Paye Yer: Lenny Bruce- Mysteries and Scandals

Source:Paye Er– this is from a Mysteries and Scandals episode about comedian Lenny Bruce.

Source:The New Democrat  

“Lenny Bruce TV Documentary pt 1”

From Paye Yer

Source:The New Democrat – Lenny Bruce’s free speech rights under assault.

Keep in mind that Lenny Bruce’s act came out in the 1950s and up until the early 1960s when we were still living in this Leave it to Beaver Pleasantville, where a lot of Americans are supposed to live on the farm, or out West, type of culture.

The 1950s idea of political correctness was not saying anything that went against this establishment. Where sex and divorce wasn’t talked about, where government officials were considered gods and looked up too, where women’s place was in the home and where gays place was in the closet, jail, or a mental institution. Where everyone at least was supposed to take their parents word as gold and if you questioned them, you were committing a sin.

Imagine if you’re Lenny Bruce and this is the culture you live and work in and your act is not ahead of its time, but you might be twenty-years ahead of your time. Your act would be mainstream in 1975 or so and to a certain extent in the late 1960s in certain places, but you’re starting out in the early and mid 1950s where America was still supposed to be Pleasantville.

You have a comedian in Pleasantville whose literally being arrested and you have cops going to his shows for talking about things that the supposed culture and establishment of the time sees as unacceptable. Even with our liberal free speech and first amendment rights.

Lenny Bruce, was using swear words in a culture where words like damn, hell, bitch, bastard, ass, words that were very mainstream by the mid 1970s or so, that were considered very sinful and immoral in 1955, or so.

Lenny, wasn’t getting in trouble for calling for people to be hurt, or murdered, or libeling people, things that aren’t protected by the First Amendment. Bruce was being harassed and prosecuted by government for using adult language. And talking about adult topics like marriage, divorce, sex and using adult language. All things that are protected by our first amendment.

I think the closest comedian to compare Lenny Bruce with would be George Carlin. Who came onto the scene about ten-years after Bruce. But they have similar styles and the ability to take on the system, or establishment and inform people that America and their country isn’t as perfect as their government wants them to think it is.

The America that the 1950s Political Correctness Police, had real issues and concerns that need to be dealt with. And that talking about things even adult subjects issues that all Americans do in private at least is okay to talk about those things in public as well. And besides, we have a First Amendment that protects this speech anyway.

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USA Today: Kirsten Powers: ‘Donald Trump, Evangelical Scam Artist’

Source:USA Today– Real Donald Trump.

Source:The Daily Review

“I play to people’s fantasies,” Donald Trump wrote in his 1987 memoir, The Art of the Deal. “I call it truthful hyperbole,” he explained. “It’s an innocent form of exaggeration — and a very effective form of promotion.”

From USA Today

“Donald Trump Says BIBLE word of God #1 & Loves Israel in Mobile Alabama Full Speech Breaking News August 21 2015 – Why evangelicals supporting Trump? Part 4…

Source:U 2 Heaven Bound– Real Donald Trump in Mobile, Alabama.

From U 2 Heaven Bound

This is one example of why I love Kirsten Powers, her damn straight to the point honesty. And oh by the way, to anyone on the Right who now sees Kirsten Powers as one of their new heroes, she’s a self-described Liberal.

I was starting to think I was the only one who didn’t take Donald Trump seriously as a presidential candidate. To take The Donald seriously as a presidential candidate, I would have to take Michael Jordan seriously as a Major League baseball player. I guy who struck out in Double A. I would also have to take meat lovers seriously as vegans and I could go down the line, but I won’t. (Not enough time)

Donald Trump for president, is literally a realty show. He has no idea what he would do as president and probably doesn’t even want the job. His whole campaign and scam, really. I mean he’s anti-abortion? I mean this guy has less credibility on that issue than Mitt Romney. Donald Trump has been officially anti-abortion since he decided to run for the Republican nomination for president a few months ago.

As Kristen powers said he has a long record of supporting pro-choice abortion causes: he’s a fundamentalist Christian who has never asked for forgiveness from God. Who has been married and divorced multiple times who at best is still learning how to be a good husband.

