Example of Bill Maher's ignorance and hypocrisy...

On the April 20th 2007 edition of Real Time with Bill Maher, in his closing monologue Maher started off with a (supposed) Einstein quote:

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If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.

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He then goes on to rant about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which is a very real phenomena effecting bees (first in North America, but later spreading to Europe and Asia) where hives suddenly are abandoned. Entire colonies are decimated and for a while they had no idea why (though many theories were suggested).

Maher then goes on to blame CCD on man:

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Because although nobody really knows for sure what's killing the bees, it's not al-Qaeda, and it's not God doing some of his Old Testament shtick, and it's not Winnie the Pooh. It's us.

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Maher, the non-scientist has found the source of CCD - it's "us". Thanks, Bill for doing all the research and finding the source of CCD, which he believes is (among other things)... cell phones (I'm not kidding). He goes on to assert that:

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...if you think I'm being alarmist and that, "Oh, they'll figure out some way to pollinate the plants..." No, they've tried. For a lot of what we eat, only bees work.

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The problem with Bill's conclusions is that they are all, every one, false. None of it is true.

Here are his lies and false assumptions:

1. The Einstein quote? Einstain never said it. Checking Snopes.com they have an article debunking the Einstein quote:

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....searches of Einstein's writings and speeches and public statements, as well as of (scholarly) compilations of Einstein quotations reveal nary a reference to the "four years" phrase or any other statement mentioning bees

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Check it yourself here:

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/einstein/bees.asp

2. The cause of CCD? It is not man. According to scientists studying CCD the source of the disorder has been found and it is not man, not global warming, not cell phones (good grief), it is none of that. What is it? Nature. Citing Wikipedia:

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...researchers announced they had identified a co-infection of invertebrate iridescent virus type 6 (IIV-6) and Nosema ceranae in all CCD colonies sampled. These results, if confirmed, may finally offer an explanation for genuine cases of CCD... The New York Times reported the colony collapse mystery solved, quoting researcher Dr. Bromenshenk, a co-author of the study, "[The virus and fungus] are both present in all these collapsed colonies.”

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IIV-6 is a virus found in nature, and Nosema ceranse is "a small, unicellular parasite", found in nature.

3. Will all plants, animals and mankind die if the honey bees die? No. It isn't true that there is "no other way" to pollinate the plants the bees pollinate. Again, from Wikipedia:

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Many but not all of these plants can be (and often are) pollinated by other insects in small holdings in the U.S., including other kinds of bees (e.g., squash bees on cucurbits)...

While some farmers of a few kinds of native crops do bring in honey bees to help pollinate, none specifically need them, and when honey bees are absent from a region, there is a presumption that native pollinators may reclaim the niche, typically being better adapted to serve those plants (assuming that the plants normally occur in that specific area).

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It would have a *significant* impact on agriculture, that much is very true, particularly commercial agri-biz (corporate farming). However, it wouldn't mean the end of plant life, animal life and mankind (please).

So, nothing in his entire monologue is true. Nothing. He rails on conservatives for lying and stretching the truth, and yet here is a perfect example of how Maher and his ilk spin a web of deceit using false quotes, false assumptions, alarmist propaganda and out-and-out lies to arrive at their own liberal, anti-technology, anti-mankind, self-loathing conclusions.

Maher is the ultimate hypocrite as he rails on people using cell phones and remote controls as being lazy while using a cell phone and a remote control himself. Suddenly cell phones and remote controls are evil, humans are "lazy" and "bad" for using them and they are the cause of the destruction of the bees and consequently the entire planet.

No, Bill... it isn't global warming, it isn't plastic bags, it isn't cell phones or remote controls causing CCD. It's a virus and a parasite. No, Bill... the entire human race won't disappear from the face of the earth if the honey bee dies off. Just so you know, grains don't need pollination to grow. No, Bill... Einstein did not say that if the honey bee dies we all die. One thing is true though, you lie and lie and lie to further your liberal agenda condemning technology and mankind. The question isn't if mankind is too lazy to quit using remote controls and cell phones so we don't kill the bees and the entire human race. The question is, when will you begin to be intellectually honest and quit lying and spreading propaganda to further your own alarmist, self-loathing, anti-technology, anti-mankind agenda?

