Real Time: Bill Maher and Panel- Talking About the U.S. Constitution

Source:Real Time With Bill Maher– Republican strategist Michelle Caruso Cabrera.

Source:The Daily Press

“Bill and his roundtable guests (Matt Taibbi, Kevin Smith, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, John Heilemann & Tavis Smiley), answer fan questions.”

From Real Time With Bill Maher

Unless you’re a real Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian or perhaps even Independent, chances are you generally like the U.S. Constitution. If you’re a so-called Progressive today Neoconservative or Christian-Theocrat, chances are you don’t like the U.S. Constitution. Because it constricts you from doing what you want the Federal Government to do and make it bigger.

Today’s Progressives would like to see the Federal Government get so big to the point, that it would provide a lot of the services that the private sector and state and local governments currently provide. The 10th Amendment and Property Rights, makes that a lot more difficult for them to do that. As FDR found out during the New Deal back in the 1930s.

So today’s Progressives who are really European Social Democrats, they would like to rewrite the U.S. Constitution to give the Federal Government more power. Including taking out some Constitutional Amendments, like the 2nd Amendment the Right to Self-Defense. And perhaps even amend the First Amendment when it comes to the media. They would like to see a public media, not a “corporate Media” as they would call it. And even be able to regulate hate speech in America.

As the Bush Administration found out, the U.S .Constitution got in their way when it came to indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. Neoconservatives would also like to amend the First Amendment so that it would only cover Freedom of Religion for Christians and political speech. Well that it is political speech, as long as the people are saying things they agree with. And would like to eliminate the Right of Privacy, the Fourth Amendment and perhaps a few others.

The Christian Right people I call Theocrats or better yet a religious cult, people who see marijuana as immoral, but have religious and political views that seem so out of space like they are on Fantasy Island and seem high on something illegal. Basically view people who don’t live their lives as they do, they are immoral and should be in jail or something and would love to amend the First Amendment to outlaw adult entertainment.

So the Christian Right can censor certain forms of entertainment they don’t like. Ban non-Christian religions and turn America into a Christian theocracy. Where life especially for women would become very restrictive with dress codes and that sort of thing. No more Right to Privacy, because now adultery and pre-marital sex, kids out-of-wedlock would be illegal. Pornography obviously illegal, alcohol and perhaps certain forms of dancing would be illegal.

It would be like living in Iran but a Theocracy like this, would make Iran look like a liberal democracy. That only 1960s Hippies could dream up in one of their pipe dreams. So converted Progressives and ex-Libertarians like Bill Maher, should think twice about calling for a new U.S. Constitution, because he probably wouldn’t like the results of it. If Progressives want America to become like Scandinavia or Canada, then they need a new U.S. Constitution to achieve that.

Today’s Progressives would need a new Constitution to establish all the democratic socialism. And to give the Federal Government all the power over us that they want to establish. If Neoconservatives want to make America like Russia, then they should move there or get into power and establish Martial Law, which is what happened in Egypt fifty years ago.

If Theocrats want to make America like Iran, well they should move to Iran, because they aren’t getting to the White House in America. No Presidential Candidate in America runs as a Theocrat and gets elected President. But for Liberals, Conservatives and Libertarians, we just need to defend, promote and speak up for the U.S. Constitution. To bring even more individual liberty than we already have.

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Bob Dylan & Joan Baez: 1963 March on Washington

Source:Reuters– Joan Baez and Bob Dylan performing at the 1963 March On Washington.
“Singers Joan Baez and Bob Dylan perform together during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in this August 28, 1963 file photo shot by U.S. Information Agency photographer Rowland Scherman and provided to Reuters by the U.S. National Archives in Washington on August 21, 2013. In the coming week, Washington will play host to an array of events marking the 50th anniversary of the march and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
REUTERS/Rowland Scherman/U.S. Information Agency/U.S. National Archives (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY ENTERTAINMENT) ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS”

From Reuters

“Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Freedom Singers, and Len Chandler performing ‘Eyes On The Prize’ at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28th 1963. The song is a well-known folk song largely associated with the Civil Rights Movement.

Source is straight from the archives, albeit covered with a logo and timestamps.”

Source:History In Motion– Eyes On The Prize performed by Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, and others.

From History In Motion

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez 1963 March on Washington. Acesse:Laura Chiatti.”

Source:An Blog– 1963 March On Washington.