The whole Donald Trump for presidential realty show/soap opera, goes to my whole point about ignorant voters who don’t know who they’re voting for. Donald Trump, is the best scam artist as far as the number of people he has fooled, perhaps of all-time.

He’s a billionaire and he’s never spent a day in jail for any of his scams. And because you have this so-called Silent Majority-Tea Party-Middle America- faction of the country, who still can’t believe its no longer the 1950s and that their America has disappeared, with all the new diversity and tolerance for different ways of living in America that are now considered acceptable to most Americans, Donald Trump has a Super Bowl sized audience to pull off his latest realty show/scam: Who Wants Donald Trump For President?

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The Onion: ‘Candidate Profile Donald Trump’

Source:The Onion– Donald J. Trump (Nationalist reality TV star, New York) God has blessed us by only producing one of him.

Source:The New Democrat

“Billionaire real estate mogul and television personality Donald Trump announced Tuesday plans to run in the 2016 presidential election, marking the first time he will formally seek the Republican nomination after floating the idea in several previous election cycles. Here are some key facts to know about Trump…

From The Onion

I’ve actually sort of gone out-of-my-way to not comment on Donald Trump for president for several reasons.

One, just about everything I would’ve said about him most of it, actually all of it negative has already been said. Even by Fox News to the point that The Donald has added Megyn Kelly to his women’s enemies list.

The fact that the Republican Party would have a joke like The Donald who is only able to run for president, because he’s a billionaire, just shows you how big of a joke the Republican Party is right now. I mean, their frontrunner’s last name is Bush. I’m sure Jeb is a good guy and all and probably would’ve been successful in life if his name was Kowalski and he grew up in Pittsburgh the son of a truck driver. But he’s the frontrunner, because he’s a Republican and his last name is Bush.

Don Trump, ( does anyone else call The Donald, Don ) is not an idiot and he’s not crazy. A big asshole, no argument here. An egomaniac, I’m still looking for a bigger egomaniac. Actually, I stopped looking when I first saw The Donald. He’s a guy who simply wants attention and for whatever he’s involved in to simply be about him.

The Donald is a one-man entertainment and comedy show who has no idea what he would do as president and has nothing to run on as far as what he’s in favor of and what he would do. I mean, the guy is a Republican, who is supposedly anti-immigration, even though he’s probably hired thousands of illegal immigrants. And those people not being from Ireland, or Britain, but Mexico and other Latin American countries.

How do you take someone like that seriously for president. He wants to be President of the United States and talks about our eighteen-trillion-dollar national debt and two of his companies have gone bankrupt. So ironically that sort of makes him an expert on our bankruptcy laws. What is The Donald’s message on fiscal policy? Don’t run the United States the way he ran his companies. Because it will fail and instead of filling for bankruptcy and being bailed out by taxpayers, we’ll try to get bailed out by China, or Saudi Arabia?

I did see the Republican debate on FNC on Thursday. And actually I think the FNC panel did a very good job questioning the candidates. I was expecting to see batting practice at a home run derby from the questioners. And see them loft up a lot of hanging curves and softballs at the candidates. For them to well hit out of the ballpark and look good. But as I was watching the debate I was sort of thinking to myself how would Saturday Night Live play this. And looking at The Donald, you don’t need to see SNL doing their version of this debate, because what they would’ve done is what we saw on Thursday.

The panel, asking The Donald very tough questions and trying to put him on the spot. With Trump coming back with some wisecracks to get the audience behind him. This is what running for President of the United States the most important job in the world is to The Donald. His own reality show and all about him and nothing else. With every network that covers politics picking up the series.

The reason why The Donald is in first place in a single a baseball league (as far as the quality of talent when you’re talking about the quality of candidates that they have) is because the state of the Republican Party right now. Not because of how great a presidential candidate that The Donald is, or his qualifications for being President of the United States.

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ABC News: Good Morning America: Representative Michele Bachmann Won’t Run For Re-Election

Source:ABC News– U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (Republican, Minnesota) announcing that she’s not running for reelection to the U.S. House, so she can go back home and get the help that she deserves. Actually, I don’t know what she’s saying here.

