Bill Maher #336: President Mitt McCain

President Mitt-McCain

by Catherine Giordano

On New Rules, Bill Maher railed against people who don’t vote because … just because.  And then they complain that nothing ever changes.  “You know how you get change, you vote.”

It DOES make a difference!

On Real Time with Bill Maher, episode #336, which aired ON 11/14/14, Maher specifically mentioned Florida where I live. Turnout was very low especially in the Democratic areas of the state. Maher said, "Charlie Crist losing to Rick Scott would have made a difference to the 700,000 people who would have gotten health insurance through Medicaid if Crist was governor." I wonder how many of that 700,000 couldn’t be bothered to vote? Crist lost by 66,000 votes.

(Medicare is important, but Florida will suffer in so many ways from this last election.)

Maher talked about Obama. So Obama failed to meet every one of your expectations. “The choice is not between the perfect Obama in your head and the real one who went to Washington.” Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. So Crist wasn’t a perfect candidate, but he was much, much better than Scott.

Then Maher showed us the world under “President Mitt McCain”  Scary and very funny.

Think about President Mitt McCain the next time you don’t vote because it doesn’t make a difference or because the candidate just doesn’t excite you. I'll paraphrase Maher--you're selecting who is going to hold office, not a lover. 

You can read the full recap and review of this episode here:

Real Time with Bill Maher #336 11/14/14 “Revelations”

Here's the New Rules video clip.

 

CLICK HERE

 

Bill Maher’s Guests: November 14, 2014

Rand Paul:  Senator (R, KY), and author (with Ron Paul) of Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Fed   

Martin Short:  Actor, comedian, and author of several books. His most recent book is I Must Say: My Life As a Humble Comedy Legend 

Margaret Hoover: Political commentator and author of American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party 

Andrew Sullivan: Former editor of The New Republic, blogger in chief at The Dish and author of six books.  His most recent book is Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival  

Jeremy Scahill: Journalist and author of two books.  His most recent book is Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield

 

Working Harder; Getting Poorer: Bill Maher Interviews Linda Tirado

CLICK HERE

By Catherine Giordano

Linda Tirado, with hard work and a lot of good luck, pulled herself up by her bootstraps.  She explained poverty to the rest of us in the interview segment on Real Time with Bill Maher, episode #335, which aired on November 7, 2014.  

Her good luck began when she did a post on gawker which got picked up by Huffington Post. This led to a book deal. She said, sarcastically, “That would be Mitt Romney’s answer to poverty. ‘Why don’t you get a book deal?’” (Remember, during the campaign, Mitt Romney said poor people should start a business by borrowing money from their parents. He wasn’t being sarcastic or ironic; he was just totally clueless.) 

 

Read it here. This is Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense

The article is written with raw honesty.  The prose is not polished—it reads like something dashed off at 3am in the morning, and that is what make is so affecting and effective.  



Linda Tirado

Linda Tirado also talked about how people look down on poor people “for not properly wearing their hair shirt." She said that everyone is allowed to have vices, except poor people. It is a form of poor-shaming. 

Maher and Tirado also laughed at the McDonalds Employee Handbook which recommends good health practices.

• Get daily exercise: The only exercise poor people have time for is running from their second job to their third job. 

• Eat well:. Poor people can’t afford to buy nutritious food and they don’t have time to prepare good meals.  They need to grab something fast and cheap as they rush to their next job.  What is fast and cheap—McDonalds.

• Get enough sleep:  When a poor person is holding down two or three low paying part time jobs (and sometimes also raising kids and going to school), eight hours sleep is a luxury they can’t afford.

I’ve been poor. I don’t recommend it.

 

 

Read the full review and recap for this episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, titled: Talking Nice.

 

 

CLICK HERE

P.S.: I wrote a post about work. How to Work Harder, Smarter, Better: Quotes from Famous People on Work. It includes “rules” for work based on inspirational quotes from famous people.  I doubt that any of these quotes would have helped Ms.Tirado--I'm sure she would have laughed at me if I had given them to her when she was poor--but they may help you.

Be sure and read her book, Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America, if you want to understand what it is like to be poor in America. You should also read by Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. (Click the links for more information and reviews plus a peak inside.)

 

Bill Maher’s Guests for November 7, 2014

Linda Tirado: Author of Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America, a book about what it is like to live in poverty in America 

Bernie Sanders: Senator (I, VT), author of Bernie Sanders’ 2010 Filibuster on Corporate Greed: An Historic Speech

 

Robert Costa: Political reporter for the Washington Post 

Kristen Soltis Anderson: Co-founder of Echelon Insights, a Republican opinion research firm, columnist for The Daily Beast, author of The New Vote. 

