Ranting Political
Last night on Bill Maher, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was a guest. The middle seat guest. Which on Bill's show usually means that's the smart person. The person on the left is the Republican twit he's tricked onto the show and the person on the right (if you're looking at the TV) is the Hollywood Liberal who pretty much keeps his mouth shut except to say jokes. Craig Ferguson was on last week and he was really good. He argued with Bill (not the right seats job) about some things.
Anyway, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the author of Infidel a book about her experiences in with her Muslim faith. Escaping an arranged marriage, Ayaan sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she began to speak out against the mistreatment of Muslim Women. There, she made a film with Theo van Gogh about that subject and recieved lots of death threats. Van Gogh himself was assassinated for making the movie. After that she went into hiding and came to America. That was all within the last year I think, if I'm reading this right. She was very involved politically during the Danish Cartoon riots. She helped write the Manifesto Against Islamism during that time.
Last night, Ayaan was the smartest person in the room. She talked eloquently and all three of the stupid heads (some Rep. Congressman from California, Steve Weber from Studio 60, and Bill Maher) shut up. She spoke about Dhimmi, which judging by the silence that it garnered I'm wondering if that's not the first time the Congressmen and Bill Maher had ever heard the word.
In a conversation about Africa and the problems between Christians and Muslims there, the congressmen was saying that Christians and Muslims had lived together in peace in the past and that it could happen again. Ayaan disagreed and said that what you had, if you look at the history accurately, was Dhimmi, where the Christians and the Jews submitted to Muslim superiority and paid higher taxes and had different legal requirements than the Muslims. The problem now, she said, was that with a Jewish state (Israel) the Muslim community can not abide by this, and you have the resulting Jihads.
What she said was truly more eloquent than what I said. But I can't find a complete transcript of the show. I have decided, after watching this woman speak and Bill Maher's lack of appreciation for her outspokenness about the oppression of women in the religion of Islam, that I have to read her book.
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Global Warming is the religion of Hollywood and Al Gore. I'm sick to death of this. Do I think we shoud always err on the side of caution and protect the enviornment? Absolutely. Do I think we need alternative fuel sources? Absolutely. Do I think that Global Warming exists and that it's purely man made? Not so much.
Why? Because this planet has been through so many states of weather change that it is arrogant and presumptive to believe that our impact or lack of impact can change the cyclical patterns of a planet that's billions of years old. Does anyone really believe that if we stop doing a few things, turn off our lights, car pool, use mass transit ... that the weather will miraculously stop changing? Hurricanes will stop? Tornadoes won't rip through Kansas?
There was an ice age on this planet many years ago. Do we really think that we won't have one of those again? If I follow Al Gore's religion ... will the planet stay just as it is today? If so ... how are they going to affect change to the temperature of the sun? How will they stop it from growing hotter and hotter? How will it stop the snow?
I can not abide by anything that doesn't allow for an alternative point of view. Especially not something that threatens to cripple the economy of the United States and benefits so many other nations. President Clinton voted against the very treaty that Al Gore now espouses as gospel, and the Congress decided not to sign it as well. Where does that information fit in with Al Gore's plan?
It's all about power ... and Al Gore and company have found a way to impact massive amounts of people and change. Good on them. But couldn't they use their power for good?
Let me put it to you like this. You recycle, you reuse your aluminum foil, you turn off electricity and you have properly insulated your house so you don't use as much heat. You've done your small things to help what you can. But then, you are offered a free SUV. A small one, not a Tahoe, but more like a Pilot. It's offered to you, free. You really need a new car because the one you're driving isn't safe and you have a family. For most people in real life, the demands of their pocket book outweigh those of the enviornment and a choice is made to benefit human life and safety.
That's all I think should be happening here. The earth should be preserved and made safe and not polluted willy-nilly. But the safety and well being of human life should not be sacrificed at the alter of mother earth. And I believe in alternate energy sources ... but let's say they make hybrids the only legal car.