Source:FRS FreeState

“One of the founding members of the Tea Party Caucus announces she will retire from congress. For more on this story, click here:ABC News.”

From ABC News

I know we are supposed to have a citizen Congress with citizen Representatives and Senators who are supposed to represent the people. And as the great political satirist George Carlin once said, our politicians come from us and represent us. They come from our communities, go to our schools and so-forth, live in our communities. So we can’t really complain about the politicians that we have. Especially the House district that Representative Michele Bachmann represents.

I mean here’s a community that first elected Michele to the U.S. House and then reelected her three times. And had a better choice in at least two of those elections 2010 and 2012. I’m not familiar with her first two opponents, so the people who Michele Bachmann is supposed to represent can’t really complain about. Who represents them unless they didn’t vote for her and they would’ve perhaps moved to another House district in Minnesota. Where mental patients and escaped mental patients would be ineligible to run or serve in Congress, but they didn’t do that. But if George Carlin is right and our politicians are us, then America has a lot of problems.

The good news is that Michele Bachmann is leaving the House of Representatives and Congress. And they’ll have one less (let’s say) oddball among them, an eccentric member. And the House Intelligence Committee should actually receive more intelligence in the next Congress with Representative Bachmann no longer among them. Unless Michele is replaced by someone less qualified, which would be a real scary thought. And we’ll have at least one less person claiming that same-sex marriage is a threat to national security. And actually believing in what they are saying in Representative Bachmann’s case.

Michele who says big government is a threat to our freedom, but then proposes a constitutional amendment that would outlaw pornography. And give Uncle Sam the ability to control what Americans can do in their homes and personal lives. So there will be one less contradictory member of Congress and one less hypocrite. These are all good things and I’m not complaining.

But as a blogger who sometimes writes satire, this is bad news and its bad news for comedians because a lot of our material comes from statements that Michele Bachmann makes. So hopefully she’ll find a way to stay in the public eye. Perhaps as a verbal punching bag.

Michele Bachmann’s long journey of her long hard-fought presidential campaign of 2011, all four months of it ended. Her presidential campaign was run so badly that she ran for President in 2011 even though the presidential election was in 2012. She ran for President during the wrong year and then ended her campaign in December, 2011 after losing her birth state the Iowa Caucus in 2011. She considered running for U.S. Senate in 2012.

At least Michele would’ve run for Senate in a year where there was a Senate election. Against Senator Amy Klobuchar, which would’ve been Democrats best shot of knocking Michele out of Congress completely. Because she would’ve lost to Senator Klobuchar. But instead Michele had decided to do her constituents and state a favor and not run for reelection. And give Minnesota time to recover for her time in office.

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Focus On The Family: Dr. James Dobson- Ted Bundy’s Last Interview (1989)

Source:Focus On The Family– convicted serial murderer Ted Bundy, being interviewed by Dr. James Dobson, in 1989.

“I have found this video on the website “Veoh”, yet I was unable to find it on YouTube, so I have decided to download it from Veoh and upload it here, for a wider audience.

This video includes the full and uncut final interview of serial killer Theodore “Ted” Robert Bundy, made on 23rd January 1989, with Dr. James Dobson, right inside the Florida State Prison, situated in the city of Raiford, less than a day before his execution on the electric chair, which happened in the morning on 7:15 AM on the following day, with Ted Bundy being declared dead just one minute later, on 7:16 AM.

This video also includes an interview with Dr. James Dobson, at the beginning of the video and also at the end of the video, while the interview with Ted Bundy is to be found between these two sections. Again, I have searched a lot for the full interview with Ted Bundy on YouTube, yet I was unable to find any video on here, that includes the full, uncut interview and which also does not include any subtitles or any kind of audio delay. The video quality is the same video quality from the original video found on Veoh. I did also not cut or edit anything on it. The video is 55 minutes and 40 seconds long, yet after 55 minutes and 9 seconds, the last 31 seconds of the video only include an old-fashioned test screen, so there will be nothing more to see.”