Rachael Maddow doesn't understand democracy

Tonight Scott Brown was elected the senator of Massachusetts, the first Republican voted there in 48 years. It is the equivalent of a Democrat being elected in Texas. It is huge and incredibly important and certainly sends a message that the American people are sick and tired of the current road we're on. It is a wake-up call for Washington to stop doing what they're doing.

Tonight on MSNBC on Rachael Maddow's show, when commenting on what this election means, Maddow is taking the "Thelma and Louise" tact, because it's the only one that liberals can take now. When her colleague suggested that now the Democrats should take this as a warning and a clear message and put the brakes on universal health care, Maddow had a very different read. She believes that the Democrats need to pass the health care reform no matter what the voters want. This is the real problem with liberals, they don't care about democracy, and they certainly don't understand it. No, Rachael, our elected officials should not ignore what we want, in fact that is exactly the opposite of what democracy is. In a democracy, the elected officials are representatives of the people, their job is to do *exactly* what the voters want, not to disobey them to do whatever they think should be done. This is what dictators and communists do, not representatives of the people in a democracy.

This is the problem with all liberals, all special interest groups that care more about what they want, even to the detriment of the will of the people. They want universal health care so bad that they could care less what the American people want - which is not universal health care. This is why they'll fall, one by one, until finally the message is heard. Health care isn't something that can be "fixed" if fixing means giving health care to everyone. Just like everyone in America having a two-story house can't be "fixed" and everyone in America having a Porche can't be "fixed". This time though, the Republicans better hear the message as well. George Bush's big failure was that he started spending money like it was going out of style. This time fiscal concerns must be tantamount, it all begins there. If we can't keep our country fiscally viable we can't accomplish anything. It's just like the advice they give on an airplane, when the oxygen mask falls, put it on yourself first and then your child, because if you pass out your child dies. Our country must take care of fiscal matters, to balance the budget and put our nation back on track to be economically responsible. Everything else depends on that. Washington, are you listening?

Al Franken - Dork With a Satellite On His Head

Al Franken is running for Senate in Minnesota, which is a REALLY bad idea. He ignorantly believes that everyone thinks as he does, which leads to some hilariously stupid stunts. Case in point: he recently called for a town hall meeting for veterans to complain about how they were being treated by Vet Affairs... only one person showed up. Haha. Anyway, I hope he'll lose, hopefully. I don't have time to go into the gross hypocrisy of this ignorant nubbin, it's bad though - using Jesus Christ to assail NeoCons when you don't believe in Jesus. Ugh. I just thought I'd post a picture of how I remember him... how I'll *always* remember him. As an grinning moron making an ass out of himself as he desperately tries to extract laughter from an audience responding with a huge, collective "er... yeah". Here's Al in all his moronic glory:

Update. Franken barely won his election bid, despite the fact that Obama swept in that state. The fact that he almost lost to a *Republican* opponent in a state that voted in Obama by a 54% margin is actually amazing. This just goes to show how incredibly unqualified he was, and how much voters in Minnesota didn't like him. What it meant was, *several hundred thousand* voters had to vote for Obama, and then specifically vote against Franken, instead of being able to vote straight Democrat. In the regional races, where Republican or Democratic candidates won, the Presidential candidates also won, meaning that in a district that went for McCain, the Republican (local) candidate won, and vice-versa for the Democratic candidate and Obama. Here, though, voters had to specifically vote FOR Obama and AGAINST Franken on the statewide level. What this means is, hundreds of thousands of people who voted for Obama voted AGAINST Franken! They actually took the time to vote all Democrat on the whole election form, voting for all Democrats in the local races, but voted AGAINST Franken for Senator. That takes some serious dislike to do that. Do you think Franken learned his lesson, that Minnesota thinks he's a tool? Probably not, he'll just jaunt his way to Washington with a big chip on his shoulder and cocky as hell. Yikes, I feel sorry for Minnesota. No. Scratch that. I don't feel sorry for them, they were dumb enough to vote for this guy.

