Linda Tirado and Hand to Mouth

For some first-hand insights about the stark dilemmas of living in poverty, view Linda Tirado's interview with Bill Maher. Linda's observations, available in full in her recent book, Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America, are based at least in part on her own experiences--struggling to not just survive, but to achieve the American dream in a society indifferent to the poor. Although she speaks to the trap of poverty in her work, Linda ironically moved out of poverty overnight when her musings made on a online forum went viral and Random House offered her a book contract (see this Telegraph article for details re her upward mobility).

btw, just WHO IS Saul Alinsky?

Thanks to the currrent Republican primaries, and particularly Newt Gingrich, the name of a man who has been dead for over 40 years is re-entering national discussion (see YouTube clip and Real Time with Bill Maher). While the intent seems to be to malign Obama through such association, inspection of Saul Alinsky's biography, as in this Christian Science Monitor piece, suggests that this tactic may not gain traction among voters.