From Q’nqüra 

When Dr. James Dobson who was literally one of the leaders of the Christian-Right in America with his social group Focus On The Family, when he interviewed Ted Bundy just before Bundy was executed at Florida State Prison in 1989, Bundy was tying to save his life at this point and explain why he committed all of those murders and rapes and perhaps hoped he could get his sentenced commuted to life in prison.

Source:Focus On The Family– convicted serial murderer Ted Bundy, being interviewed by Dr. James Dobson, in 1989.

Some background is needed for this interview: Dr. James Dobson is one of the leaders of the religious-right or the so-called Moral Majority in America, that looks down on alcohol, tobacco, pornography, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, to be more specific. And Ted Bundy is one of the most successful serial murderers we’ve ever seen in the United States. Ted Bundy is trying to simply save his life. And Dr. Dobson wants to show Americans the dangers of pornography.

And late in his life I guess after Ted Bundy finally admitted that he was guilty of the murders he was convicted of he started explaining why they happened and how they came about. And as he says in the interview he’s not blaming alcohol and pornography for what he did. And takes responsibility for these murders at least in this interview. But saying that he was under the influence of alcohol and pornography during these crimes. Which gave Dr. Dobson an opportunity to push his message of why alcohol and pornography are bad for society.

This was about Ted Bundy trying to save his life and show people who he’s not as evil as he was portrayed because of all the horrible murders and rapes that he committed. That was Bundy’s motivation here and why he also admitted to other murders that he wasn’t convicted of. Because he wanted a stay of execution and not be executed. Even if that meant living the rest of his life in prison.

Dr. Dobson at the very least was smart enough to see that. But I believe used this interview anyway to try to showcase what he sees as the dangers of pornography in America.

You can also see this post at FRS FreeState, on Blogger.

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AP: Raw Video- ‘U.S. House Rejects Sex-Selection Abortion Ban’

Source:Associated Press– U.S. Representative Phil Gingrey (Republican, Georgia) presiding over the U.S. House of Representatives.

Source:FRS FreeState

“The House on Thursday fell short in an effort to ban abortions based on the sex of the fetus as Republicans and Democrats made an election-year appeal for women’s votes.”

From the Associated Press

I guess one of the disadvantages of having a two-party political system is that you get all the fringes stuck into two political parties, with one party having their own vision of big government and the other party having there’s. Which is what we have now in the Republican Party and Democratic Party.

Source:The Daily Press– I just wish every sane, sober, intelligent American (which seems to be a shrinking list of people everyday) would just say hell no to the nanny state. And let free people live their own lives.

I would never get an abortion myself (and not just because I’m a man, which makes that biologically impossible) because even if I didn’t want the baby, I prefer options like adoption over aborting potential human lives.

And I sure as hell would never abort a fetus because I didn’t like the gender of the baby. If gender equality (which is what leftists used to claim to care about) means anything, you don’t abort fetuses simply because of the fetuses gender.

But to pass a law out of Congress (even if it’s just in the House) banning abortions because the parents don’t like the gender of the baby, I mean you can say that they’re stupid for doing that, crazy even, but to put them in prison for simply being crazy idiots and perhaps their crazy idiot doctor for doing that, looks like Big Government with way too much free time on his hands, living such a boring life that he feels the need to tell other people what to do, to fill his time and days.

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The Onion: ‘Minnesota Braces For The Return of Michele Bachmann’

Source:The Onion– U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (Republican, Minnesota) announcing that she’s returning to the hospital to get the full-attention that she deserves. Actually, I have no idea what the hell she’s talking about here.

Source:The Daily Press

“A fight kind of runs out of steam 15 seconds in, George Washington laments that his vision of the future has not been realized, and Philip Morris releases its new line of Marlboro PM cigarettes. It’s the week of January 9th, 2012.”

From The Onion

The State of Minnesota has had five months to recover from the return of Representative Michele Bachmann, who thank God doesn’t represent the whole state, only 600K or so Minnesotans have to put up with her. And a lot of those people are mental patients, which is Representative Bachmann’s base of support, being that she’s one of them, just on the lam. You would think that she would be easy to track down, seeing that she’s a U.S. Representative who works in Congress. But that’s perhaps a different story.

