Bill Maher's take on Obama lapel pin b.s.

I'm a big fan of Bill Maher, and I make no apology for it. His Friday night show on HBO, Real Time With Bill Maher, is always can't-miss TV, but on Friday, Maher was at his best when talking about one of the dumbest news stories to ever come out of a presidential campaign - that Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) stopped wearing a lapel pin.

It never ceases to amaze me (and I'll never tire of pointing out) the moronic news stories that gain "mainstream media" traction, when the real news stories go under-reported, or not reported at all. So Obama ceasing to wear a lapel pin makes him less patriotic than our windshield cowboy, President Bush? Boy, thank God Bush wears his American flag pin every day, but he routinely under funds the troops, cuts taxes on the rich in dozens of ways, gives the finger to the constitution whenever inconvenient laws clash with his political agenda, to say nothing of the fact that he started a war on a mountain of lies, which has tragically taken the lives of thousands of Americans (3,827 as of this morning) and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

But Barack Obama may not fit to be president because he stopped wearing a pin of an American flag? You've got to be kidding me. This is typical Republican pseudo-outrage though - when times get tough, wrap yourself in the American flag and question your opponents' patriotism. It's a song that's been sung far too many times in recent years - this is the first example from the '08 election, but it sure won't be the last. And nothing is more pathetic than that.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee trailer

This looks like a fantastic film. I read the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, by Dee Brown, when I was a senior in high school, and I remember the book as tremendously powerful and moving. I'm hoping that HBO's adaptation of the book lives up to Brown's excellent narrative, and by the looks of the trailer, it does (but I know how misleading trailers can be). Generally, HBO films puts out very good movies, and this one will probably join the network's long list of excellent films.

I'm not at all shy in admitting that my country's treatment of Native Americans is another painful, sad chapter in the history of America's treatment of entire races. Along with slavery, the wholesale slaughter of Native Americans is among the most pathetic, disgusting and despicable chapters in our nation's history.

This promises to be a very thought-provoking film; it already has me thinking. From African Americans to Native Americans, and also the detainment of Asian Americans during World War II, Vietnamese "body counts" during the Vietnam War and now the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in the Middle East, our country has a very long and unfortunate history of killing people who aren't aligned with our world view.

America certainly has done some tremendously courageous things, too, like fighting World War I, World War II and defending South Korea when it was attacked by the north, as well as intervening in Kosovo and Somalia to try to stop the slaughter of innocent people.

What I'm trying to say is that America, in my humble opinion, has a mixed legacy that's far from perfect, as evidenced by what's going on in the Middle East today (not to mention Guantanamo Bay, Cuba).

I love my country, but that doesn't mean I love everything about it.

Wounded Knee promises to bring up as many questions as it answers, and that's not a bad thing.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee premieres this Sunday, May 27, on HBO.

15 years ago today... R.I.P. Sammy

I can't believe that it's already been 15 years, but on April 10, 1992, Sam Kinison was killed by a drunk driver in California. He was obscene, offensive, outrageous and funny, all wrapped into one. He's my generation' Lenny Bruce, although Kinison wasn't quite in that category.

What I remember most about Kinison's death was the tribute that Howard Stern played on his show. Even this morning, 15 years later, Howard still remembers. To open his show this morning, the showed played the song tribute The Sounds of Kinison, to Simon & Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence.

I had to hear a little Sammy this morning, and I found this one on YouTube, which is one of my favorite clips of the late comedian. It's his first appearance on HBO, on Rodney Dangerfield's special, and I think it's from 1986. The last few minutes are on world hunger, and I still laugh when I hear it for the hundredth time. Good stuff. Enjoy.



Rest in peace, Sammy.

Sam Kinison, December 8, 1953 - April 10, 1992.

Maher gets it right this time

This is a clip from Bill Maher's HBO show, Real Time With Bill Maher. The comedian and political commentator is pretty far out there, a little too left for me on some issues. A few weeks ago, he insinuated that it's too bad that Dick Cheney didn't get killed in Afghanistan, which I found outrageous.

However, sometimes Maher gets it right. In the clip above, I loved his line about e-mailing himself a copy of the Constitution, hoping the Bush Administration will read it. Hey, the truth hurts, Mr. President.

Maher has some great points about sacrifice, too. The only people who are really sacrificing are the soldiers and their families. You know who else is sacrificing? Future generations who are going to have to pay off the debt this war is ringing up. (Count me and the rest of my fellow Generation Xers among them.) When you take into account the requests for expenditures, right now the tab is at about $500 billion. Who's thrilled with have a trill? I know I'm not, especially considering what it's accomplished, which thus far, is killing 3,200+ Americans, and little else.

I also loved Maher's point about "who watches the watchers." The most troubling thing to me about the PATRIOT ACT isn't that it's (arguably) a great tool to catch terrorists. Hey, we need tools to catch these scumbags. My chief concern is that there are bound to be abuses without strict Congressional oversight, and we're seeing evidence of that now. There are no perfect systems in place to keep us safe and to catch every person, individual or country who wishes us harm, but we can sure as hell try to get the best system(s) in place. This administration and the Republican-controlled Congress over the past six years has failed to do that. Let's see if the Democrats can deliver.

Well done, Mr. Maher.

A stunning Katrina documentary

I've had this documentary on my DVR for quite some time, "When the Levees Broke: a Requiem in Four Acts" a stunning four-hour film by Spike Lee. This week I'll probably get around to watching it; I've been looking forward to seeing it for some time. By any accounts, it looks like a stunner - images that we aren't likely to ever forget.

I'm not sure if it's still being shown on HBO, but it will probably be out on DVD soon. As usual, I'll bring you my thoughts after I see it.

Must see: HBO's "Hacking Democracy"

HBO is airing an explosive documentary on Diebold's electronic voting machines, called "Hacking Democracy." It debuted this weekend, and it airs again on Tuesday. Every American, whether Democrat, Republican, Independent, WHATEVER, should see this documentary. If there's even the potential for fraud in our elections, it undermines the very foundation of our democracy.

I'm TiVo'ing it on Tuesday, but of course, I'll be just a bit busy with other things on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'll share my thoughts after I see it.

More on election fraud later this evening, if I have time.