The Blacklisting of Dorothy Parker: The Pendulum of Power Swings Against the Bill of Rights, Again!

It is ironic today we are witnessing the intended power of the Bill of Rights being whittled down to nothing more than meaningless words. It appears that whatever political party is in power they find the Bill of Rights an inconvenience. Today with the TSA setting up road blocks on the interstate harassing travelers with probing searches and probing questions it is no wonder Americans are totally numb to the fact they have no more rights:

Probably the strongest law, signed by President Obama and passed by the Democratic Senate, was NDAA. Essentially this law allows the federal government to pick up any United States citizen and detain them without charge indefinitely. It is by far the most oppressive law against the Bill of Rights ever. What's ironic is this has been done before! Back in the 1950s the Republicans (with some Democratic help) pursued perceived Communist in our government and the arts (mostly writers and actors). In particular they basically accused 150 actors and directors in Hollywood for being communist (i.e. socialist).

Remember, no matter how much we disagree with another person being a communist, fascist, evangelical zealot, or any other true believer ideology, it isn't against the law. You have, under the Bill of Rights, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association (i.e. the Amish don't have to hang out with you). Under the witch hunt of the McCarthy era people were brought before Congress and were forced to testify under oath what they believed. Yes, many of these people were socialist and communist in their beliefs but, guess what, it's not against the law.

When members of this list were brought to the House Un-American Committee or Senator McCarthy's Senate Committee they were basically blacklisted from further work in Hollywood for refusing to answer questions (First Amendment Bill of Rights). What these committees did was to attack the principle of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly, as it was enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Finally, Congress threw ten writers in jail for a year and about 150 were blacklisted from further work in Hollywood. (The blacklist was derived from a private publication titled the Red Channels). This blacklist was totally unconstitutional and illegal.

The list was derived from a right wing Republican group who saw all liberal Democrats as anti-American Communist. Dorothy Parker, who's name was on the list, saw her career in Hollywood completely destroyed. She never recovered and never got to defend herself in a court of law. Essentially the big Hollywood studios caved in to the political pressure of the day and just ignored those who were on the list. About 11 years later some of the bigger writers eventually got to work under their real names again. In the meantime they had to work under pseudonyms for a fraction of the fee. In fact, why they put Dorothy Parker on the blacklist probably had more to do with her being a founding member of the Writers Guild with eight other Hollywood writers. It's interesting to note that half of the founding Writers Guild members were blacklisted. Sure looks and smells like union busting.

It wasn't until Otto Preminger produced Exodus that a blacklisted screenwriter received a screen credit with his real name. (This was one year before Kirk Douglas' Spartacus which some researchers mistakenly believe was the first film to break the blacklist). Today the pendulum has swung to the other extreme with the far left of the Democratic party attacking the Bill of Rights. The NDAA is only one example of laws being passed by congress (in particular the Democratic Senate). A citizen can now be picked up off the streets and held without charge. They can also be tried by a military court! The list of lost rights that have been removed goes on and on.

Why is it that extreme political believers always want to attack the Bill of Rights? Don't fret, the Bill of Rights always survives these attacks, because, in the end there is nothing else that works better for the people. The most effective tool in any world economy has been the freedoms stated in the Bill of Rights. As soon as they are restricted, as they are today, and Dorothy Parker's day, the economy starts to slow down. In the near future many of these restrictions on the Bill of Rights will be turned back and freedom loving people will get this economy moving again as they did back in Dorothy Parker's day.

Few people remember Dorothy Parker today but in her time she believed in helping the poor, the blacks, the anti-Franco forces in Spain, and the anti-Nazi groups in the late thirties. More then ever, we need the humor and wit of Dorothy Parker today! The pendulum of power may have moved but the need for the Bill of Rights is needed more than ever.

Terrie Frankel is a song writer, author of a New York Times best seller, and actor ( the film Room Enough For Two - The Life of Dorothy Parker). Terrie has been a board member of the Producers Guild of America and is a member of ASCAP and the Grammys. Dorothy Parker has been a 20 year research project for Terrie.

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So Joe, Tell Us Again How Great Things Are Going In Afghanistan - I Must Have Missed Something?

Apparently, I am just stupid and don't know a thing about foreign affairs. Apparently, the Obama Administrations plans and strategies cannot be questioned, not by you or I, not by the media, or even someone running for office. The message they gave us was "the terrorists are on the run and we are bringing the troops home with a job well done," and that was the foundation of their arguments for their policies in Afghanistan the Obama Administration and the Obama/Biden 2012 campaign. Well, okay fine, but something is amiss because things are not fine in Oz after all it seems.

