Bill Maher on Friday made the indefensible claim that the Founding Fathers if they were alive today would hate members of the Tea Party. On Monday, conservative talk radio host Mark Levin responded to the “stupid, little, white, comedian guy” (partial transcript and commentary follows, audio available here courtesy Right Scoop): (BEGIN AUDIOTAPE) BILL MAHER, HOST HBO'S “REAL TIME”: Now, I want you teabaggers out there to understand one thing: while you idolize the Founding Fathers and dress up like them, and smell like them, I think it’s pretty clear that the Founding Fathers would have hated your guts. And what’s more, you would’ve hated them. They were everything you despise. They studied science, read Plato, hung out in Paris, and thought the Bible was mostly bulls–t. (END AUDIOTAPE) MARK LEVIN: Well, there we have another dumb, short, white guy. “Hung out in Paris.” Well, they hung out in Paris, some of them did. Most of them were farmers and merchants who hung out in the colonies. He’s talking about Jefferson and Franklin and so forth. But what does that have to do with anything? “They read Plato.” Well, actually, they read Plato, but they also read John Locke. How about you, short, stupid, white guy? They read John Locke. They were also influenced by a contemporary, Edmund Burke. They were influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, that would be Adam Smith among others. What exactly is it about Plato that you like short, stupid, white, comedian Bill Maher? You like “The Republic?” I bet you do. Do you know what’s in “The Republic” short, stupid, white, comedian guy? I don’t think you do. I don’t think you’ve ever read it. I don’t think you’ve ever studied it. All kinds of stuff in “The Republic.” And what did the Founders learn from it? To reject it, because “The Republic” wasn’t a republic at all. It was an incredibly sick society. But why should I go on and on and explain it to you stupid, little, white, comedian guy? Yes, they studied science, but they didn’t worship science. If you read the Declaration if Independence stupid, little, white, comedian guy, you would know that they talk about the divine, and they talk about providence, they talk about the Creator several times. Fact, that’s where they say “unalienable rights” come from, not from some mad scientist in a dark laboratory, but from God. You don’t believe in God, I believe stupid, short, comedian, white guy. And most of them did believe in the Bible. In fact, all of them. Not a single one of them was an atheist. A few were deists, Franklin and Jefferson, but do you know what a deist is stupid, white, little, comedian dope? I don’t think you do. No, I don't think he does either, as NewsBusters has demonstrated over the years how clearly uninformed Maher is on a variety of subjects. Here are some of our favorite examples: George Clooney Exposes Bill Maher’s Ignorant Hatred For Conservatives Andrew Breitbart Nails Bill Maher: You're Not a Libertarian, You're a Socialist Fareed Zakaria Exposes Bill Maher's Complete Ignorance of Politics Bill Maher Says 'F–k You' To Guests Disagreeing With His Religious Views George Will Smacks Down Bill Maher On This Week: Brazil Doesn't Use Oil? Bill Maher Strikes Back at George Will Armed With Falsehoods and Bill Clinton As you can see, Maher is quite used to putting his foot in his mouth only to get corrected by a more knowledgeable individual. The folks at HBO must be so proud.
Continue reading …Image: cofed.org Thursday marks a big day for the future of food on college campuses around the country. Bill McKibben , Michael Pollan , and Slow Food USA president Josh Viertel are part of the launch committee that will help the Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive, or CoFed, empower students to establish co-ops stocked with ethically-sourced an… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Welcome to the 2010 Engadget Awards ! For your voting (and nominating) pleasure, we present the seventh annual Engadget Awards! The premise is simple: 2010 may have slipped through our fingers, but all the memories of gadgets-past are still with us (some in a more favorable light than others). Here’s your chance to sound off on what you loved in 2010, and tell us what you’re psyched about for 2011. This year we’ve got 24 categories up for grabs, with 48 total awards to be decided. All finalists for Engadget Awards are reader-nominated, and the editors of Engadget will then select the best of those nominations (usually somewhere between 4-6 devices or technologies) as finalists. There are two awards per category, Reader’s Choice (voted on by you!), and Editors’ Choice (selected by us). The vote will take place in a few weeks once the nominees are picked, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter. You can find all the info and nominees on a landing page we’ve built this year which should make it easier to get all your selections in (and vote once we’ve picked the finalists). Just click right here . You’ve got until 11:59PM ET on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 to get your entries in. Now, go nominate, or use the handy list after the break! Continue reading Nominate your favorite gadgets in the 2010 Engadget Awards! Nominate your favorite gadgets in the 2010 Engadget Awards! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …An update on the months-old story of oil exploration off the coast of Russia’s Sakhalin Island near feeding grounds of critically endangered Western North Pacific Gray Whales : Sakhalin Energy Investment Company , part owned by Shell, has announced plans to build a major new oil platform in these waters. WWF explains that the construction and operation of the oil platform could potentially disrupt the feeding behavior of these whales and increase the… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Steve Jobs may be stepping back , but that’s no reason to stop being jazzed about all things Apple: The company snagged a whopping 563 patents last year, some of which are sure to eventually see the light of day. Mashable reports on 10 you should be particularly excited about: iBike…
Continue reading …MagicJack has found itself in more than a few contentious confrontations before, and it looks like it’s now landed in another with the Kanawha County Commission in Florida, where its parent company YMAX Communications is based. It’s alleging that MagicJack has failed to collect 911 fees and in turn pay the funds to the county, which relies on the fees to fund its 911 emergency center — or, as Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper succintly puts it, “there’s nothing ‘magic’ about Magic Jack.” For it’s part, the MagicJack insists that it is not a “voice-over-Internet” provider and therefore isn’t required to pay 911 fees, and it further adds that it isn’t even able to collect the fees due to the way its product is sold. We’ll just have to wait and see how well that argument holds up when MagicJack faces the state’s Public Service Commission on March 1st — which, incidentally, has already denied MagicJack’s request to dismiss the case. Florida county commission says MagicJack skipped out on 911 fees originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The FCC is giving Comcast, the country’s largest cable company, the green light to take over NBC Universal, home of the NBC television network. The deal is still awaiting Justice Department approval, which is expected later today. With the deal certain to transform the entertainment industry landscape, regulators are attaching…
Continue reading …I’ve hit that wall that happens to me every year around about this time where I look at the fresh vegetables available to me ibn Ontario, like cabbage , parsnips , carrots and celeriac , and I can’t imagine wanting to cook anything using them. I usually snap out of it after a week or so, but I’m having trouble planning my meals because nothing is appealing. Then… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …The only person acting harder than Nicolas Cage is Nicolas Cage’s hair. Here is a full movie guide; we’re partial to the platinum Peggy Sue Got Married look. [ http://www.pajiba.com/guides/the-evolution-of-nicolas-cages-hair-a-video-by-harry-hanrahan.php”> Pajiba ] Read more posts by Amanda Dobbins Filed Under: clickables , hair , movies , nicolas cage Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Vulture Discovery Date : 18/01/2011 20:22 Number of articles : 6
Continue reading …Determined to stay in power despite the international sanctions pressing down on him, Laurent Gbagbo is pressuring banks to continue lending to him, and cocoa farmers to pay their export taxes in advance. “He’s looking for $90 million, from here to the end of the month,” said one cocoa businessman….
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