Bill Maher on Conservative Think Tanks

[Doug]

Maher: And finally, new rule in two parts: (A) You can't call yourself a think tank if all your ideas are stupid; and (B) If you're someone from one of these think tanks that dreamed up the Iraq War and who predicted that we'd be greeted as liberators, and that we wouldn't need a lot of troops, and that Iraqi oil would pay for the war, that the WMD's would be found, that the looting wasn't problematic, that the mission was accomplished, that the insurgency was in its last throes, that things would get better after the people voted, after the government was formed, after we got Saddam, after we got his kids, after we got Zarqawi, and that whole bloody mess wouldn't turn into a civil war, you have to stop making predictions.

See here.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Won't do any good, they'll just come up with another "heavy, intellectual" name for themselves and keep spewing their toxic waste as logic.

[Betsy]

Won't do any good because (a) the neo-cons aren't paying attention to Bill Maher and (b) even if they heard/read this, it wouldn't get through to them, they'd just start screaming and crying and making excuses and talking about how Bill Clinton got a blow job in the oval office.

I followed the link and got a whole 'nother set of "new rules" that were very interesting, regarding the Mark Foley scandal and kids in America. Very worthwhile reading. Made me want to give Maher a standing ovation at my computer.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Betsy - You're right. I just went to the link and read the whole thing - Does he ever have a point about America's kids. Foley is bad, but that's because of his betrayal of trust, and worse is the R coverup (coverups are almost always worse than the crime - not always, but most of the time). However, there are a whole lot more predators after our kids who want their money and their minds than who want their bodies (for anything but cannon fodder). Teaching our children that paid advertising is a euphemism for lies would help. Getting Channel One shut down would also, but it won't happen. The schools need the money - same reason they allow vending machines full of garbage in the schools. But then Americans have always been - funny - about education. Pay it lip service, but don't want to pay for it. Want teachers to teach what they want taught, but most aren't willing to teach it themselves when offered the homeschool option (of course, much of that has to do with - can you afford to not work so you can homeschool your kid?) - Apparently they want a target, not a solution, and the kids are the "collateral damage".

[Dardedar]

New Rule: We Don't Need Drug Tests for Librarians

They can't have very nice lives - librarians. It's like being a teacher, only without the opportunities for dating, because the only kids you meet are the nerds. So the last thing America's shsssshing minority needs is the indignity of a urine test. But that's just what we're doing. I'm not sure this is the best use of our time.

The last time a librarian did something really stupid and reckless on drugs was when Laura married George.

Last year, Florida's Levy County introduced drug testing for library volunteers. Whose average age is between 60 and 85. The volunteers were required to drive to another city - Gainesville - and urinate in a cup "within hearing distance" of a laboratory monitor. That'll teach 'em for offering to work for free. "Okay, grandma, now get pissing. And I'd better hear a nice even unbroken stream."

And then something weird happened. Inexplicably, the number of volunteers dropped from 55 to two. It's almost like they didn't enjoy being degraded. And they call themselves the greatest generation.

I know what you're thinking. If Aunt Iris has nothing to hide, she can get a little of her own urine on her hands and prove she's not strung out on junk. Then we can feel safe, and she can go back to mis-shelving the Readers Digests. But then a second thought occurs to you, later, when you really, really think about it. And that thought is this: What the fuck is wrong with us? Are we high?

They're not flying planes. They're showing the homeless how to use the microfiche readers. For free. The only people who profit from this are the stockholders of the drug testing company, who stood to make $33 a head, money the library would have otherwise just wasted on books.

A spokesman for the libraries said she wouldn't make the volunteers drive to Gainesville for their cavity searches anymore. And she also thought the problem wasn't the drug test itself, but the method they used. That's why they're looking into switching from urine tests to mouth swabs. The same method used by the Florida Department of Corrections.

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One reader commented:

"Are you kidding? Only benefit the test company? You've never had one of these types of jobs, have you Bill? It benefits the insurance companies... If they get a false positive, Granny is SOL. No coverage for her. Sure they might not be doing risky stuff, but that age range has lots of health problems, which can be expensive... Like slipping and falling down."