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+--- Thread: Bill Maher's Union-Bashing (/thread-10783.html)
Bill Maher's Union-Bashing - Adele Edisen - 24-05-2013
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/22/bill-mahers-union-bashing/
May 22, 2013
America's Oldest Teenager - Comedian Bill Maher
Bill Maher's Union-Bashing
by DAVID MACARAY
What person smokes a ton of marijuana, loves animals but doesn't like kids, digs girls and sex but never wants to get married, rejoices in using dirty words, hates fat people, likes the beach, and enjoys shocking us with wisecracks about religion and hillbillies? It's probably a teenage boy. But what if that person is an engaging, well-read 57-year old man? Then it's probably Bill Maher.
For the record, I agree with about 98-percent of the political opinions Maher regularly presents on his HBO television show, Real Time With Bill Maher, a program I never fail to watch. The man can be both hilariously funny and dead-on brilliant. And he's got courage; he'll make comments that other performers, even daring ones, wouldn't dream of making. But there are three things about him that drive me up the wall.
First, because he's a professional comedian, he's constantly trolling for laughs, no matter what the context. Even when he's conducting a one-on-one interview with a serious guest about a sobering topic, he can't help himself; he feels compelled to interject joke after joke. You want to scream, "For crying out loud, Bill, let your guest talk!"
Second, he's too needy. He's an applause hound. The man will come to a complete, screeching stop in the middle of his monologue if even one audience membersome guy in Row 19is clapping his hands. At moments like these you wish Maher were more like Jimmy Kimmel, who knows how to keep it going. You want to scream, "Bill, please continue talking!"
And third, Maher is more or less "anti-union," which is profoundly disappointing. While he can be depended upon to plug all the usual left-liberal causes (gays, ethnic minorities, women, anti-war, anti-empire, pro-environment, anti-corporate, anti-gun, pro-choice, et al), you never hear him offer any support (much less praise) for the American labor movement. You want to scream, "Bill, what the fuck?"
It's hard to tell if Maher's anti-unionism is the product of ignorance or inattentiveness, or, more pointedly, is the result of some personal prejudice or vendetta. There is no shortage of irony here, because Maher himself is a union member. Maybe his dad disliked unions, and he is merely honoring a family tradition. Maybe he has a lingering beef with his own union. Maybe he's confusing today's democratically-run Teamsters with the mobbed-up Teamies of the 1950s. Who knows?
A couple years ago, Maher railed against the California school teachers' union, accusing them of refusing to "allow" administrators to fire substandard teachers. That was his bold claim: That the big, bad union wouldn't "allow" schools to fire unqualified teachers (Really? The employees can tell the bosses what to do??). He went so far as to blame the teachers' union for many of the flaws in California's educational system.
Although I wrote HBO a letter, meticulously pointing out (with irrefutable statistics) that school teachers across the countryboth union and non-unionget fired at about the same (low) rate, I never received a reply.
Again, I'm a Bill Maher fan. I enjoy him. He makes me laugh. In fact, I've actually learned some interesting things by watching his program. I only wish he would end one of his shows with a salute to organized labor, acknowledging it as the only American institution dedicated solely to the welfare of working men and women.
C'mon, Bill, we don't care how many righteous hits off that bhang it's going to take, but you definitely need to chill out, get your head straight, get your shit together, and say something nice about the AFL-CIO.
David Macaray, an LA playwright and author ("It's Never Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor" 2nd edition), was a former union president. dmacaray@earthlink.
Adele
Bill Maher's Union-Bashing - Jim Hackett II - 24-05-2013
No surprise. Bill Maher phoney from day one.
I don't watch this ass. Stopped long ago.
Bye Bill, don't let the screen door hit ya in the ass on the way out my door.
Asshole in liberal suit serves his masters well.
ABC, NBC/HBO all the same to me.
Scored brownie points by calling a Bu$h a criminal.
But it is clear:
$$$$ and career override values and humanity. Duh....
Lets take account on the issues.
Promotes more "gun control" but lives in protected community (gated) I bet.
Anti NRA and 2nd Amendment ... duh....
Anti-Union and in with the big money ..... Duh....
Doesn't "need" a pension that won't disappear.....duh ...
Doesn't need to protect job safety, or conditions... duh ...
Just another media cop-out, like Ms. Rachel... duh...
and The Church Lady to boot.
Nothing new.
Can I say "Out-Of-Touch" with reality?
I knew I could.
MANY MANY FALSE LEFTISTS ARE WRAPPING THEMSELVES IN THIS CLOAK,
but none are leftist and are only wearing a "liberal" label.
FUCK THE NRA huh?
I say:
Too bad, too sad that so many live these kinds of values.
Only from my cold dead hands.
Live free or die.
Bill Maher's Union-Bashing - Anthony Thorne - 24-05-2013
Maher was perfectly captured for posterity in the Alex Jones documentary TRUTH RISING, erupting with anger and personally dragging a 9/11 truth activist out of his audience after the latter heckled a comment about WTC7. Other choice Maher moments - hurriedly breezing past Oliver Stone's query as to whether Maher had read JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE, and accusing Joe Brown of insanity when the judge noted the likelihood of a conspiracy behind the killing of MLK. As with Jon Stewart, his selective blindness to important political issues like the above does more harm than good.
Bill Maher's Union-Bashing - Jim Hackett II - 24-05-2013
Stupid is as stupid does.
Beware the gatekeepers...
Maher, Church Lady, and etc. - all the same to me.
Gatekeeping moved over to video.
Whatever these folks are being paid it is too damn much. Thanx Charlie for the thought.
Jim
Bill Maher's Union-Bashing - Dawn Meredith - 27-05-2013
Anthony Thorne Wrote:Maher was perfectly captured for posterity in the Alex Jones documentary TRUTH RISING, erupting with anger and personally dragging a 9/11 truth activist out of his audience after the latter heckled a comment about WTC7. Other choice Maher moments - hurriedly breezing past Oliver Stone's query as to whether Maher had read JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE, and accusing Joe Brown of insanity when the judge noted the likelihood of a conspiracy behind the killing of MLK. As with Jon Stewart, his selective blindness to important political issues like the above does more harm than good.
And more recently he was upset that alleged Boston bomber brother number two was given Miranda, "too soon".
I can't watch these assholes who never miss a chance to denounce conspiracy truth.
Yes much harm is done by these goons. Many get their political "news" from Maher and Stewart.
Are they really this ignorant or are they just whores reading the script? Same result no matter which.
Dawn