Sea Shepherds - Nazis With Different Uniforms?

The Sea Shepherds are a Greenpeace splinter group of self-labeled "eco-pirates" employing "any means necessary" to stop whaling. They branched out though to basically become the "saviors of the seas" targeting seal hunters and any others who activities they deem wrong. The founder of the Sea Shepherds is Paul Watson and he is (or was) the captain of their lead vessel the Farley Mowat (a guy who today looks like he had WAY too much fun in the 60s. Think Captain Kangaroo with a bad hangover). To date, they have rammed and sunk nine ships... yes, you read that right, *nine* ships. Clearly they have lived up to the label of "pirate". Recently the Canadian government boarded and confiscated the Farley Mowat when it failed to yield to coast guard vessels and interfered with the seal hunt. Paul Watson was quoted by Canadian CBCnews as saying:

"It [the Farley Mowat] was always in international waters, and it’s technically an act of war to board a vessel outside the 12-mile [19 kilometres] limit without the permission of the captain."

Captain Watson can't actually believe that anyone is going to sympathize with this bit of legal spin when the Sea Shepherds have been committing acts of piracy for decades and sinking ships on the high seas. To cry "foul" now seems very disingenuous. If you call yourself a "pirate" then I think you better be prepared for the government of some nation to clap you into irons. The chickens have come home to roost for the Sea Shepherds and they don't like it. Kudos to the Canadian government for having the guts to give a good spanking to these hypocrites.

The actions of the Sea Shepherds actually sums up nicely the gross hypocrisy of the far left, be it eco-terrorists, war protesters or any other leftist wackos. The very same people that are protesting the war are cheering and donating money to the Sea Shepherds who are utilizing the exact same violence to enact change they are accusing the Bush administration of committing. What the Sea Shepherds are saying is, it's ok for someone you like to do violence to someone you don't. This is the ideology of the Nazis. They decry the wicked whalers for their violence to the whales while they perpetrate the same violence on their own fellow human beings (which is far, far worse). Violence to solve violence? Isn't this a cardinal no-no for the peacenik crowd? Tsk-tsk. What it does to is expose the hypocrisy of the left. They aren't concerned with the "violence" in Iraq, or the wrongness of war. Instead, they simply don't support *this* violence. When it's violence they support, done by people they like, then they can't get enough, they eat it up, cheer them on and toss money hand over fist into their coffers.

The next time you hear one of these hypocrites protesting the iraq war while supporting the terrorist activities of the Sea Shepherds, have yourself a nice chuckle... because the war in Iraq continues (as it should) and the Farley Mowat is docked indefinitely. The Sea Shepherds, are they Nazis with different uniforms? You decide.

Virginia Massacre - Gunman To Blame

Two days ago a gunman went to kill — an as yet unnamed — female student "execution style" and ended up murdering over 30 people, most of them young people preparing for their adult lives. Immediately afterwards the pundits and talking heads began asking "why", trying to "make sense of the madness". Soon the cacophony of conjecture split into two — consistently predictable — factions, one that blames gun laws, video games, popular culture and inept response of the school and law enforcement and the other that places the blame on the gunman's parents. Surprisingly few place blame on the gunman.

In the coming weeks a portrait of Cho Seung-Hui will come into view, but the opinions concerning why and how he did it will come much faster. Was he insane, was he simply evil, or was he twisted into this unspeakable act by video games, porn or easy-access guns? Surely the gun control gremlins will crawl out of the machine and bang their drums once again. What they won't say is that ONE responsible professor with a gun could have averted much of the tragedy. If the Holocaust-surviving professor would have been allowed to have a concealed weapon, instead of barring the door — as he did with *incredible* bravery, saving many of his students — he might have been able to stop the gunman... in his tracks. However, now is not the time to make political hay out of such a tragic event, and so...

