Controversial Quote (Bill Maher)

Below is the exact quotes from a conversation taken from Bill Maher's show "Real Time"on March 2, 2007. Now that you've read it how does what Maher really said jive with the onslaught of statements that the right wing bloggers and talk show hosts are saying about Bill Maher? The commentators on the right are having a field day attempting to put Maher in the same category as Ann Coulter who is more and more being seen by many as a mouthpiece on the far right fringe of reality. I disagree totally with this perspective that tries to even the score by making Maher a scourge of the decade eventhough I agree I am very biased against Cheney as is Maher. All Maher really said at first was "But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people" and only when pushed by Scarbourough, if one takes Maher's later quote at face value, and they should is that "if Cheney did die, ---more people would live. Cheney is a major architect of the Iraq Wari, a failed corrupt War in which 655,000 Iraqis have died and more than 4000 of our troops have died and they continue to die and thousands get and continue to get maimed. I'm glad someone said it like it is. Besides all this, it was Joe Scarborough, hardly a lefty who brought the whole issue up and actually used the words " if Dick Cheney had been blown up and you didn't say"( cut off) attempting to lead Maher into his right wing trap. If anyone is culpable of starting a "fire in crowded theater", it is Scarborough, Right? Comments!!!!

Sharon Raphael

from Bill Maher's show "Real Time"on March 2, 2007.

"MAHER: [overlapping] But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow. [applause]
RIDLEY: Okay, but—[voices overlap under applause]

SCARBOROUGH: But, let’s talk – let’s talk about your show for a second, very quickly. If somebody on this panel said they wished that Dick Cheney had been blown up, and you didn’t say—

FRANK: I think he did. [laughter]

SCARBOROUGH: Okay, did you say--?

MAHER: No. No, I quoted that.

FRANK: You don’t? Oh, you don’t believe that?

MAHER: No, I’m just saying that if he did die—
SCARBOROUGH: [laughter] Okay, but if – oh, let’s just say—

MAHER: [overlapping]—other people – more people would live. That’s a fact."

Later Quote on NewsBusters Maher is explaining his views on Cheney.

Now on that site, Maher writes: "On Saturday, the Web site NewsBusters.org posted a story under the headline ‘Bill Maher Sorry the Assassination Attempt on Dick Cheney Failed.’

"There’s just one problem: As a fair reading of the show’s transcript makes clear, I never said those words...

"Don’t get me wrong: I’ve never joined the Dick Cheney Fan Club. But what I said Friday – and what I believe – is that the Vice President has presided over a bungled execution of a war in which thousands of our bravest continue to die. And I believe that were he not in power, our troops would likely come home sooner. But I don’t wish him dead.”

March 20th Tues No School No Business As Usual

Mass Anti-War Protest in Los Angeles Saturday, March 17th 2007 Noon Los Angeles, CA USA On March 17, the 4th anniversary of the start of the criminal invasion of Iraq, tens of thousands of people from around Southern California will come to Los Angeles for a mass demonstration to demand: U.S. Out of Iraq Now! The LA march will be coordinated with a march on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Contact: A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) answerla@answerla.org 323-464-1636

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On March 20th
Whoever you are...

Wherever you are...

Walkout on March 20^th

End the War Now
Drive out the Bush Regime The U.S. war machine has Iran and its people in the cross hairs – and there is every reason to believe the threats on Iran are serious and U.S. military strikes would engulf the entire region in the flames of war and chaos.

Hate Crime

see article from Gay.com below

Victim, 72, of Detroit hate beating dies

published Friday, February 23, 2007

Andrew Anthos, whose dream was to light up the Michigan State Capitol dome in red, white and blue, died Friday of injuries sustained in a Feb. 13 hate beating.

Though Anthos, 72, was visiting with friends as recently as Wednesday, his condition declined rapidly in the past two days and he was administered the last rites late Thursday in Detroit Receiving Hospital.

The attack, which left Anthos paralyzed from the neck down and virtually without speech, shocked the gay community, which reached out to his family with love and support -- as well as anger and a resolve for justice.

"There's going to be a great deal more attention now that this, unfortunately, has become a homicide," said Jeffrey Montgomery of Michigan's Triangle Foundation.