I thought I would give a status report on the damage that Representative Bachmann has caused. Report what’s she been saying and then report on what’s actually been happening.

This week Representative Bachmann endorsed Mitt Romney for President and within five minutes of that, Governor Romney’s polls with Independents plummeted and he lost ten points. The Flip Flopper in Chief, managed to bring those numbers back by supporting a constitutional amendment to make same-sex Marriage the law of the land. Which won him support with the homosexual community, something that only Mitt Romney can do. Being that he has a clones of himself.

In other news Representative Bachmann announced that there isn’t a Republican War on Women. Five minutes later she came out for a law that would ban women from the workforce. Her husband Marcus Bachmann also came out of the closet and supports Governor Romney’s constitutional amendment to make same-sex marriage the law of the land as well. He also endorsed Mitt, but endorsed his clone Mitt, the liberal Mitt by accident. So the liberal Mitt picked up points in the homosexual community as well.

Which doesn’t do much good for the real Mitt, whoever that person is.
The real Mitt is MIA and there’s an all points bulletin now to try to track down the real Mitt. Officials believe they know what the real Mitt looks like. They’ve seen pictures of him and have talked to Mitt’s other clones. Neoconservative Mitt, Moderate Mitt and Conservative Mitt. But have been unable to track down the real Mitt so far.

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The Onion: ‘Did Media Treat Michele Bachmann Unfairly Because She’s an Insane Woman?’

Source:The Onion– U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (Republican, Minnesota) unfortunately not on the road to sanity and mental health.

Source:The Daily Press

“The First Responders debate whether the media is harder on Michele Bachmann because she is a woman who is crazy. (Aired 11/1/11)”

From The Onion

In many ways it’s easier to get attention these days, especially in the era of the information technology revolution, by saying things that make you sound like you’re from another planet. Or in Michele Bachmann’s case, sound like you’re running for President, of another planet, who wants to hear a politician say: “I’ll do what I believe is in the best interest of the country. I’ll make decisions based on what I believe is the best thing to do”.

Every time there’s a politician or candidate who speaks like that, you can hear insomniacs snoring in the background, getting the best sleep of their lifetimes. Perhaps introducing their brains to sleep for the first time in their lives.

It’s the politicians and candidates, who say things, just to use Michele Bachmann as an example (for no apparent reason) who says things like: “same-sex marriage is the biggest threat to our national security”. I guess sometime before she said that, the United States won the War on Terror. I could’ve swore the War on Terror was a bigger threat. Or the national debt or deficit, unemployment were bigger threats. Perhaps Representative Bachmann misses the House Intelligence Committee meetings that she’s a member of, that released that information. (Her shrink wouldn’t let her out of the institution that day)

Maybe Barack Obama actually is God and fixed all the problems that her inherited (except for gays getting married and living happily ever after, while not bothering anyone) and hearing rumors that President Obama was God in disguise as a human being and President of the United States, was not a rumor, but a fact.

So now the biggest threat to American civilization is actually same- sex marriage. If you’re having a hard time reading that with a straight face, imagine how hard it was to write it. You know with the typing and everything, but hey maybe Representative Bachmann’s gay husband Marcus can fix the same-sex marriage issue, by converting gay people to straight.

Its much easier I would say especially in America, because of our size and wealth (310M people, the largest economy in the world) and how far advanced we are technology wise and everything for mentally unbalanced people (lets say to be nice) to get attention for themselves and whatever they think they are trying to accomplish.

The reason for is this is because of how abnormal the mentally handicapped are and they do and say things, that sane people just wouldn’t say or do. Mitt Romney only gets media attention for one of his speeches, when he says something that makes him seem out of touch. Like when he said he only made 400K$ giving speeches. Well, 90% of the country would love to only 400K$ a year. But generally people don’t remember much if anything that Mitt said in one of his speeches.

