This is the kind of garbage that needs to stop.
I think I'm just sick of these stories and these people. Just because someone doesn't agree with George W. Bush does not make them a traitor. Just because someone blindly follows everything the neocons say and do, does not make them a patriotic American. People, please have some sense and stop.
I know over the last year and a half, I have been called everything imaginable for disagreeing with how Bush has handled Iraq. If Iraq is the model for 21st century American interventionism, then we're are definitely on the wrong path.
However, for a Congressman to speak out and call comedian Bill Maher a traitor whose jokes "undermine the effort for national security," is just insane.
Here's the joke:
"More people joined Michael Jackson's fan club" than the Army, which missed its recruiting goal by 42 percent in April. "We've done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit, and now we need warm bodies."
No matter if you find this joke funny or tasteless or senseless, it's political satire and it's protected speech. But, Congressman Bachus wants "him (Maher) off the air." When a representative of the federal government exclaims that someone's speech should be halted, that's more anti-American and treasonous than anything remotely close to what Maher said.
Maher responded with class.
Besides, my question to Congressman Bachus is what are you doing watching HBO late at night anyways? Waiting for some skin? Or catching up on your daily political analysis?
If Bush can compare FDR to Hitler, then I think all speech should be just as open.
David Prather with the Huntsville Times says it best:
"To raise a comedian's remarks to the level of alleged treason is a sordid continuation of the national incivility that prevents everyone from expressing an opinion, as guaranteed by law and tradition. And when you start putting a damper on political satire, you are brushing dangerously close to the Big Brother electrical wire."
Neocons, please stop.
5.26.2005
National Security
Posted by Chris at 11:26 AM
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5 comments:
Pretty scary now that even cable is being attacked for it's content. Then of course no one in the "liberal media" comes out against Rick Santorum comparing Dem's who back the filibuster with Hitler in Paris saying, "How dare you invade my city?"
I really would wish that politiicians would just leave the comics alone. DL Hugley has made me want to vomit on more than one occasion but I wouldn't call him a traitor nor do I think any comedian warrants such a statement for their act. I swear, this reminds me of Dole calling Nine Inch Nails a gangsta rap group, blech!
i agree with you, MJ. sorry for ridiculing you a few weeks ago. i don't doubt that you aren't american and actually care about this country. but you have to understand that, as a soldier, sometimes it really feels the anti-Bush folks are pissing on all the hard work we've done. perhaps, that's why i took offense to your particular comment on calivalleygirl's site. i took a personal stab at you for political beliefs, but if you knew me, you'd just laugh and you certainly wouldn't want to fight me. i'm sure you're not the latte drinker i depicted, but imagine losing friends, close friends and nearly dying yourself many, many times. and then coming home and hearing that "we shouldn't be in Iraq, because Bush lied." it hurts. it hurts really bad. and i guess that's what i meant to say a few weeks ago. while your comments on my site were quite offensive, i assure you that i deserved them. i don't feel the need to justify what i did in iraq because i have nothing to prove to anybody, but it's important you know that i respect your opinion, even though i oppose most of it. after all, that's what america is about... freedom. and you are practicing it by voicing your opinion. p.s. i am not bi polar, not that there's anything wrong with that. take care. and i hope you accept my apologies.
Sminky boy:
I certainly am no one that you should apologize to. Indeed, however, I do think you crossed a line, which to me was totally uncalled for.
I have always maintained the utmost respect for those in the military. I do not think there is anything so admirable as a service man or woman. I might not have served myself, but that does not make me a liberal, or anti anything.
Like I said on your site, there are hundreds of millions of Americans who did not go to Iraq. I don't think coming home and ranting about them is such a good idea.
At the same time, however, someone who constantly complains about the management of the war (like myself) does, even if inadvertently, give the impression that they are against this war. I assure you, I am not.
Somewhere in this debate, it must be possible to support the troops, and yet disagree with the planning and management of it all.
Decidedly so, I have always contended not that we shouldn't be in Iraq because Bush lied- like you suggest- but that we are in Iraq because Bush lied.
There is a difference there, which should be noted.
I too have lost friends in the war in Iraq. And I too have friends there right now serving. And I have friends who are Iraqis, who are not there for a tour of duty, but live there just waiting for it all to end. When do they get to go home?
I'm sorry, but I expected more from the planners of this war. This war is nothing that we were promised. And the burden is on the military. But the military has totally surpassed my expectations. For two years they have held Iraq together so that one day everybody can go home.
I do not think that our military has been given near enough credit in this war.
I do accept your apologies. In fact, you have nothing to apologize for.
Keep doing what you do. And thank you for the freedom to do what I do.
Anybody who's watched Bill Mahre's show for any length of time knows:
A) he FULLY supports the troops (and regularly states that), and,
B) he is a comedian.
While the far right's been trying to shut him up for years, even the wacko, Sean Hannity has found common ground with the man. If Hannity can do it, ANYBODY can do it.
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