From An Blog

Eyes On The Prize is the perfect song I believe to close out the 1963 March On Washington, because it told the American Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King and his followers not to lose focus and that there’s still much work to do.

Keep in mind, this is in the late summer of 1963 in Washington, when it’s still hot and humid around there and a few months before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and just a couple months after President Kennedy publicly endorsed the civil rights legislation that was in Congress.

The 1964 Civil Rights Law hadn’t even been passed yet, that didn’t happen to the summer of the 1964. Which meant African-Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities could still be denied their constitutional rights and access to American society simply because of their race or ethnicity.

I think what the summer of 1963 is about with the March On Washington sort of being the Super Bowl of that summer (even though the Super Bowl was 4 years away) is that to paraphrase Bob Dylan: times were a changin. I believe the 1950s finally ended in the summer of 63 culturally and a lot of younger Americans recognized the new America where America would be for everyone. Not just for Anglo-Saxon males.

The civil rights movement was part of the new America, but Hippies come into force politically and culturally in 1965 with so many Americans now feeling the freedom to be themselves and not have to live and think just like their parents and grandparents.

You can also se this post on Blogger.

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Minister Malcolm X: ‘By Any Means Necessary’

Source:Black Past– Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X.

“Malcolm X’s life changed dramatically in the first six months of 1964. On March 8, he left the Nation of Islam. In May he toured West Africa and made a pilgrimage to Mecca, returning as El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. While in Ghana in May, he decided to form the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Malcolm returned to New York the following month to create the OAAU and on June 28 gave his first public address on behalf of the new organization at the Audubon Ballroom in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. That address appears below.”

From Black Past

“Malcolm X By Any Means Necessary Compilation”

Source:Baseball Ruski– Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X.

From Baseball Ruski

This photo is from a speech or from several speeches that Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X gave in the early or mid 1960s about what he means by Any Means Necessary and his vision for Black Power in America. But the video that this photo is from is not currently available online right now.

Source:Malcolm X Network– Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X during the 1960s.

As Minister Malcolm X said multiple times in this video, he wasn’t advocating violence by African-Americans or any other Americans. His vision was about freedom for the African-American community and to accomplish that by any means necessary. What he was saying was that if an African-American is under physical attack by a Caucasian or anyone else, that African-Americans have the right to self-defense and to defense themselves when they’re under physical attack. Which is obviously very different from what Reverend Dr. Martin L. King was talking about which was nonviolence at any costs, even when African-Americans are under physical attack.

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Minister Malcolm X: ‘Our History Was Destroyed by Slavery (1963)’

Source:Unstripped Voice– Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X, appearing on the Chicago City Desk, in 1963.

“MALCOLM X – Our History Was Destroyed By Slavery (1963) Check all our videos/docs and share to your friends:Unstripped Voice.”

From Unstripped Voice

Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X appearing on the Chicago City Desk talk show in 1963, arguing that slavery has robbed African-Americans their history and ancestry.

Source:Malcolm X Network– Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X, appearing on the Chicago City Desk, in 1963.

Malcolm X’s message was about empowering African-Americans who were simply being held down in America because of their race, to have the same freedom to live their own lives as Caucasian-Americans have. It’s really what his message is about and doing whatever it took to accomplish that and allowing for African-Americans to be able to decide for themselves how best to get to freedom in America. Even if that means going their own way and simply living in their own communities. And as he grew and developed personally and professionally, he realized that not all Caucasian-Americans were evil and devils.

Malcolm X, concluded and rightfully so, that it was the ignorant people in the Caucasian community that were the problem and need to be confronted and taken on. But the goal of Malcolm X’s message was always the same: empowering African-Americans to be able to own their own business’s and homes and so-forth. And not have to be dependent on anyone including government for them to live. But he wanted them to have the power to be able to take care of themselves.

Minster Malcolm, was a big believer in education, economic development and economic opportunity. Something that Liberals such as myself and Conservatives, should really respect about him.

Minster Malcolm X and Dr. Martin King, were both great men and both wanted freedom for the African-American community. They just went about it different ways and had different messages in how to accomplish those goals.

Dr. King, wanted African-Americans to be freed from poverty and racism. Minister Malcolm, wanted the same community to be free. And be able to live their own lives and be able to take care of themselves. Not have to live off of government even though very generous benefits. Not have to live off of government at all. True individual freedom including economic freedom. The ability to take care of yourself and be able to defend yourself. Malcolm, was a true freedom fighter.

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Bria Parks: ‘Malcolm X Project History’

 

Source:Bria Parks– Muslim Minister Malcolm X.