Mitt isn’t very memorable as a speaker because he’s one of the sanest people to ever run for President. The guy is about as exciting as a bowl of oatmeal, which might be insulting to oatmeal. But when someone lets again use Michele Bachamann, says something that sounds so far out in left field (or right field in Michelle’s case) that they couldn’t see centerfield with binoculars or a telescope, it gets reported right away, because it’s crazy, interesting and provocative. And gives the “mainstream media” something else to make fun of.

If you’re lonely and feel like you’re not receiving your fair share of attention, give a crazy speech, say things like “America should be less Socialist like China”. Take pictures of your sensitive area and post them on Twitter, especially if you’re a public official. It will always work and you’ll always get attention for doing (excuse the expression) doing crazy shit like that. But one thing it just might not be the kind of attention you’re looking for. But as the saying goes, all free media is good media. I know I said no more blog posts about Michele Bachmann until she runs for reelection for House. But this popped in my head.

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Talking Points Memo: U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann- ‘We Should be Less Socialist Like China’

Source:Talking Points Memo– U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (Republican, Minnesota) displaying how you look and sound when you don’t take your medicine. And perhaps when you don’t eat your fruits and vegetables, and perhaps drink enough water as well.

Source:The Daily Press

“Bachmann: We Should Be Less Socialist… Like China”

From Talking Points Memo

“Social welfare in China has undergone various changes throughout history. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is responsible for the social welfare system. Currently the form of social welfare is in between 40-75% according to their means of production.

Welfare in China is linked to the hukou system. Those holding non-agricultural hukou status have access to a number of programs provided by the government, such as healthcare, employment, retirement pensions, housing, and education. While rural residents traditionally were expected to provide for themselves,[1] in 2014 the Chinese Communist Party announced reforms aimed at providing rural citizens access to historically urban social programs.[2]

In pre-1980s reform China, the socialist state fulfilled the needs of society from cradle to grave. Child care, education, job placement, housing, subsistence, health care, and elder care were largely the responsibility of the work unit as administered through state-owned enterprises and agricultural communes and collectives. As those systems disappeared or were reformed, the “iron rice bowl” approach to welfare changed. Article 14 of the constitution stipulates that the state “builds and improves a welfare system that corresponds with the level of economic development.

In 2004 China experienced the greatest decrease in its poorest population since 1999. People with a per capita income of less than 668 renminbi (RMB; US$80.71) decreased by 2.9 million people or 10 percent; those with a per capita income of less than 924 RMB (US$111.64) decreased by 6.4 million people or 11.4 percent, according to statistics from the State Council’s Poverty Reduction Office.[3]

Welfare reforms since the late 1990s have included unemployment insurance, medical insurance, workers’ compensation insurance, maternity benefits, communal pension funds, individual pension accounts, universal health care.[4]

Furthermore, for many of the minority groups, there are some benefits available.[5]

During July 2020, Beijing social security center put restrictions on the social security withholding and payment, which was allowed to be operational previously via third party organizations.”

From Wikipedia 

Representative Michele Bachmann to me at least makes the case for why every single candidate running for President, should at least have to pass a modern social studies, as well as history class, before they are even eligible to run for President. And have to take and pass those course like a year before they decide to run for President.

Representative Bachmann also defines at least one version of the term asshole, as someone who speaks out of their ass, because they don’t know what the hell they are talking about. She sounds like an auto mechanic or janitor trying to sound like an expert on brain surgery or astronomy.

According to Representative Bachmann, America should be less socialist like China. Apparently not aware that China is the People’e Republic of China. They are a Communist State, that yes have in the last 30 years has privatized a lot of their economy and industries, which is why they’ve seen the economic growth and reductions in poverty that they’ve seen. But they are a Communist State that even has a welfare system and a generous one at that.

I don’t know where Representative Bachmann gets her information or intelligence, but it’s not from the House Intelligence Committee (where she’s a member of) or she’s simply lying out of her ass and represents the stereotype of the American politician as someone who says what she or he thinks people want to hear and what she wants them to hear, but wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped her or him in the face, because she’s been lying or bullshitting for so long.

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David Rosman: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and Reverend Jerry Falwell- Liberty Baptist College (1983)

Source:David Rosman– U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) being introduced at Liberty University.

