Michael Douglas Op-Ed On Anti-Semitism

Actor/producer Michael Douglas- who has recently embraced Judaism (his actor dad Kirk Douglas is Jewish)- has written a very interesting op-ed on the upsurge of anti-Semitism around the world. He was inspired to write about it after his own son Dylan encountered anti-Semitism during a vacation in Southern Europe last year. Like his, Dylan has also embraced his Jewish roots.

At a swimming pool, some hotel patron insulted him after noticing his Star of David. In his op-ed Douglas recounts the incident his son experienced, some if his own past encounters with anti-Semitism, and then delves into why he believes there has been an increase in hatred of Jews.

In my opinion there are three reasons anti-Semitism is appearing now with renewed vigilance.

The first is that historically, it always grows more virulent whenever and wherever the economy is bad. In a time when income disparity is growing, when hundreds of millions of people live in abject poverty, some find Jews to be a convenient scapegoat rather than looking at the real source of their problems.

If we confront anti-Semitism ... if we combat it individually and as a society, and use whatever platform we have to denounce it, we can stop the spread of this madness.
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A second root cause of anti-Semitism derives from an irrational and misplaced hatred of Israel. Far too many people see Israel as an apartheid state and blame the people of an entire religion for what, in truth, are internal national-policy decisions. Does anyone really believe that the innocent victims in that kosher shop in Paris and at that bar mitzvah in Denmark had anything to do with Israeli-Palestinian policies or the building of settlements 2,000 miles away?

The third reason is simple demographics. Europe is now home to 25 million to 30 million Muslims, twice the world's entire Jewish population. Within any religious community that large, there will always be an extremist fringe, people who are radicalized and driven with hatred, while rejecting what all religions need to preach — respect, tolerance and love. We're now seeing the amplified effects of that small, radicalized element. With the Internet, its virus of hatred can now speed from nation to nation, helping fuel Europe's new epidemic of anti-Semitism.It is time for each of us to speak up against this hate.

He praises French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Pope Francis, and New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan for speaking out against anti-Semitism, and calls upon all the political and religious leaders of the world to do the same. He also believes it's also the responsibility of all of us "to take action."

Read the whole op-ed on the L.A. Times website.

Bill Maher Confronts Howard Dean After Claiming Muslim Terrorists Are As Muslim As He Is

Bill Maher ripped fellow uber-liberal, former presidential hopeful Howard Dean- infamous for that campaign scream, oh so long ago- for claiming, during the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo and Kosher deli massacres, that Muslim terrorists aren't, well, Muslim. Of course, he's not alone, but it's good to see Maher take him to task.

Howard Dean had said that the terrorists in Paris were "about as Muslim as I am," and after being confronted by Maher, he comes up with a pretty darn stupid explanation for why he believes that.

Interesting note- the audience kept applauding Dean.

Video on Mediaite.

And for a little humor, here's someones remix of that Dean scream.

Imagine if he had actually won the 2004 presidential elections. 

Bill Maher Blasts Liberals On "Extreme Bullying" Regarding Islam

Liberal Bill Maher does not suffer fools lightly, at least those who don't get the huge problem with radical Islam, both liberal and conservative, the Pope included. But the liberals are the ones who were the targets of the brunt of his anger.

Bill Maher was set to deliver the key-note speech at the U.C. Berkeley commencement in December 2014, until undergrad students decided to un-invite him in October because of his stance on radical Islam. Berkeley administration chose to keep him as speaker.

The kids took issue with his October 3 show where he commented that Islam:

 “is the only religion that acts like the mafia that will f***ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, or write the wrong book.” 

The students then managed to get 4,000 signatures on a change.org petition demanding he no longer attend. They claimed:

“Maher is a blatant bigot and racist who has no respect for the values UC Berkeley students and administration stand for."  “In a time where climate is a priority for all on campus, we cannot invite an individual who himself perpetuates a dangerous learning environment.”

But he's right. This is not racism- religion is not a race, dudes- or bigotry, it's the truth. Witness what just happened to the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in Paris, and the ensuing violent protests after they published another cartoon.  And Maher brought that up during his latest show on HBO.

He lambastes the Pope for his comment on limits to free speech, if it insults someone's faith, and Bill Donohue, Glenn Greenwald, and the Berkeley students who protested his commencement speech.

He called terrorism extreme bullying, and called out liberals for being bullies themselves.

