My Best Picture

My favorite movie of the year was the one about the heartless con man who's obsessed with finding oil. Its called No End In Sight.

Comments

[EspritDeVoltaire]

The Iraq invasion was not just about oil, Bill. It was also about keeping America distracted from the Treasury being looted by the friends of Bush/Cheney and keeping all the ignorant bumper sticker patriots stirred up like hornets for political ends.

[realrick]

Bill,

With those two lines, you produced more wit and humor than in all of this weekend's episode of SNL.

Have I mentioned anywhere that I absolutely LOATHE that show?....

[wagonjak]

I've watched it since the inception, and unfortunately the best shows were the early shows fueled by dope and cocaine taken liberally in the dressing rooms..I'm sure they've cleaned that all up these days...the level of sophomoric humor shows it...

Every once in awhile I stay up late enough to see it and although there are a few laughs there occasionally, it's pretty pathetic most of the time...I've written brilliant SNL routines in my head (usually stoned) that are much better then what I see there these days...

Yeah, I know I'm not exactly a nuetral commentator here...

[bluescat47]

Not a particularly informative statement and not a shred of evidence to support it (oh yes, Alan Greenspan!); but it is an appealing and simplistic argument for those who want some simple narrative to explain the complex events of the past five years.

[WarrenPeace]

"Shred" and "evidence" in the same phrase, now that's something the Bush White House knows something about.

[HarveyD]

Bill, the people who love you and watch your show religiously do so, not to hear lying, pushy, republican toadies toeing the party line, but to hear some sanity. The repugs ALWAYS interrupt and dominate while the pussy dems sit there and try to be polite. P L E A S E brother, give us what we want and have guests from the 82% that still have their brainstems attached. We can go to FOX if we need a dose of bullshit.

[incontempt]

Well said,

Get with the program bill.

[jp1949]

Bill: I haven't seen the movie yet but I intend to. In the meantime, I wonder what you think of CNN taking Paul Begala and James Carville (who are both Clinton supporters) off their show because of pressure from the Obama campaign team. They will return after the primary is over. This election is stinking more and more.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Bill I have watched you for years, and am always astounded that someone reasonably intelligent doesn't understand it's not just about the oil. It's good old rape and pillage 101.


Americans think Bush/Cheney/Libby/Rumsfeld/ et al, went into Iraq to secure oil for America. No, that's not it. It's not about securing oil for Americans or for America. Bush's Iraq war has several objectives that all complement each other beautifully. It's about keeping the price of oil artificially inflated. Everyone with a brain cell knows that instability in the Middle East causes oil prices to sky-rocket. It's no secret that nearly everyone in the Bush administration has worked in the Oil industry. Oil contracts have been handed over to those American companies that are now managing Iraq's oil reserves. It's also about feeding the Military Industrial Complex, another one of Bush's big backers. If you create a war, you can put the country in debt. So not only did Bush manage to hand over taxpayer wealth, he managed to create the largest debt in the history of America, through this war. The high cost of gas, has put more money into the oil fat-cat's pockets, and the taxpayer coffers have been raided and mortgaged for years to come.


Basically, their objective has been to steal as much money as possible from ordinary Americans and literally hand it over by the wheelbarrow full to the administration's cronies and backers. But that's not all. It's not just about the most monumental wealth transfer America has ever witnessed. The Administration's plan was to bankrupt the country so severely, they could try and take away any last remnants of the New Deal, using the argument that America couldn't afford it. That's what the failed attempt to privatize Social Security was about. That failed, but they had other plans in store for America if the administration had managed to sell that idea to the brainwashed masses. The members of the current administration aren't idealogues or even evangelicals. What they are is crooks. It's quite simply the biggest white collar crime ever committed, and it's nothing more than fraud, embezzlement, and grand theft on the largest scale in history.

[Moralfiberseeker]

Thanks Beyond;

Man, you sound like me railing on the asshole and his cabal. Most people freak out when they listen how we believe these crooks should be handled. They call us radical.

I call it rule of law. It may set our country on its ear if it has to observe the trials for high treason, war crimes and war profiteering. But it would serve as a cleansing process and educational function at the same time. No sane American should accept this administration's arrogant refusal to follow the rules of law and our Constitution.

The obscenely rich owners (international banks, military industrial complex, big oil, war profiteers, etc) of the worse government money can buy should be exposed and stripped of their illegally amassed fortunes.

Our young people need to learn what fascism is and how these incredibly arrogant neocons that have stolen our government believe that they are the master race and are meant to control the uneducated masses.

They probably believe that they really earned the billions they have stolen because they had to work hard creating all the lies, smoke and mirrors to carrying out "the biggest white collar crime ever committed". The only way America reclaims its long lost "leader of the free world" reputation is to serve justice to as many as these slimy crooks as possible.

Essentially, this could become the model for dealing with corrupt governments around the world. Imagine universal college courses that
use Bush doctrine as its model to teach "HOW TO BE CORRUPT OR BETTER YET PREVENT RAMPANT CORRUPTION IN YOUR GOVERNMENT"

Now that's a legacy that he deserves!!