Source:FRS FreeState

“On October 4, 1983, Rev. Jerry Falwell introduced Sen. Edward Kennedy, who gave one of his most famous and praised speeches on Faith, Truth and Tolerance in America.”

From David Rosman

“Sen. Ted Kennedy speaks at Liberty Baptist College on Oct. 4, 1983 as Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Sr. watches on the right. (Photos by Les Schofer)

Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. said the Liberty University community will be remembering the Kennedy family in prayer.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, a friend of Liberty University’s founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, and his family, died late Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass., after a long battle with brain cancer.

Kennedy, 77, had spoken at Liberty and conversed with Falwell, Sr. on many occasions.

Jerry Falwell, Jr. wrote about Kennedy’s relationship with his father in the July/August “Liberty Journal.” An excerpt is below.”

Source:Liberty University– U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) and Reverend Jerry Falwell, in 1983.

From Liberty University

Senator Ted Kennedy, would be one of the few Northeastern Progressive Democrats that could give a speech at a Southern Evangelical university like Liberty University. Because Senator Kennedy was someone who could work outside of his element. Especially when he didn’t have enough power to get everything he wanted on an issue.

Ted Kennedy was a legislature before he was a politician. Which is why you see Senator Kennedy on the same stage not debating with Reverend Jerry Falwell (one of the fathers of the Religious-Right in America) and they make about as odd of a couple as Reverend Jesse Jackson giving a speech at a KKK rally. Something just seems odd about it.

But you have to remember that two of Senator Kennedy’s best friends in Congress were Senator Orrin Hatch and John Boehner. (Now Speaker of the House) Two of the most Conservative Republicans in Congress. But Senator Kennedy was one of the best speakers when it came to truth and tolerance and civil rights in America.

You don’t have the legislative record in Congress as a Senator, without the ability to not only work with your colleagues in the Senate and people in your party, but you also have to not only be able to work with Senator’s from the other party, but people in the House of Representatives as well. At least in your own party if your party is in the majority there. Ted Kennedy, understood all of that.

Perhaps not as articulate as Lyndon Johnson, Martin King or Bill Clinton, but you knew when Ted Kennedy spoke about those issues, that he was speaking from his heart that these were issues that really believed in. Which is why Senator Kennedy always had one of the best civil rights records in Congress.

And Senator Kennedy’s contribution to the immigration reform debate in 2006-07, is a perfect example of that. Truth and tolerance and civil rights, are just as important as they were in 1983 84 when this speech was given, as it is today. To speak what’s on your mind and tell the truth and what you really believe.

Tolerance and cooperation, is something we didn’t have enough in politics and the rest of the country back then. But at least in the 1980s both parties believed in government and governing. And we’re smart enough to know they had to work with the other party in order to govern.

Now it’s about how do you make the other side look bad so you can score politically. And that has just gotten worst today. Tolerance, treat people as you would want to be treated. Until they’ve proven they’re not worthy of your respect. And judge people by the content of the character, not by the color of their skin. Or the shape of their face or style of their hair or any other thing that has to do with their race or ethnicity.

Don’t judge people by their name, or what religion they practice (if any) what gender they are attracted to physically and so on. That we treat people as people not groups. We don’t treat people special because they are a member of a group, good or bad. That we judge all people as people not members of groups.

Which is something that Senator Kennedy understood very well for the most part. And is something that as we become even more diverse as a country is a message that needs to be understood and communicated even more today. Seeing Ted Kennedy with Jerry Falwell on the same stage not debating each other and actually being nice to each other.

Ted Kennedy and Jerry Falwell, were the definition of Odd Couple. Perhaps they could’ve had their own sitcom. Like the Irish Baptist, or Out of Place or something like that, Strange Bedfellows. Except they would both be straight. Jerry Falwell getting on Ted Kennedy for falling off bar stools and Ted Kennedy getting on the Reverend for preaching to the choir in their living room, literally as he’s trying to sleep. An Odd Couple that could get along.

But even people who are clearly opponents when it comes to politics and have to defeat other side to accomplish their goals, can get along with each other. If they understand that they are opponents and not enemies that are always in combat seeking to destroy the other side.

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