How do you expect a family living below the poverty line to afford one? Are cars to be only for the wealthy? ANd I loved on Oscar night how Melissa Ethridge was singing and behind here were signs about using public transportation.
I hate, hate, hate Hollywood hypocrites. Why couldn't they have all taken the bus? I'm sure there's one that goes down there. It's rules for us common folk but those special people are exempt.
I also hated how Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio got up there taking about how the Oscars had gone green. How exactly? I know they made special hybrid limos. I bet it would have been cheaper and more cost effective and less energy releasing to just all come in Honda Civics. If you make a 6 - cylinder big car a hybrid you're taking a car that normally gets 9 miles to the gallon and making it get 19. Big whoop. Drive a 4 cylinder small car (non-hybrid) and you'll get 30 MTG city. They could have done that. That would have made a bigger statement.
And how about those several thousand dollars worth of gift bags that presenters and guests get? GIVE THOSE TO CHARITY FOR THE LOVE OF PETE. They gave $12,000 gift bags to celebrities at the Live Aid concert. $12,o00 worth of stuff that these celebrites can afford to get themselves and do not need. At a charity event! DONATE THE MONEY TO THE CAUSE! If The Oscars were really so eager to go "green" they'd donate the money those gift bags generate to save the planet, global warming charity.
They ask every day Americans to consume less and use less and yet they don't. Do as I say, not as I do. Al Gore says "drive hybrids" and yet he's escorted around by a caravan of SUV's and Secret Service. He flies private jets, he has big mansions and large bills. Larger than any regular American. Do as I say, not as I do.
The other thing from Oscar night ... Pre Party ... Helen Mirren was talking about where she gets inspiration to do her characters and she said something about how "even when you're playing someone small and domestic," you have to do blah, blah. Small and domestic. Why would you put those two words together? It has become such a "small" thing to be domestic or a house wife or a mother. The "larger" things are having careers and winning oscars and going to parties and success is decided by how much money you have and what your title says on your business cards.
I will judge my success in life by the happiness of my family. Not by anything I did in an office or at an award show. And maybe that merely points to the "smallness" of my life.
Anyway, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the author of Infidel a book about her experiences in with her Muslim faith. Escaping an arranged marriage, Ayaan sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she began to speak out against the mistreatment of Muslim Women. There, she made a film with Theo van Gogh about that subject and recieved lots of death threats. Van Gogh himself was assassinated for making the movie. After that she went into hiding and came to America. That was all within the last year I think, if I'm reading this right. She was very involved politically during the Danish Cartoon riots. She helped write the Manifesto Against Islamism during that time.
Last night, Ayaan was the smartest person in the room. She talked eloquently and all three of the stupid heads (some Rep. Congressman from California, Steve Weber from Studio 60, and Bill Maher) shut up. She spoke about Dhimmi, which judging by the silence that it garnered I'm wondering if that's not the first time the Congressmen and Bill Maher had ever heard the word.
In a conversation about Africa and the problems between Christians and Muslims there, the congressmen was saying that Christians and Muslims had lived together in peace in the past and that it could happen again. Ayaan disagreed and said that what you had, if you look at the history accurately, was Dhimmi, where the Christians and the Jews submitted to Muslim superiority and paid higher taxes and had different legal requirements than the Muslims. The problem now, she said, was that with a Jewish state (Israel) the Muslim community can not abide by this, and you have the resulting Jihads.
What she said was truly more eloquent than what I said. But I can't find a complete transcript of the show. I have decided, after watching this woman speak and Bill Maher's lack of appreciation for her outspokenness about the oppression of women in the religion of Islam, that I have to read her book.
---------------------------------------------------
Global Warming is the religion of Hollywood and Al Gore. I'm sick to death of this. Do I think we shoud always err on the side of caution and protect the enviornment? Absolutely. Do I think we need alternative fuel sources? Absolutely. Do I think that Global Warming exists and that it's purely man made? Not so much.