Source:The Daily Press 

“Malcolm X Video Project (history)”

From Bria Parks

I don’t believe Malcolm X was a racist at least at the point when he died. And I don’t believe he was a segregationist, meaning that people of different races should never interact with each other. But he was a separatist. Someone who did believe that integration wasn’t the magic bullet to the problems of African-Americans.

Minister Malcolm believed that this community should be empowered and even empowered themselves to be able to handle their own problems and issues and stand up for their rights. And not be put down by racist Caucasians, or anyone else.

And the African-Americans should stand up for their constitutional rights and not expect that others will give them to them or give them anything else. As well as treating people as people and not members of groups.

Minister Malcolm believed in empowering African-Americans to be able to handle their own affairs. Because this was his community, and not expecting others to empower them, or be dependent on government and others who are already independent to take care of them for them. Malcolm X’s message was truly about African-American freedom. Not some violent revolution.

Unlike Fidel Castro, who was a Marxist and someone who believed the central state should be in complete control and that the state should be responsible for everyone’s well-being, Malcolm X was a true freedom fighter. Someone who wanted to empower an entire community of Americans to take charge and complete responsibility over their own lives.

Today’s Conservatives and Libertarians, should actually at least respect Minister Malcolm and not put him down as some racist thug. Because he was someone who truly believed in individual freedom and not government dependence for his community.

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Raymond Fisher: ‘Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Debate’

Source:Raymond Fisher– Minister Malcolm X, I believe being interviewed at Berkeley, California in the 1960s.

Source:The Daily Press

“American history as it’s usually taught likes to focus on rivalries, and there are many involving big personalities and major historical stakes. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. These figures are set up to represent the “both sides” we expect of every political question. While the issues are oversimplified (there are always more than two sides and politics isn’t a sport) the figures in question genuinely represented very different perspectives on power and progress.

When it comes to the history of the Civil Rights movement, we are given another such rivalry, between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Their ideas and influence are pitted against each other as though they had shared a debate stage. In fact, the two leaders met only once, during Senate debates on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “King was stepping out of a news conference,” writes DeNeen L. Brown at The Washington Post, when Malcolm X, dressed in an elegant black overcoat and wearing his signature horn-rimmed glasses, greeted him.”

From Open Culture

“Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Debate”

Source:Raymond Fisher– Nation of Islam Minister Malcolm X, at the University of California Berkeley, in 1963.

From Raymond Fisher 

This was the ultimate debate (that never happened in person between Reverend King and Minister Malcolm X) as it related to the civil rights movement and perhaps generally as well, because it involved the two most effective and intelligent spokespeople when it came to civil rights and equal rights. And two of the most effective spokespeople when it came to individual freedom in general.

Before the civil rights legislation of the 1960s and to a certain extent after that, African-Americans didn’t have the same freedom as Caucasian-Americans. Even though they had the same constitutional rights under law as every other American in the country.

African-Americans simply weren’t getting their constitutional rights enforced. Which is exactly what Dr. Martin King and Minister Malcolm X were trying to accomplish. They wanted African-Americans to have the same freedom as any other American in the country, they just had two different approaches.

The MLK approach was to show the country that they were freedom fighters fighting for freedom, but they weren’t trying to destroy the country. Just the system that held them down and we’re going to accomplish it by exercising their constitutional rights of Freedom of Speech and Assembly.

Malcolm X’s approach was different, that the way to destroy the system, was by any means necessary, even if that means violence. That what they were fighting for which was their own freedom just as the Caucasian community had, should already be there’s. And that the racists should just get-out-of-the-way, or they’ll be run over. That there wasn’t any negotiation, because African-Americans already had the freedom under law and under the Constitution that every other community had in America. Which meant that racist Southern Anglo-Saxon bigots and other racist Caucasians, should either step aside, or they’ll be forcefully removed by the African-American community.

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ICNA Chicago: ‘The Life of Malcolm X’

Source:ICNA Chicago– from a documentary about Minister Malcolm X.

Source:FRS FreeState

“America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem.” Malcolm X

Islamic Learning Foundation* Presents:

THE LIFE OF MALCOLM X… a class
Taught By: Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Saturday February 3rd ~ 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Location: Islamic Foundation 300 W. Highridge, Villa Park, IL 60181
Register: http://www.ymsite.org/mx or http://www.ICNAchicago.org
Registration Fee: $10 Student, $20 Adult
Includes course materials, multimedia presentations, lecture, food, interactive web forum, and articles.