Lisa Kudrow: Actress, currently starring in Showtime’s Web Therapy and HBO’s The Comeback

#ShowMeYourPeanuts Sugar is Poison

by Catherine Giordano

A few months ago Robert Lustig was a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher. 

I wrote a recap of the interview at Robert Lustig--Fed Up. Robert Lustig is a pediatric endocrinologist, author of Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease and a featured expert in the new documentary, Fed-Up.

On October 26, John Oliver took on the subject of sugar and raised the volume several hundred notches as Oliver is prone to do. In this hilarious segment, Oliver demonstrates the harmful effects of sugar and shows how much hidden sugar Americans consume. 

 

Oliver suggests that food labels stop reporting the amount of sugar in products as the number of grams—no one understands grams. He wants the sugar content be reported as the number of circus peanuts—a type of candy that Oliver calls “the most disgusting candy ever."

He then suggests that everyone encourage food manufacturers to adopt this new standard by tweeting using the hash tag “SHOWMEYOURPEANUTS."

 

Enjoy the video clip of John Oliver’s segment.

 

 

Now watch Bill Maher’s interview with Robert Lustig for a more serious take on the subject.  John Oliver opened his segment talking about Halloween costumes. If you want a really scary Halloween costume, go as a sugar cube. I think you will agree after watching this video.


CLICK HERE FOR THE DVD

 

 

 

Bill Maher: Meet Roy Zimmerman

CLICK HERE

by Catherine Giordano

Roy Zimmerman is a humorist and satirist, just as Bill Maher is, except Zimmerman does his stand-up in song as he accompanies himself on the guitar.

Zimmerman is brilliant. His satire is spot on. His comedic timing is superb. His expressive face adds as much to his presentation as his hilarious words. His targets are politics, religion, and the unholy mix of politics and religion.  If Bill Maher ever wants an opening act for his performances, he should get Roy Zimmerman.

Right now, Zimmerman is doing his “Blue Dot” tour. If you have a chance to see him, grab it. You absolutely must see him perform in person. You can find Roy Zimmerman’s schedule here: Blue Dot Tour.  

If Zimmerman is appearing anywhere near your area and you can offer him a venue, contact him. He may be able to squeeze in a performance for you. He did that for the Orlando Humanist Association on Sunday, October 26, 2014. He left my throat raw from laughing, and my hands red from clapping.  

Here is a video clip to give you a taste.

 

If you can’t see Roy Zimmerman in person, the next best thing is to get one of his CD’s—there are quite a few. The song in the above video is in this CD: You are Getting Sleepy.

P.S.: Is there a documentarian out there who would like to film Zimmerman’s next tour? I would buy that video and a few more to give as gifts.

Compare Roy Zimmerman to Bill Maher in this video clip. This clip is of the New Rules segment titled “Sam’s Flubs.” Maher also aims his barbs at people who vote Republican. In this segment from the October 24, 2014 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher (episode 333) Maher focuses on the race for Governor in Kansas between Sam Brownback ® and Paul Davis (D). Maher shows how Brownback’s governorship has been a train wreck for Kansas, and wonders how this could possibly be a close race. (If you live in Kansas, please, please, go out and vote for Davis.)

 

 

You can read my complete review and recap of the 10/24/14 “Real Time with Bill Maher here: “Prophets and Wingnuts.”

 

Bill Maher’s Guests #333 October 24, 2014

 

Dr. Cornel West: Professor at Union Theological Seminary, philosopher, activist, socialist and author. His most recent book is Black Prophetic Fire.

 

Chloe Maxmin: Activist, environmentalist 

 

James Risen: Pulitzer prize winning journalist at the New York Times, author of a new book, Pay Any Price: Greed Power and Endless War

 

John Avlon: Journalist, political commentator, editor in chief of The Daily Beast, and author of several books. His newest book is Wingnuts: Extremism in the Age of Obama

 

Mary Matalin: Republican political consultant and author of several books. Her newest book is co-authored with James Carville Love & War: Twenty Years, Three Presidents, Two Daughters and One Louisiana Home

Bill Maher Exonerated

The Exonerated becomes a
 subject for Maher's comedy.

by Catherine Giordano

Susan Mellon was convicted of murder in the death of a homeless man and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. She was innocent. After serving 17 years in prison, she was exonerated and released.

 

The group Innocence Matters, which works to get innocent people exonerated, investigated Mellen's case and was able to prove that she was innocent. 

CLICK HERE

False convictions happen all too often. If you have the opportunity, see the play or the movie The Exonerated. It is about six innocent people who were on death row and who fortunately were exonerated before they were executed. It is a powerful play. It is based on true stories of people saved due to the investigations of The Innocence Project. 

Bill Maher is in the comedy business so he used Susan Mellon’s case for a comedy skit on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 332, aired on October 17, 2014. 

