’s first statewide assault weapons ban and the nation’s first childproof handgun law; and a package of laws to crack down on Internet predators. As governor, Codey signed legislation requiring GPS tracking for sex offenders. Over the years, he has also played a critical role in advancing medical research and scientific progress, as well as championing and funding innovative cancer research. Reservations to the brunch are $75 per person. A commemorative journal honoring the Codeys is also being published. For further information, call Carol Cohen at West Bergen, (201) 444-3550, or e-mail ccohen@westbergen. org All proceeds from the Annual Brunch go toward West Bergen’s Center for Children and Youth in Ramsey. The center provides quality counseling, psychiatric, and addiction treatment services for youngsters in the community, ages 2-18. No one is ever denied services at West Bergen because of inability to pay.