"Liberals hate bullying, alright, but they're not opposed to using it- when they casually throw out words like bigot and racist, it does cow people into avoiding this debate, and if you're doing that you don't get to wear the "Je suis Charlie" button, the button you should wear is the "Je suis part of the problem."

He even brings up Rush Limbaugh, criticizing those who are trying to get him off the air. Maher believes they are part of the problem, and not true liberals because they don't "get" free speech. He said opinions shouldn't be illegal, and that no-one gets a waiver when it comes to freedom of speech, including religion.

Bill Maher Skewers The Left's Obsession With The Republican "War On Women"

During his Sept 26 show, Bill Maher lambastes the misplaced outrage of liberals over the Republican Party's alleged "War on Women" versus their lack of concern over the horrific life women in Muslim majority countries are subjected to.

He almost sounds like a conservative here. Quite something for a liberal atheist.




Here's the longer version.

Bill Maher Argues Islam With Charlie Rose

The one thing Bill Maher gets right- his views on Islam.

Maher recently got into it with Charlie Rose regarding ISIS and Islam.  Rose sees the peaceful Islam, Maher does not.

Transcript courtesy of Real Clear Politics.  Video of the chat on there as well.

BILL MAHER: I saw Howard Dean on TV the other day and he said something along the order, he said the people in ISIS -- he said I'm about as Islamic as they are, you know, distancing the vast numbers of Islamic people around the world from them. That's just not true.

CHARLIE ROSE: It is true.

MAHER: It is not true, Charlie. There is a connecting tissue between --

ROSE: Behind every Muslim is a future member of some radical?

MAHER: Let me finish.

ROSE: I was doing that.

MAHER: There are illiberal beliefs that are held by vast numbers of Muslim people that --

ROSE: A vast number of Christians too.

MAHER: No, that's not true. Not true. Vast numbers of Christians do not believe that if you leave the Christian religion you should be killed for it. Vast numbers of Christians do not treat women as second class citizens. Vast numbers of Christians --

ROSE: I agree with that --

MAHER: -- do not believe if you draw a picture of Jesus Christ you should get killed for it. So yes, does ISIS do Khmer Rouge-like activities where they just kill people indiscriminately who aren't just like them? Yes. And would most Muslim people in the world do that or condone that? No.

ROSE: No.

MAHER: But most Muslim people in the world do condone violence just for what you think.

ROSE: How do you know that?

MAHER: They do. First of all they say it. They shout it.

ROSE: Vast majorities of Muslims say that?

MAHER: Absolutely. There was a Pew poll in Egypt done a few years ago -- 82% said, I think, stoning is the appropriate punishment for adultery. Over 80% thought death was the appropriate punishment for leaving the Muslim religion. I'm sure you know these things.

ROSE: Well I do. But I don't believe --

MAHER: So to claim that this religion is like other religions is just naive and plain wrong. It is not like other religious. The New York Times pointed out in an op-ed a couple weeks ago that in Saudi Arabia just since August 4th, they think it was, they have beheaded 19 people. Most for non-violent crimes including homosexuality.

ROSE: I know that they cut the hands off the thief.

MAHER: Right, okay, so we're upset that ISIS is beheading people which we should be upset about but Saudi Arabia does it and they're our good friends because they have oil. Okay. But they do it too. This is the center of the religion. I'm not saying -

ROSE: But they're now fighting against ISIS too. They're joining us in the fight. As is the Emirates. As is Jordan. They are all Muslim countries.

MAHER: Well, they are both fighting ISIS and they are for ISIS.

ROSE: Well, it's not the government. I mean, some of them --

MAHER: Certainly the governments.

ROSE: It's a bit like today about Qatar. The big story today in The New York Times about Qatar. And some guy there is supporting, who is a Muslim --

MAHER: But I mean in Mecca where infidels, non-Muslims, are not even allowed in the holy parts of the city. I mean, right there, we don't have that example in other religions. They do behead people. Now if they were beheading people in Vatican City, which is the equivalent of Mecca, don't you think there would be a bigger outcry about it? So this is the soft bigotry of low expectations with Muslim people. When they do crazy things and believe crazy things, somehow it's not talked about nearly as much.

ROSE: Would you come to the table and debate this with a moderate Muslim?

MAHER: Find one, yes. Find one.

ROSE: I promise you I'll find one.

MAHER: Find a Muslim --

ROSE: I do believe that what we see with ISIS is not representative of --

MAHER: As I said, connecting tissue.