I pray for and with the families of the students who were so callously murdered by this seemingly arrogant and self-centered young man, an immigrant from South Korea. He came to this country a young boy, and — if all the psychological research is correct in claiming that a child's personality is basically formed by the age of three — then the unstable foundation of this man’s mind was already laid. What caused him to murder a young girl and her advisor, and then go home to reload and return to carry out his despicable crime? Was it video games? Easy access to guns? Or was it what some people call a licentious culture that supports and coddles perversion? Is it the fault of the campus police, Blacksburg law enforcement or the administration of Virginia Tech? Was it his parents, and their method of childrearing, a lack of discipline, too much, or was he clinically insane? Was it the fault of some of his former or fellow schoolmates, their bullying, or was it rejection by certain peers and women? It may be that some of these things are true, but none of these are to blame for Seung-Hui's actions… the only person to blame for the massacre at Virginia Tech is Cho Seung-Hui, a sad, lonely, bitter, suicidal young man committed this evil. Yes, evil. If savagely murdering 32 young people for no reason other than your own emotional pain isn't evil, nothing is.

Let us all remember one fact in the coming weeks, as all of us try to come to terms with what happened at Virginia Tech, Cho Seung-Hui murdered those people, he did it alone, with malice aforethought. There may be insight into how this sick young man became a mass murderer in the coming weeks, but nothing will change the fact that no video game, no television, no parent, no police officer, no other student, and no gun murdered those unfortunate people; only Cho Seung-Hui committed that abomination.

My prayer...

May God be with those families and friends of the fallen students and educators at Virginia Tech. Lord, comfort them in this horrific time, strengthen them so that they may endure the sad and dread filled days they must face as they put to rest their loved ones. I specifically pray for those around the grieving, that they might support and console them. Instruct all of us to *avoid* offering opinions and answers to the hurting families and friends - instead help us to control our tongues, so that the few words we do say would be a relief and not *add* to their suffering.

Lord you tell us to pray for our enemies, even for those who persecute us and even though this may be hard, I pray for the family of Cho Seung-Hui – his parents did not pull the trigger regardless of how we might feel about their culpability in this matter. I specifically pray that they would do the *right* thing and be as forthcoming as possible as the families and all of us try to gain some insight in the aftermath.

I especially pray Lord for our leaders, our President, our educators, our lawmakers, all of our elected officials, admonish them to guide with love and wisdom and to avoid using this unimaginable tragedy for personal or political gain. Thank you Lord for our nation, for this shining land that you have blessed so mightily, over and over again. Give us strength to do whatever is right and necessary in response to what has happened. Help us to see that despite the bad — that will always be with us — there is also the good... like Liviu Librescu 76, the holocaust survivor who was an engineering science and mathematics lecturer at Virginia Tech for 20 years, who blocked the gunman's way and saved many student's lives. Oh Lord, please help us to search ourselves for how we might respond in such a way that would *honor* Liviu, thank you for him, for his example, for his courage, be with his wife and family in this terrible time. Lord I pray... I pray that you will help heal some the angry divisiveness that has gripped our nation. Help us each to see that to come together, each of us must reach out... we cannot stay in one place and join together.

Lastly Lord, please help us all to search diligently in our own hearts, in our own homes for anything that is offensive to you, for any wrong or misguided ideals, actions or habits that separate us from you, that cause anyone pain or suffering. Help those of us who have children to be good parents, to look carefully at how we are raising our children, to root out any wrong or sinful ways in which we interact or instruct our children. Guide us Lord to raise our children to become strong, kind, friendly, compassionate, loving and obedient to you, and help us to do so with firmness, but also kindness as you tell us in Ephesians 6:4 "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord". Thank you for this nation, thank you for our people, of all races, of all ages, of who the majority are kind and loving people who show their love in trying times such as these. Thank you Lord for our families, our friends and loved ones, and help us to comfort the families and friends of those who were slain at Virginia Tech. May your Spirit move within them and give peace to their grieving hearts.