Why? Because this planet has been through so many states of weather change that it is arrogant and presumptive to believe that our impact or lack of impact can change the cyclical patterns of a planet that's billions of years old. Does anyone really believe that if we stop doing a few things, turn off our lights, car pool, use mass transit ... that the weather will miraculously stop changing? Hurricanes will stop? Tornadoes won't rip through Kansas?
There was an ice age on this planet many years ago. Do we really think that we won't have one of those again? If I follow Al Gore's religion ... will the planet stay just as it is today? If so ... how are they going to affect change to the temperature of the sun? How will they stop it from growing hotter and hotter? How will it stop the snow?
I can not abide by anything that doesn't allow for an alternative point of view. Especially not something that threatens to cripple the economy of the United States and benefits so many other nations. President Clinton voted against the very treaty that Al Gore now espouses as gospel, and the Congress decided not to sign it as well. Where does that information fit in with Al Gore's plan?
It's all about power ... and Al Gore and company have found a way to impact massive amounts of people and change. Good on them. But couldn't they use their power for good?
Let me put it to you like this. You recycle, you reuse your aluminum foil, you turn off electricity and you have properly insulated your house so you don't use as much heat. You've done your small things to help what you can. But then, you are offered a free SUV. A small one, not a Tahoe, but more like a Pilot. It's offered to you, free. You really need a new car because the one you're driving isn't safe and you have a family. For most people in real life, the demands of their pocket book outweigh those of the enviornment and a choice is made to benefit human life and safety.
That's all I think should be happening here. The earth should be preserved and made safe and not polluted willy-nilly. But the safety and well being of human life should not be sacrificed at the alter of mother earth. And I believe in alternate energy sources ... but let's say they make hybrids the only legal car.
How do you expect a family living below the poverty line to afford one? Are cars to be only for the wealthy? ANd I loved on Oscar night how Melissa Ethridge was singing and behind here were signs about using public transportation.
I hate, hate, hate Hollywood hypocrites. Why couldn't they have all taken the bus? I'm sure there's one that goes down there. It's rules for us common folk but those special people are exempt.
I also hated how Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio got up there taking about how the Oscars had gone green. How exactly? I know they made special hybrid limos. I bet it would have been cheaper and more cost effective and less energy releasing to just all come in Honda Civics. If you make a 6 - cylinder big car a hybrid you're taking a car that normally gets 9 miles to the gallon and making it get 19. Big whoop. Drive a 4 cylinder small car (non-hybrid) and you'll get 30 MTG city. They could have done that. That would have made a bigger statement.
And how about those several thousand dollars worth of gift bags that presenters and guests get? GIVE THOSE TO CHARITY FOR THE LOVE OF PETE. They gave $12,000 gift bags to celebrities at the Live Aid concert. $12,o00 worth of stuff that these celebrites can afford to get themselves and do not need. At a charity event! DONATE THE MONEY TO THE CAUSE! If The Oscars were really so eager to go "green" they'd donate the money those gift bags generate to save the planet, global warming charity.
They ask every day Americans to consume less and use less and yet they don't. Do as I say, not as I do. Al Gore says "drive hybrids" and yet he's escorted around by a caravan of SUV's and Secret Service. He flies private jets, he has big mansions and large bills. Larger than any regular American. Do as I say, not as I do.
The other thing from Oscar night ... Pre Party ... Helen Mirren was talking about where she gets inspiration to do her characters and she said something about how "even when you're playing someone small and domestic," you have to do blah, blah. Small and domestic. Why would you put those two words together? It has become such a "small" thing to be domestic or a house wife or a mother. The "larger" things are having careers and winning oscars and going to parties and success is decided by how much money you have and what your title says on your business cards.
I will judge my success in life by the happiness of my family. Not by anything I did in an office or at an award show. And maybe that merely points to the "smallness" of my life.
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