Bill Maher's Show Last Night

Generally I like Bill Maher. I don't agree with him on everything, but I tend to agree more than disagree. I watched his show on HBO last night and I'm going to throw in my two cents.

I found his argument with Paul Hackett over whether Dubyah is "ignorant but not stupid" (Maher's position) or "stupid but not ignorant" (Hackett's position) quite thought provoking. I think I have to side with the Iraqi veteran Hackett on this one, Dubyah is definitely "stupid but not ignorant."

I thought Bill dropped the ball in his discussion with Phyllis Shlafly on "activist judges" who are "unaccountable." Well, considering that a "Tyranny of the Majority," which would rob the minority of its rights, was one of the things the Founding Fathers feared about democracy, the judiciary was made independent and "unaccountable" precisely so that it could protect the rights of the minority without retribution from the majority. A perfect example of a "Tyranny of the Majority" was the Jim Crow South. I'm not black, but I remember North Carolina and Texas back in the early seventies. Bill never raised this point.

I also thought Maher let Shlafly off the hook on the idea that the laws of the US are based upon the 10 Commandments when every ancient civilization I've ever read about condemned murder, theft and false witness. A lot of them condemned rape too which the 10 Commandments appears to have overlooked. Hell, if our laws were based upon the decalogue we'd have to shut down Madison Ave. as the advertising business does nothing but try to get us to "Covet."

However, any problems I had with Bill's handling of Shlafly were more than compensated for in his "New Rules" related to Intelligent Design and Evolution. Some of Bill's observations.

"You don't have to teach both sides of a debate, if one side is a load of crap."

"It just seems pathetic to be so insecure about your biological superiority, to a group of feces-flinging, rouge-buttocked monkeys, that you have to make up fairy tales. Like we came from Adam and Eve, and then cover stories for Adam and Eve like, intelligent design. Yeah, leaving the Earth in the hands of two naked teenagers. That's a real intelligent design. "

"...there is no debate among scientists. Evolution... is supported by the entire scientific community. Intelligent design is supported by guys on line to see 'The Dukes of Hazzard.'

And the reason there is no real debate, is that intelligent design isn't real science. It's the equivalent of saying that the thermos keeps hot things hot and cold things cold, because it's a god. It's so willfully ignorant you might as well worship the U.S. Mail. It came again! Praise, Jesus!

No, stupidity isn't a form of knowing things. Thunder is high pressure air meeting low pressure air. It's not God bowling. Babies come from storks is not a competing school of thought... in medical school. We shouldn't teach both."