Details: Covering the life of Br. El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X), with special emphasis on his last years and some of the many lessons we need to extract from his life.

S p o n s o r e d b y :
-Islamic Learning Foundation islamiclearningfoundation.org
-Young Muslims http://www.ymsite.org
-ICNA Chicago: http://www.icnachicago.org

“I am and always will be a Muslim. My religion is Islam.” Malcolm X
“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” Malcolm X

*Islamic Learning Foundation is a department of ICNA and Young Muslims”

From ICNA Chicago

Malcolm X, represents to me many ways what the American Dream and what that is and should be. Someone who started from very rough beginnings, essentially came from nothing and worked his way up in life. And got so far, that people actually saw him as a threat, or his message of freedom and responsibility, not just for African-Americans, but for all Americans, as threats.

By the time Minister Malcolm died, he believed that people should be judged as people. Who moved towards Dr. Martin King when it came to civil rights. By the time he died, even as a young man he was in prison and at one point was even a racist who saw all Caucasians as racists or “White Devils”, and not just as people and not just the people. And not just the racists, but all Caucasians.

But once Malcolm left prison and left the Nation of Islam, he got himself educated and started hanging out with Caucasians that weren’t racist and believed in similar things. And learned better and that perhaps he could work with them so they could all accomplish the same things. That all Americans should be treated equally under law and not be held down because of their race.

I wrote a post arguing that Malcolm moved to believing in racial tolerance a few months ago. But Malcolm X’s message was about freedom and responsibility, that people shouldn’t expect to be given things, that if we wanted to achieve anything in life and be successful, that we had to go out and achieve those things and not settle for failure.

Malcolm believed that people, shouldn’t settle for poverty, or anything else. That the way to avoid these things, we’re to go out and get ourselves educated, work hard and be productive. Rather than expect government, or anyone else to hand us those things. Which is why I believe if Malcolm X were alive today, he would be a Classical Liberal Democrat or Conservative, not exactly registered to either party. But he would have that mindset, that people shouldn’t expect government, or other people to take care of themselves. But they needed to be able to do that for themselves, if they expected to be successful in life.

Had both Malcolm X and Martin King lived a natural life (meaning they didn’t die at a young age and lived into their senior years and not have been murdered, or killed, but died through natural causes) America would be a much different country and not just for African-Americans. Both of them would’ve helped a lot of people who weren’t free to live their own lives. Be able to achieve those things for themselves by preaching the message of individual freedom and personal responsibility through education.

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Sarah McLachlan: ‘I Will Remember You’

Source:Sarah McLachlan– seems unforgettable to me.

Source:The Daily Press

“Sarah McLachlan – mv – i will remember you
one of my favs. From her album Rarities, B-sides & Other Stuff (1996)
or you could find it on The Brothers McMullen soundtrack (1995 Seamus Egan Edward Burns)”

From Sarah McLachlan Fan

Not a better message for this Memorial Day or any other Memorial Day.

Source:The Daily Press– As much as we’re supposed to love and celebrate Memorial Day and have such a great time on it that perhaps we forget all about it the very next day, it really is the day that we should remember everyone who fought to gave us that freedom and protect our freedom and even gave their lives so we can keep our freedom.

The United States takes one day out of the year officially to remember and celebrate everyone who has served our country in combat and in our services. And the people who gave their lives and health, to serve their country and to protect everything that we value as a country. Which is our freedom, the ability for Americans to live our own lives.

Memorial Day is not about weekend sales or parties or cookouts or the unofficial start of summer, in at least the Mid Atlantic and Southeast. And the first good opportunity to go to the beach. We just do those things as Americans to celebrate Memorial Day. We use our freedom to do the things, to celebrate Memorial Day, that our veterans have their gives lives and health, to allow us the freedom to, throw a party, go to a party, go to the pool, or go to the beach.

Memorial Day, isn’t about perhaps the best three-day weekend of the year. It’s about the freedom to celebrate that day and that weekend and about the sacrifices that our veterans have made.

Our veterans have made those sacrifices and are still doing that today, with all of our troops around the world, so we can have the freedom to celebrate that day, those three beautiful hot days. (At least where I live) That we can enjoy, because we have the freedom to enjoy them, because of what our veterans have sacrificed to give us that freedom.

So as we are celebrating this beautiful great day, going to our cookouts and parties, going to the pool, going to the beach, take at least a moment to see why you are able to do those things and remember that Memorial Day is not Party Day, it’s not Cookout Day, it’s not Beach Day.

