I LIke Bill Maher

i really like bill maher. i was pretty upset when, after 9/11 happened, he was booted off ABC and his show "politically incorrect" was canned. why? because he said We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly. and it's kind of sad that ABC, a network that touted the importance of free speech, would can maher for jimmy kimmel, a guy who appeals to frat boys across the country with his fart jokes and beer drinking mentality. anyway, i think that maher had every right to say what he did, and in no way was he being anti-american. i'm sad that his show was removed from public TV and put on HBO, but i'm grateful that he didn't just fade away.

i found this article quite interesting. maher and i share a lot of the same views when it comes to religion. i also believe that if you don't know the answer to something, no matter what it is, you should just say "i don't know." it doesn't benefit anyone if you make up a story just to save face.

that was a huge problem i had growing up catholic. ever since i can remember i would ask questions about the bible and about catholic rituals and their meanings. if i asked my family why i had to go through the hassle of becoming confirmed, their answer was always "because that's what you have to do". when i had questions about certain passages of the bible that was being taught in my fourth grade sunday school class, the answer i got was "because that's what the bible says." looking back now, i can see that they had no idea what the answer was. they were all going along with the motions on "being catholic". no one had any idea about anything, but instead of fessing up and saying "i don't know", they would either say "because that's the rules" or "that's what it says in the bible". it would have made those 17 years of my life a little easier if they had just once said "i don't know."

this is one reason why i am no longer a practicing catholic. there are many other reasons, but that's for another post. but the main reason is because i grew up in a "strict" catholic household where no one would talk about religion except to say "because you're catholic and that's what you do".

so i'm sure that maher's upcoming shows will be centered around the religious right in this country. i'd be interested to see who his guests are and how he will be able to interact with them while still managing to be professional. here is another good interview with the CBC. this is my favorite line, which is so totally true:

"But you have to understand this is an administration that more than any I've ever seen, counts on the intellectual sluggishness of the American population. This is a little learning is a dangerous thing in administration. That's a good thing for them because the American public has a little learning. Very little. But just enough to be a dangerous thing." -Bill Maher

i'm also curious to see if he writes another book. i've added When You Ride Alone, You Ride With BinLaden to my amazon wish list. it will probably be the next book i buy. i also hope al franken writes something else soon, too.