MyFox
 

Hal Eisner's Blog

by Hal_Eisner from Los Angeles

Last Post 14 days, 2 hours Ago


So ... microphone in hand and camera rolling, there I was chatting with Academy Award winning actor Benicio Del Toro, music producer Kevin Liles, actor Rob Reiner, actress Christine Lahti, actor Cuba Gooding Jr. and a few others. Interviewing them because ... I could. You know .. the first amendment. I was talking to them about our rights as Americans because I was at an event celebrating The Bill Of Rights, our rights, honoring those who fight for them and acknowleging the need to preserve and protect them.

This was the annual Bill of Rights dinner sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union giving out awards to special people and speaking out on concerns about the rights we all share. The ACLU doesn't mince words when they talk about what they think of things going on in this country. They also won't mince words when it comes to the Bill of Rights.

Liles, one of the honorees who helped bring us Rock the Vote and has been instrumental in the careers of such superstars as Jay Z, Kanye West, Missy Elliot, LL Cool J and Mariah Carey takes The Bill of Rights pretty seriously. He also takes seriously the idea that its imortant to use one's celebrity power to help encourage people to do things like vote. Everyone at the dinner shared the highest respect for The Bill of Rights. Benecio Del Toro ... "we have to keep the constitution in check." Rob Reiner says its a different world today with terrorism and so forth. Ditto says Cuba Gooding Jr. who talks about the need to protect our rights. Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold tells me there is nothing more important than our founding documents -- The Constitution and The Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights was passed by Congress on September 25, 1789. It was ratified by the states on December 15, 1791. It is the ratification of the Bill of Rights that will turn 216 years old on Saturday.

Happy Birthday Bill or Rights! Happy Birthday First Amendment -- "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Happy Birthday to all of the rights in the bill ... the original ten: to keep and bear arms, housing soldiers, unreasonable search and seizure, pleading the 5th, right to a speedy trial, suits of common law, excessive bail, protection from anyone misconstruing the Constitution and states rights.

And Happy Birthday to the other amendments that would come in the years to follow including the abolition of slavery, civil rights, women's suffrage, presidential succession and so forth.

Yep ... Happy 216th Bill of Rights and MANY MORE!
6 Comments |  Add a Comment

Member Comments Total Comments: 6
Page 1 of 1
craftyguy read my blog
Dec 13, 2007 | 10:03 PM

If you believe the bill of rights are being practiced today your fooling yourself..ask anyone who was or is involved in the judicial system especially in los Angele's or California as a whole ..Ive been a victim of it myself there are horror stories going on behind bars ..if you so much as call the ACLU your marked as a trouble maker and your toast..as for the ACLU i always hated them why anyone in their right mind give credence to rapists child molesters and racists are not about civil liberties but about anarchy and immorality...they give credence to Islam fundamentalists who are the opposite side of the spectrum..the ACLU took the bill of rights and twisted it up so any sick twisted person could do what they want..that's not why they were written..they were written so even a poor person would have equal rights..not that it was OK to burn a cross on a black persons lawn as freedom of speech or its OK to be a child molester or rapist

mystere read my blog view my photos
Dec 14, 2007 | 4:14 AM

Craftyguy and Hal:

First things first: great blog Hal, and a very interesting observation Craftyguy. Now here are some of my thoughts.

Craftyguy, I have also seen the dirty deeds that the ACLU has done...these people should be tried for treason! They are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites...they say they will defend your rights, but if you are a born again Christian, they will do everything they can to take your rights away and imprison you for life or put you on trial for a capital crime if they can trump up enough false evidence and get a corrupt judge to try the case. As an example of how they try to take away the rights of Christian people, take a look at what they did to Judge Roy Moore: When Moore displayed the 10 commandments in his courtroom so that he would remember to conduct himself in a just manner, the ACLU brought up a trumped up Kangaroo suit, telling him to remove the 10 commandments. When he refused, they went after him, saying that he was forcing religion down everyone's throat, that he was violating the Constitution blatantly, and that he was breaking the laws of the State of Alabama by publicly displaying the 10 commandments...the separation of Church and State. They conveniently omitted their own violations in their charges: Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law; the freedom of expression, the right to exercise his own belief, that the government could not prohibit the exercise of religion...the ACLU broke every law regarding civil rights expressed in the Bill Of Rights! If memory serves me correctly, they even wanted Judge Roy Mo

mystere read my blog view my photos
Dec 14, 2007 | 4:30 AM

cont.

...they even wanted Judge Roy Moore to go to federal prison after he was disbarred from the courts; however they didn't have the resources to pursue such a thing for committing a malicious prosecution, or a way to get a corrupt judge to take up such a case, not to mention the bad publicity it would generate for them. The ACLU needs to be purged of all the political cockroaches, dung beetles and sewer rats they have in their organization.

Hal, when you covered the Rancho Bernardo fire in San Diego, you showed one thing that was ironic: the cross on Mount Soledad. You may not be aware of this, but the ACLU along with a group of militant atheists slapped San Diego with a suit to remove that standing cross a few years ago. A prominent San Diego pastor came to KBRT radio, where I work and where he used to have a radio show, to let us know of a rally that he and other prominent San Diego pastors were staging to stop the ACLU and the militant atheists from removing that cross. We let the listeners know, and the listeners in San Diego came out in droves...the ACLU didn't expect this, and they went down in a humiliating defeat. That cross survived 2 types of fires...a burning fire, and a hell fire from the ACLU.

Happy Birthday Bill Of Rights!

"Mr. E" from Cypress

RaceNeked read my blog view my photos
Dec 15, 2007 | 9:39 AM

ACLU
American Civil Liberties Usurpers...
I strongly dislike the ACLU.

The Bill of Rights, like the Constitution is almost history. As a friend of mine states: "It's still a free country - IF, you can afford it." Look at Gibson, Hilton, or any of the other 'rich & famous' that do minutes, or NO TIME on a violation that would land the rest of us in jail for 3 days, to 3 years...

..and yes; the Cross survived - thats a victory for the good side.

mystere read my blog view my photos
Dec 16, 2007 | 6:19 AM

By the way, here's something all you readers should know about our neighbor Canada: their freedom of speech and the press is restricted, and the writing is on the wall for the United States. As a true example, if something broadcast in Canada is deemed a hate speech, such as a teaching in a religious program, the broadcaster faces a stiff fine, and possibly a long prison sentence. Programs such as Focus On The Family must produce a version for the Canadian audience in addition to the United States audience; otherwise they risk having an expensive lawsuit levied against them and the radio stations which carry their program, including the United States radio stations which reach into Canada. For those of you who are wondering where I got this information, I work for a station that carries Focus On The Family. If you even casually talk with a friend about any subject, and someone happens to overhear you and thinks that it's hate speech, if that person reports you to the police, you can be arrested and sent to prison for just that in Canada. There is a secret movement going on here in the U.S. to institute such policies that they have in Canada...the North American Union is a part of that plan.

RaceNeked read my blog view my photos
Dec 17, 2007 | 11:28 AM

Canada...schmanada. Who cares.

The S.P.P. (N.A.U.) commeth....

Page 1 of 1


Write your comment below:




Hal_Eisner

Hal Eisner has worked as a television reporter in Los Angeles for a quarter century, most of those years spent right here on FOX 11 and Channel 13.

Member Since: 7/4/2006