What we do to celebrate Memorial Day are things that we do to celebrate and enjoy what is Memorial Day. And that we wouldn’t be able to celebrate Memorial Day if it wasn’t for the sacrifices that our veterans and their families have made so we do the things we do to celebrate Memorial Day.

I promise this will be the only political thing I say on this post, but if there’s one day that we as Americans can come together and to celebrate, even as divided as a country that we are and have been for a while now, it should be Memorial Day. Because Memorial Day is about celebrating the people who have made it possible. For us to disagree and even be disagreeable with each other as a country.

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Alan Alda: ‘Through The Wisecracks’

Source:Venus– the great comedic actor and comedian Alan Alda, as U.S. Army Captain Benjamin Hawkeye Pierce, from CBS’s MASH.

Source:The Daily Press

“M*A*S*H – Season 11 Episode 5 – WHO KNEW
Hawkeye gives a serious eulogy for new nurse Millie Carpenter, who we never see and no one really knows. She is killed overnight by a land mine after a date with him.

This episode is written by Elias Davis and David Pollock and is one of nine episodes directed by the late Harry Morgan (Col. Potter). I love how they replace the laugh track with the singing and chirping of birds.

PSALM 23
A Psalm of David.
THE LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

From Venus

“Alan Alda was the leader of the wise cracks, I think we can all agree on that.
Yet, from time to time, he would turn from “shallow cut up” to “deep personal reflection”. We often remember the quick one liners, so let’s take a walk into the serious side of the Hawkeye character.”

From MASH Fan

“They say with age come wisdom so therefore I don’t have wrinkles, I have wise cracks!!”

Source:Spice of Life– good quote about sarcasm.

MASH, is my favorite sitcom of all-time, because of the writing and Alan Alda is one my favorite comedic actors of all-time. But also because of the writing, they could find humor everywhere and it was humor that you hadn’t heard before. Which is my style of humor. They would see a situation, or somebody and right away spontaneously find the humor in it. Rather than borrowing a line from someone, or something else.

A lot of the sitcoms and movies today, they find something that works like in a focus group and they repeat over and over, in show after show and movie after movie. So you wind up hearing the same lines on the street, because they heard those lines on some show, or movie they just saw. Rather than thinking for them self. Hollywood’s gotten lazy with its humor, so the people on the street have gotten lazy with there’s. That’s just not me, my humor is spontaneous, off the cuff, from my own brain, rather than someone else’s.

If you were to classify my sense of humor, I would tell it’s Captain Benjamin Hawkeye Pierce. Not saying I’m as funny as either Hawkeye or Alan Alda (I’ll let you decide for yourself) but that’s my sense of humor. I see things and try to look for the funny side of them, even if they’re really serious and even dangerous. Not to make fun of people or bad situations and try to make them seen less serious than they are, but to try to show people the funny side of a person or situation. And to let people know that it’s not the end or the world can we or you can get through this.

Not every situation deserves or should have a funny side, but without humor, I’m not sure life is worth living, because there’s so much bullshit that we all have to live with and if we can’t make fun of it, we might as well all check into mental institutions or look for the nearest bridge to jump off.

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Tom Cochrane: ‘Life is a Highway’

Source:Jessica Seiler– from Tom Cochrane’s song.

“Life is a Highway: I want to ride it all night long. It’s in my blood, it’s all around. Just tell em we’re survivors.”

From Jessica Seiler

I’m a laid back guy who believes that the happier you are in life the better off you’ll be. The less people you’ll piss off, the more people will like you and the better you’ll live and the longer you’ll live.

I’m a laid back guy who believes that life is not about whether you face tough times, or not or get knocked down or not. Thats a part of life, it happens to everyone. The question is whether you accept your reality and complain that life is unfair, or do you get back up and fix your reality. I believe that every problem that people faces in life can be overcome. It’s just a matter of finding a solution and keeping your cool. Don’t complain about the problem itself, just fix it.

If people can just take deep breaths & remember to breathe, they’re automatically better off because that relieves stress. Life is not supposed to be easy or hard. Life is what you make of it for yourself and about the choices that you make and what you do with the opportunities that you have. And in many cases those opportunities aren’t given to you, but you have to go out and make them for yourselves. I’m not saying this is exactly what Tom Cochrane is saying here, but that’s the message I get from life is a highway and you need to do the best with it that you can.

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