United Liberty
Bill Maher
Why Libertarianism Must Change or Die
Thu, 10/22/2009 - 10:26am | posted by Crystal Gross
When I was sixteen years old — only one year after my conversion to Catholicism — I began looking into religion more seriously as a result of a persistent twinge of reason which plagues me to this day. Determined to avoid Atheists and Theists on principle, I instead looked to Thomas Henry Huxley and John Shelby Spong, an Agnostic biologist and a dissenting Episcopalian Bishop respectively. In conference with these two minds, I discovered myself for an Atheist, but also stumbled upon the first truly intellectual concept of my life: it is possible that each and everyone one of us is “right” in every way, shape and form.
From those early days of intellectual curiosity, thumbing through Spong’s “Why Christianity Must Change Or Die” and growing my understanding of the individual, I’ve sought autonomy in all aspects of my life. In short, it was no surprise to the few people who know me that I was attracted to the Libertarian Party. I’m a spiritual Atheist. I’m an intelligent idiot. I’m an optimistic cynic. Where else could I go?
I’ve loved the Party. It was a tent big enough to house possibilities, a place that wasn’t crowded with rhetoric and closed-mindedness and half-truths.
And then it happened: my partner informed me that Bill Maher is not — no way, no how — a libertarian.
Imagine my surprise. After all, Maher’s been something of a personal hero to me since my relative youth. If I knew and loved anyone, it was Lewis Black.. But Bill Maher … he was, like, second runner-up. To George Carlin. But I digress.
Dr. Paul Speaks to Bill Maher about Spending Bill
Sat, 02/21/2009 - 1:39am | posted by Shana Kluck
Dr. Paul discusses the spending bill and the credibility of the Republican Pary with Bill Maher, and argues that regulation and spending has created this crisis, not the free market.
Sean Penn opposes the First Amendment
Tue, 03/09/2010 - 4:08pm | posted by Jason Pye
“Last year I went to Iraq. Before Team America showed up, it was a happy place. They had flowery meadows and rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate, where the children danced and laughed and played with gumdrop smiles.” - Sean Penn, satirized in Team America: World Police
Sean Penn wants reporters jailed for calling Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez a “dictator”:
First Amendment be damned … If Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn had his way, any journalist who called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a dictator would quickly find himself behind bars.Penn, appearing on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, defended Chavez during a segment in which he detailed his work with the JP Haitian Relief Organization, which he co-founded.
“Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it” said Penn, winner of two Best Actor Academy Awards. “And this is mainstream media, who should — truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.”
So what would you call a guy that nationalizes entire sectors of his country’s economy and wants to be president for life? He is a dictator, or at least a wannabe dictator.
If Sean Penn to comes to my doorstep, he better be prepared to meet the Second Amendment.
Obama World
Wed, 03/25/2009 - 11:35am | posted by Michael Orion Powell
A humorous satire by Bill Maher on fears of an Obama presidency.
David Walker: “Both of These Guys Make It Worse”
Mon, 10/13/2008 - 3:35am | posted by Austin Wilkes
Fairly non-authorative liberal (who calls himself libertarian, but I won’t) Bill Maher interviews David Walker who frankly discusses the shape and direction of the nation from a pragmatist point of view. Its good to see David reaching out to a progressive audience that is not hostile to his message of the need for fiscal sanity.
Call for Intervention in Darfur is Short-Sighted
Sat, 10/04/2008 - 5:23pm | posted by Michael Orion Powell
Back in 2006, George Clooney went on Real Time with Bill Maher in order to make the case for intervening in Darfur. Clooney compared his vision of intervention to the NATO bombing in Kosovo under then President Bill Clinton. Clooney is and was then a fierce opponent of President Bush’s Iraq policy.
The logical inconsistency there flabbergasted me then, and I still hold that view. Like Iraq, Sudan is ruled by an Arab regime empowered by oil money. Like Iraq, Sudan has been known to be more than a little hospitable to terrorists. And like the 2003 intervention in Iraq, and like various other troublespots throughout the globe, intervention in Sudan has serious potential of degenerating into a military quagmire.
Ron: “Stop Trying to Make Me A Democrat”
Fri, 09/05/2008 - 5:51pm | posted by Shana Kluck
Bill Maher put a video together of a montage of politicians and political pundits in attendance at the RNC or Ron’s Rally in Minneapolis. Each was given a chance to deliver a funny one-liner; most fell flat, but Bob Barr and Jesse Ventura definitely delivered. Though Dr. Paul stole the show with his.
Enjoy!