On Sunday Morning December 2, 2012 there was a news flash which spread across the news wires. The USA Today stated; "Suicide bombers assaulted Jalalabad Airfield, a joint U.S.-Afghan air base in eastern Afghanistan, detonating explosives at the gate and sparking a gunfight that lasted at least two hours."

Now then, do you remember when Vice President Joe Biden and Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan debated on TV and Mr. Biden told Mr. Ryan that he didn't know what he was talking about when it came to training the Afghan forces and that things were not going well in the East of the Country? Joe Biden laughed at Paul Ryan trying to make him look like a fool on TV, and stated that the Obama Administration had absolutely everything under control, not only are things not in control there now, but Mr. Biden couldn't control his laughter or his misstatements during that debate back then.

The mass media kept telling the American People that Joe Biden won the debate? But as time goes on we see that Joe didn't have his facts straight or was just continually telling falsehoods. That is not winning a debate, in my opinion that would be called; lying. But of course, the gentleman and scholar Paul Ryan isn't allowed to say that, politicians get pummeled for using the "L" word, well Republican Candidates I guess, it's okay if the left-leaners scream up and down calling everyone the "L" word and if you disagree with them still, they call you the "R" word.

It's too bad that the American People didn't get a real debate on international affairs, after all, it is the US Taxpayer still paying for what's going on around the world, you know things like the contributions to the IMF to bailout Greece, the foreign aid to Egypt, the costs of the United Nations, the Libyan fiasco, and the war in Afghanistan. If the Obama Administration told falsehoods to get reelected and figured they had to or they would have been defeated then in that case they are not in office legitimately.

Thus, might I be so bold as to suggest that the Obama Administration is unfit to lead, especially when it comes to our Nation's foreign policy? Well, I'd like some straight answers about Afghanistan, about the Libya Benghazi attack, and while we are at it, I have about 20-more questions I'd like answered, sooner than later. I will continue to write more articles these issues. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Military Technologies. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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It Must Be Political Season Again - Already?

In the spring of 2012 Bill Clinton was interviewed and stated that the Presidency ought to be 10-years not 4 because in the first-term, you were constantly running for office and too worried about doing the business of the people. I am not sure I want a US President for 10-years, but I do believe it is at least one of the problems with our dysfunctional DC.

Now then, maybe we need a 6-year term, and a second term of 4-years to allow the executive branch to finish what they started or change course if they've not done as promised? Hard to say really, however one thing is certain; these never ending political seasons are dividing us not uniting us.

Personally, I am blown away by the insane Mass Media negative news clips, shows, and attempts by TV, Radio, Newspapers to propel chaos and controversy creating more sound and fury pushing unstable people over the top to violent action. I am equally disturbed by the rudeness online in political topics. An interesting article you might wish to read was in the Wall Street Journal on October 2, 2012 titled; "Why We Are So Rude Online," by Elizabeth Bernstein. She's right of course, and it's both sides really.

Consider the blogosphere, online forums, social networks, Twitter, and of course the viral email distribution is out of control. The behavior is outrageous and I can tell all that anger and banter is finding its way into the real world too. If you doubt this just sit in a coffee shop or hang out at the beach, a park, or even a bus stop and listen to the vitriol (acidic) conversations which are eroding our personal politics.

Indeed, upon review of it all, politics seems to be a terrible way to run society. Unfortunately, as many have stated, people are divided on topics and emotional about it all. When it comes to the online virtual world, well this is the content that web surfers are interested in. It's sometimes unfortunate that the online readers seek the most combative content rather than looking to reason, information, facts, and philosophical debate. It is beginning to remind me of the Jerry Springer Show.

Overall, I'd say the more intellectual articles I've read on a few content websites are for the most part not as bad as what I've read in other Internet venues, which I suppose is just as well. However if 90% of the websites including all the comments on the major media sites are entering "the dark web" then obviously we have a bigger and deeper problem.

Is anything being filtered online? Yes, I believe so, but then again we have a free-speech problem when we do that. You see, I even wonder if some search engines are purposely filtering highly negative content against certain candidates, it seems so. Of course, this helps one candidate over another, which is also a problem, and in a way an abuse of power I'd say. Still, many campaigns are out in full force commenting on news articles to make their candidate look better or the opponent worse.

Yes, it is political season. And in the US at least, it seems we are "all in" when it comes to our politics. Maybe it's time to tone it down a little, not for the sake of political correctness, rather for the sake of the future national dialogue and our great nation. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Political Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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