LIFE WITH A SOMETIME CONSTITUTION

I'm having a hard time deciding if we really have as many rights and freedoms in this country as many might believe.  I know I always hear references to them in situations such as a town council meeting or read them in an editorial in the local paper.  Sometimes I hear people make references to them such as; "I have a right to my opinion," or  "It's a Free Country," or the like. 
But, in reality as I read the news and see and hear the events going on around me, I'm not really so sure that these so called "Rights" really exist.  Are they perhaps a figment of my imagination or some left over, deeply ingrained thoughts from my youth?  I know I used to learn about them and I used to really be a true believer in their existence but, the reality of what I am seeing makes me question they exist at all.  I'm seeing dissent quashed, even on a local level,  I'm seeing the total denial of facts by people who only want things done their way, or who ignore them to accomplish selfish goals.  I'm seeing people intimated at polling places, harassed at peaceful protests and even being physically assaulted in the process of exercising their so called rights.  I'm seeing a President and Administration ignore the Constitution on a daily basis and a Congress that does the same.  I'm seeing votes of the majority overturned by one person.  I'm hearing of legal permits being denied to people based on political beliefs.  I'm seeing so many things, in so many forms that really make me question whether there really are any rights for some folks.  
Maybe it's my fault for the way I look at things?  I've always been an all or nothing type of person.  I don't think you can do a part of anything and expect that it counts.  You can't run half a race and say you ran the race at all.  You can't watch part of a game then say you watched the game because you didn't.  You only did part.  The same holds true in my mind with the Constitution.  You can't follow part of it or just follow it sometimes then, claim you have ALL the rights and freedoms because you don't.  Anytime that one person or group is denied use of their Constitutional Rights or anytime our government fails to enforce part of it, or ignores part of it, for political reasons, they have made the entire thing non-existent.  It's all or nothing on this.

MICHAEL JACKSON TALENT OR NUT

Well now that Michael Jackson has had his day perhaps we can go back to some semblance of normality in our own lives. The media frenzy over the funeral and memorial today was utterly outrageous and over the top. To have major networks represented at the the funeral of a pop star is beyond me and points directly to the crap that is TV News today.
Now one must ask how much of this is done to appease black folks. I have come to believe that it is my duty as a white working man, to constantly appease, please and generally take care of the black man. We want to keep him as happy as possible at all times. What a joke. A bunch of law breaking punks and thugs coming on and get air time to tell us we didn't honor the guy enough when he was living and perhaps we should feel guilty. Notice how the guilt trip is used in every aspect of black and white relations . Buying millions of his records, selling out all his concerts, mobbing him at every turn was not enough homage according to the likes of Al "Toot My Own Horn" Sharpton. After all MJ was the poster boy for the Civil Rights Movement. He was the Rosa Parks/MLK in his efforts in this regard----NOT. What a joke, AL "the pimp" was there to sell his wares. What does Al sell? Well sonny, he likes to sell the idea that the black folk ain't ever getting enough love from whitey and it is the white working man's duty to do what ever will make him and the other race-baiters happy. AL Sharpton had as much need in speaking at this memorial as David Duke would have. Michael Jackson may have been a lot of things but, he was NOT a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
Don't get me wrong Jackson was very good at what the does, maybe the best in the world but shouldn't WE take a serious look at what is important to American's lives and survival. If you think it is always racial, then lets honor all the black soldiers that have given their lives in the recent wars, or the black cops who died while on duty, or the firemen. What about their memorial? Where is Anderson Cooper and Katie Curic for that?
How very sad that supposed professional news reporters are no better than the common scum of tabloid journalism.
Since Jackson's death over a dozen US Troops were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq---name ONE? Memorialize ONE? Can't can you?? Yet if I said, "What are the names of Michael's children, you would know that I bet. This nonsense is destroying our country and is about as disgusting as it gets.