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

It's not radical. It's simply understanding the motivations behind the war crimes, and watching the money flow. It's really that simple. The MSM can report on the war on terror all it likes. It can co-opt ignorant and delusional Americans into believing that this was because we were attacked on 9/11 and wanted to kick some Arab butt. But this war was planned in 1991 by Libby and Cheney and handed to George Bush 1st, when Kuwait was first invaded. Bush Snr rejected the Libby plan and went with the more limited and rational war plan of Colin Powell. Cheney and Libby have been nursing their grudge about not being able to invade Iraq ever since. They sat on this plan for all those years, gathering Neocons to jump on their bandwagon and hone their plan for the redistribution of wealth. It's no coincidence that these double dipping crooked Republicans have been in office, then in the private sector, and then back in office. It's the most effective way of stealing money. This is why electing the Clintons is dangerous too. They have done the same thing. Bill Clinton has personally profited by tens of millions from changing the tax code, and investing in Hedge Funds. They change the tax code, they change the laws, they feed the military industrial complex, the oil industry, the finance sector and use deregulation as a tool to steal money out of ordinary American's pockets. Everyone knows that the very wealthy don't pay taxes. They have accountants and blind trusts and foreign investments, and numbered offshore accounts, and tax loopholes and schemes to avoid paying taxes of any sort. It's the pastime of the super rich, to avoid paying any tax whatsoever. The tax burden has been on the backs of the working and middle class. American corporations and multi nationals are registered O/S and pay very little tax. All the taxpayer wealth that has been stolen by these war mongering crooks has come from Americans like you and me. It's not radical, it's just logic and being able to sift the hype, the lies and minutia out of the way to see what's really been going on all these years.

[rosecar]

Bill I am so disappointed in your last show. Why would you let your guests make false comments and go unchalleged by you. I know you are always aware of issues and I was stunned.

[Dave24]

Bill Maher is the shit. If you don't like him, you're probably a bigoted bible-reader who believes in political hot-button rhetoric like "family values" and faith-pandering.

And you're a douche for not having a sense of humor, too.

[NappyRoots100]

Lately I have found that Mahr's show has had some serious lapses. I think he needs to fire his research team. The first one was when Jonah Goldberg challenged him on the fact that the Bush adm elevated the terror threat in 2004 to influence the election. Goldberg tried to make it seem like Bill was some kind of nutjob for suggesting the thought. Of course I was at home screaming "Tom Ridge, former Homeland Security Director, stated as much in a USA Today said as much you sew-n-sews!" Ridge stated that the adm wanted to increase the threat level alert for reasons that he could not understand.

On Friday, Rep. Kingston from GA stated that Michelle Obama had not addressed the issue of what she meant when she said "This is the first time I have been really (?) proud to be an American..." That was a bold faced lie. She responded the very next day!!! Who did not know that?

[desertmom]

Bill's writers are back and that is the show we get? The writers were fighting so they could give us...garbage? And Bill's guests; Kingston rattled on without interruption boring me nearly to tears. When Taibbi was introduced, I had hope for the rest of the show; but he was SO tamed down from previous appearances, I was actually tempted to change the channel! I almost expected Ann Coulter to leap out and terrify us at any moment...terrible show this week!

[Ruprect44]

I agree. Kingston got away with WAAAAY too much partisan bullshit.

[LeoMarvin]

Bill,

Learn the difference between the budget deficit (annual) and the national debt (cumulative). Just heard an episode where you expressed incredulity that the deficit could be coming down, when I'm pretty sure what you had in mind was the debt. If the deficit was $500 billion last year, and it's $400 billion this year, then the deficit is coming down, while obviously every year there's any deficit adds to the cumulative debt. In other words, it doesn't mean Bush is doing a good job if the deficit comes down. It means he's doing a less disastrous job than he did last year.

[lovethesinner]

Totally agree, Bill. Again, If anybody hasn't seen the movie, here's a link to watch it (for free):

http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/no_end_in_sight.php

Wouldn't it be nice to have somebody sane in the White House... AND the State Department? Hillary's foreign policy team reads like a NEO-CON DINNER PARTY GUEST LIST:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_on_Foreign_Relations#Notable_current_council_members

Meet Obama's senior foreign policy advisor, Samantha Powers in an interview with Amy Goodman at Democracy Now:

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/25/barack_obamas_senior_foreign_policy_adviser

GObama!

[Groobiecat]

Hey, Bill, great show. Thanks for all you do!

[nettiebell]

Love the show. I look forward to it every week but could you please bring back Ben Affleck. Also how about having Rachael Maddou on.

[jinjinpinti]

Rachel Maddou ROCKS! Agree with nettiebell. Have this bright, charming woman on your show, early and often.

[QuestionAuthNow]

I agree, Rachel knows her stuff and wouldn't let Kingston types blather on without challenge!

[smzzzz]

Unfortunately, Maher's show has become a place where right-wing officials and pundits are brought on, I guess in the name of "fairness", to be counter-balanced by some rapper or actor who isn't capable of arguing with their talking points; that is left up to Bill who often can't seem to either or doesn't want to for whatever reason. Maher is a fair guy who wants to let his guests talk; unfortunately the win-at-all costs methods of some of his "con" guests means they will go on and on unchallenged while he sits back and is nice and the other guests are silent or make some namby-pamby comments. Fine, have on the right-wingers but bring on some from the other side who aren't afraid to engage and have facts, like Robert McChesney, or Glenn Greenwald, or Eric Alterman. People who can take these people on. This week it's going to be Hitchens gain - last time he was drunk and gave the audience the finger. This is the best Maher's bookers can do? It used to be must watching; it's becoming just pathetic.

[vale409]

If he only brings his people on, then he's only preaching to our choir. In my opinion, he has to bring guests from the other side in order to at least get a few On the fence right wingers to listen to the truth.

[smzzzz]

You didn't read my post very well. I didn't say he shouldn't bring those people on - just counter balance them with people like those I mentioned who can, better than Bill and his other guests, answer them.