When Mellon was released she remarked about how everything had changed so much.

So Maher’s mid-show comedy segment was about helping the exonerated catch-up with the changes in society that occurred while they were away. He suggested a pamphlet, “So You Have Been Exonerated.” 

Here are some of the items he included.

Your old video store now sells pot.

Before you eat something, it is considered socially unacceptable not to take a picture of it first.

If someone says you have a gigantic ass, it is now a compliment.

TV sets are bigger, and so are Americans. (He shows a picture of a fat person.

But, Donald Trump is still a jackass.

Here is a video clip of  the segment.

 

 
Read my recap and review of the entire show: "Going Viral"
 

Bill’s Maher’s Guests October 17, 2014

 

Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D, NY), author of Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World

David Frum: Senior editor at The Atlantic, political commentator, former George W. Bush speechwriter, and author of several books, the most recent being a novel, Patriots

Representative Barbara Lee: (D, CA), Renegade for Peace and Justice: Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks for Me

David Millband,:Chairman and CEO, International Rescue Committee

Joel Stein: Journalist, humorist, and author of Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity

Bill Maher's New Rules for The Lemon Party

by Catherine Giordano


John Wayne quote about stupidity
that I use ironically

        


In my review and recap of the Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 332 which aired on October 17, 2014, Going Viral, I talked about the stupid-virus.  It’s far more dangerous than the ebola virus—with ebola about half of the people recover. Just about every one wh self-identifies as a member of the tea party has it and and they are out amongst us spreading the virus.

The final New Rules segment was “The Lemon Party.”  I guess he meant that the opposite of the Tea Party is the Lemon Party. 

Currently, Democrats win every demographic group except white males.  Maher wanted to give Democratic candidates a few pointers on talking to white men.  As he said, “I am a strong powerful beautiful white male” so I know how to talk to “whitely.”

Maher said Democrats don’t understand “what white people want.”  Basically, he advised Democrats to reinforce whitey’s prejudices –talk about hard work, tell blacks to pull up their pants, and tell them how much you love dads and small business. Talk like John Wayne and talk about “kicking ass.” Never be like Neville Chamberlain; be like Wilt Chamberlain who will duke in your face.

Here’s a video clip of the segment.

 

 

 

 

Bill’s Maher’s Guests October 17, 2014

Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D, NY), author of Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World

David Frum: Senior editor at The Atlantic, political commentator, former George W. Bush speechwriter, and author of several books, the most recent being a novel, Patriots

Representative Barbara Lee: (D, CA), Renegade for Peace and Justice: Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks for Me

David Millband,:Chairman and CEO, International Rescue Committee

Joel Stein: Journalist, humorist, and author of Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity

Read the full review and recap of Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 332, Going Viral.

Thank you for sharing, liking, and tweeting.



 

Bill Maher Says Democrats are A-Holes Too

Bill Maher's Mid-Show Comedy Segment parody

by Catherine Giordano

The mid show comedy bit on Real Time with Bill Maher on October 3, 2014 was a parody of a real video put out by a Republican operative.

"Real Time" made a parody video titled Democrats can be Assholes, Too. The video was best when  pictures sometimes belied the words. For instance, when the words were "Democrats are farmers", the picture showed a farmer holding a marijuana leaf or when it said "Democrats love guns too," it showed a picture of Obama shooting a rifle.

However, the writers were a bit lazy this week because most of the pictures and captions were not a clever juxtaposition. Some of the pictures played off some Republican memes like Republicans riding a rascal scooter (like Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson), having gay sex, or being sexist, so I'll give them a half point for those. Others just showed people doing dumb things and claimed those people were Democrats----I'd send the writers back to the drawing board on those.

Here's the video.  Judge for your self.

To the full recap and review of the 10/3/14 Real Time with Bill Maher, go to Wake Up America


Here is another YouTube video which takes the original video and alters the captions. so now instead of saying "Republicans drive Priuses too" it reads "Republicans DON"T drive Priuses."

Maher’s Guests for October 3, 2014

 

Elizabeth Warren: Senator (D, MA), author of A Fighting Chance. Maher did the interview with her. 

Sam Harris: author, philosopher neuroscientist. His newest book is Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. His other books are: Free Will, Lying, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values, Letter to a Christian Nation, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. Harris was the mid-show guest. 

Ben Affleck: actor, director, writer, producer, activist. His newest movies are Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Gone Girl (based on a novel by Gillian Flynn) 

Nicholas Kristof: journalist, author, op-ed columnist, a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. His latest book is A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity  

Michael Steele: former chairman of Republican National Committee, political commentator, author. His book, published in 2010,  Right Now: A 12-Step Program For Defeating The Obama Agenda, sounds out of date.