ROSE: -- not representative of the Islamic religion. I don't think the Koran teaches them to do these kinds of things.

MAHER: Well you're wrong about that. The Koran absolutely has on every page stuff that's horrible about how the infidels should be treated. But for example again ISIS says that they should perform genital mutilation on all women 11-46. Would most Muslims agree with that? No. Or carry it out? No.

But as Ayaan Hirsi Ali points out, she says --

ROSE: I wouldn't expect for her to --

MAHER: And she would know better than --

ROSE: Exactly.

MAHER: But can we really say --

ROSE: She's been a victim.

MAHER: -- women are treated equally in the Muslim world? I mean, their testimony in court is very often counted as half. They need permission to leave the house in some places.

ROSE: But a lot of moderate Muslims would say in fact one of the things that we need to modernize is the idea of the way we treat women.

MAHER: But in this country, if you just use the wrong word about women, they go nuts. And all these other countries --

ROSE: As they should.

MAHER: -- they're doing things like making them wear burqas and I hear liberals say things like, 'they want to.' They want to. They've been brainwashed. It's like saying a street walker wants to do that.

He has no fear telling it like it is. Good for him.

Bill Maher Blasts Hamas For Attacking Israel

So yesterday I wrote about Jon Stewart skewering Israel for trying to defend itself.  Sadly, he seems to represent a large portion of humanity that does not see Israel as having that right, with some believing that it has no right to even exist. Hamas has made the latter quite obvious. It's right there in the charter. In light of that fact, the Israelis have exercised an incredible amount of restraint over the decades it's been the target of relentless rocket attacks from Gaza. I mean, what do you do when your neighbours make your life a living hell with aggressive and violent behaviour?  Do you sit back and take it, knowing they want to annihilate your people. Do you leave your borders open knowing that your Palestinian neighbours breed suicide bombers like rabbits, and even honor and celebrate them. That the Palestinians (the P.A. and Hamas) pay the families of those suicide bombers, and the terrorists in Israeli jails are paid a monthly salary. I've seen the houses of people living in sketchy areas of certain cities- the bars on the windows, the locked gates. People just trying to protect themselves and their property. There would be no need for a blockade if the Palestinians stopped provoking Israel. And it's not just Israel, Egypt too has a blockade. No-one seems to care about that.

Bottom line, if the Palestinians wanted peace with Israel, a treaty would have been brokered many moons ago. But they don't want peace, they just want them gone.  And that's not going to happen, as long as Israel has any say in the matter. So they will continue to defend themselves, and the world will continue to see the Palestinians as victims and the Israelis as the evil occupiers, even though Israel does not currently occupy Gaza.

Surprisingly, one liberal has come to Israel's defense.  Then again, it's Bill Maher- one of the few liberals who sees Islamic extremism for what it is- a threat to the Western world.

On his latest HBO show, he acknowledges that Palestinians have a legitimate gripe, but does not agree with the argument from much of the world "that they also have the moral high ground."  Like most of us, he feels bad for the civilians that are dying, but he posits why no-one asks - whose fault is that?

"I feel terrible for a Palestinian child who dies, but if it's your father, your brother, your uncle who's firing those rockets into Israel, who's fault is it really? Do you really expect the Israelis not to retaliate?"

LJReview.com lists the other major points Maher made:

The death of innocents in Palestine is their fault for firing rockets at Israel in the first place.Hamas would kill all Israelis if they could, but even though Israel does have that ability, they do not.Israel must win every single military conflict in order to survive.The Israeli focus on science technology vastly exceeds that of the Arab world.Israelis are right to consider threats to their lives as more important than world opinion.The Palestinians seem to have choosing to be angry refugees as a way of life.Israel isn’t going anywhere and the rest of the world needs to face up to that fact.

I hope some day there is peace in that region, but I 'aint holding my breath.

Bill Maher and Salman Rushdie Discuss "9/11 Liberals"- or those who get the Muslim issue

I think Bill Maher is generally a liberal ass, but he at least gets the Islam problem, which most liberals don't. This is a great discussion between Maher, Salman Rushdie, Chris Matthews (who remains an ass) and several others regarding "9/11 liberals", or those who after 9/11 remained liberal on most issues other than the Muslim issue. Maher includes the late Christopher Hitchens, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Sam Harris as 9/11 liberals.

This aired on September 21, 2012.