One of the things I admire most about Bill Maher is the ability he has to make one think. He has a way with words – he would, having been an English major – that at first infuriates or intrigues a listener, but which then implants a thought in one’s mind… Read full post »

Real Time with Bill Maher hit the boards running for its eighth season a couple of weeks ago, and I held out great hopes for my favourite fundit program, after a decidedly iffy season last year which ended in confusion.

However, I’m hoping I didn’t speak too soon, as it stalled… Read full post »

So it’s come to this on the eve of a possible passage of healthcare reform, arguably the most important and far-reaching legislation to be passed by Congress since Civil Rights and Medicare came into being in the mid-1960s.

The passage of the Senate Bill in the House hangs by the thread… Read full post »

I am a Virginian.  My mother was a Virginian, and so was her father. His family came to the colonies out of necessity and choice. During the English Civil War in the 1640s, my ever-so-many-great grandfather backed the losing horse (thus, establishing a long tradition in my family): King Charles… Read full post »

In his latest editorial at the end of Friday’s Real Time, Bill Maher put out a poignant plea for the public’s understanding and sympathy toward Hollywood’s big, self-promoting pat on the back that’s known as the Oscars. That one, special night, says our lad, is deserved, becau… Read full post »

Something struck me this morning, thinking about what’s looming on the horizon tomorrow for the Democrats with this ginormous chinwag session that’s about to take place at Blair House.

Trust me … the world will be watching. Well, at least the BBC will be, wrinkling their noses supe… Read full post »

“Ms. Palin represents a new breed of unelected public figures operating in an environment in which politics, news media and celebrity are fused as never before. Whether she ever runs for anything else, Ms. Palin has already achieved a status that has become an end in itself: access to an electr… Read full post »

 I have long been a fan of Bill Maher. At his best, I find him one of the most astute and perspicacious politcal observers on the scene today, unafraid to speak a truth many of us were only thinking. I felt, more than anything, that he spoke, and spoke well, for… Read full post »

BBC news reports a rise in the pagan population of Britain, with an item on their celebration of Christmas as the traditional Winter Solstice. Being a secular sort of person, I was curious about this until I found out these so-called pagans are anything but rational and, instead, cling to the… Read full post »

I'm on a mission. I'm utterly angered and repulsed that so many people on the Left are bamboozled by a phoney shill, who purports to be a Progressive.

People need to learn to think critically and investigate the background and modus operandi of every media talking head who puts forth an… Read full post »

So endeth the seventh season of Real Time with Bill Maher, or so it did, anyway, more than a month ago now. I miss it. I miss Bill's weekly take on the relevant news issues of the day, mostly facing America, but sometimes encompassing the rest of the world.

It's no… Read full post »

I'm flying back to Virginia on Hallowe'en - by scheduled aircraft and not by broomstick, but lately I've felt that the cybersphere was awash with covens of witches.

I should be looking forward to going home. Goodness (which has nothing to do with anything, in the words of Mae West) knows,… Read full post »

 On Saturday, the New York Times Weekend Opinionator column posed the question "Does the Nobel Hate America?"

There's an infestation of trolls on Bill Maher's comment page - vicious, rampant Rightwing beings, insulting, narrow-minded, ugly, white individuals - you know the type: The sort you see on the news at Town Maulings. One is particularly bad. He appears to be a career militarist. His MySpace page reve… Read full post »

Right, here I sit, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, gearing myself up for another visit Stateside to see the friends and relatives. It's not long now until the end of October, when I'll arrive. Whilst I'd hoped to visit closer Thanksgiving because I miss that particular holiday, coming… Read full post »

So here we are at the end of a long, hot summer (at least in Britain - how's that for an oxymoron), after an August of scorching and offtimes ridiculously ignorant debates about a topic which has suddenly become urgently de rigeur in the United States: healthcare reform.

It really has… Read full post »

On Friday night, my dog had 5 pups; by Sunday, 4 were dead, and the remaining puppy was dying. The last thing I needed was someone choosing to exercise Freedom of Speech on my laptop.

A lot of discussion has been making the rounds lately about the First Amendment; one might… Read full post »

As anyone who reads my blogs knows, Bill Maher is a particular hero of mine. He's a social and cultural agent provocateur, who forces me to think and re-think some of the posits he presents on his weekly Real Time programme. I think he does a good job of saying a… Read full post »

Women.

You either love them, or you hate them. 

That's speaking as a woman.

The late George Carlin once said that women were crazy, and men were stupid; but women were crazy  because men were stupid. That may be true to a certain extent. The greatest sex appeal a man… Read full post »

So here it is Independence Day, and here I am in Enemyland - otherwise known as Great Britain, specifically England. I've been thinking a lot about this particular Fourth of July, in the days approaching the holiday. For some reason, this year, it's made me nostalgic and more homesick than I've… Read full post »

OK, so yet again, there's a big debate brewing in the United States about the possibility of having universal healthcare; and yet again, there seems to be more wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth about the sort of plan that would benefit all citizens in the United States. More importantly,… Read full post »

In the wake of all the expenses' scandal that's been consuming British life, British politicians and the British media for the past few weeks, there seems to be another phenomenon appearing on the political horizon here in the unusually sunny UK: that of the celebrity politician.

Now,… Read full post »