"We have worked with prosecutors here for many years, and all the buttons that can be pushed are being pushed right now," Montgomery said.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has offered to pay for Anthos' funeral, Montgomery said.

"So many people want to pay their respects," said Anthos' niece, Athena Federis, adding that she considers the gay and lesbian people who've offered their support "like family."

The gay, biracial Anthos, known to loved ones as "Buddy," had been riding the bus that evening from the public library back to his Detroit apartment when another passenger annoyed with his singing approached him and asked if he was gay.

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Organizing Faculty in the CSU

Why The California State University Faculty Are Considering Striking: See below

Executive Compensation - Sacramento-Style

Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. gave Chief Executive Gary Pruitt a $950,000 bonus for the 2006 fiscal year, maintaining the same bonus level as the previous year.

The company, which completed the $4.5 billion acquisition of Knight Ridder Inc. last summer and sold off 12 newspapers after that deal was announced, disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday that the company's compensation commitee on Jan. 23 awarded Pruitt the bonus. For this year, Pruitt's bonus will be set based on the company's cash flow and "achievement of non-financial goals," the SEC filing said. This year, Pruitt is to earn base pay of $1.1 million, up from $1.05 million last year.

Source: AP

Meantime, across town, CSUS professors are walking the picket line. CSU system officials say they've made an "excellent" offer for raising faculty pay over the next four years, amounting to 27 percent in some cases. Union leaders say that too much of the offer is discretionary and is more like 14 percent over four years. Professors at CSU earn, on average, $71,000, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission. Many newcomers are making around $50,000 and say they're feeling more pinched by paychecks frozen by recent state budget cuts and the lapsed contract.

The Legislature gave CSU extra money this year for raises and other costs, but the funds for faculty pay are being held until the contract issues are resolved. As the impasse continues, the faculty, who have only received one raise in the past four years, are furious that two rounds of pay raises have been approved for campus president Alexander Gonzalez and other CSU executives since 2005. Gonzalez's salary was increased to $265,000, retroactive to July 1, 2006.

Source: Sacramento Bee

All of this leads me to state the obivous. Why do we pay a newspaper publisher $2M a year when we pay a University president $250,000 a year and a university professor $50,000 a year? Doesn't it seem that our priorities are out of whack?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo on January 30, 2007 1:25 AM |

Clinton and Obama Need to Get Civil

This appearance of a feud between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama that has developed early in the Democrat nomination campaign for the Presidency is in desperate need of a fix. I am not certain who I want to support among the Democrats, although I was leaning toward Hillary as I desperately would love to see a woman become the President but then again having an African American would be historic and meteoric. What David Geffen said about the Clintons, something about lying with ease did hit a nerve among some of us. On the other hand, we have to differentiate lies that are important from unimportant ones and what most people have referred to as lies seem to revolve around Bill's sexual improprieties. I have never understood Hillary to lie about what is important, for instance, how she stands on the Iraq War. She admits she supported the war, that it was a mistake given what she now knows and that she would end it if she was in power. True she has not said she made a mistake but that is not the same as lying. The bottomline is I think Geffen's statement is unfair and misleading.

On the other hand, Hillary has a quality she projects that makes her hard to read. Obama seems less defensive at this point in time and more easy going. Of course Obama has no baggage to be defensive about. Obama is a great speaker and possesses ease of communication that is calming and beguiling. Actually, compared to Obama, Hillary seems like a hothead or at least simmering underneath ready to explode at times but never does. It might be helpful if she did then we would know what is really on her mind but then again remember Howard Dean! The worst thing that could happen to the Democrats is for Clinton and Obama to neutralize each other and hurt the Democratic Party's chances of winning the nomination. Maybe a third person waiting in the wings like an Edwards or a Gore could save the day by stepping in if the damage gets out of hand or both Obama and Clinton are seen as losing to Republicans in the polls.

Many of us out here are rooting for both candidates, may the best person win kind of an approach. I know Hillary doesn't like this basically putting us in a corner asking which side are you on? But the truth is it is early. We can wait to see who slips and fails. It is sad but that is the case. We can wait the feuding and campaigning out and then take our stand when it is time to vote in the primary. Hillary get used to it and for goodness sakes stop being seen as totally disdainful of Barak or you will lose the good will and votes of many. And Barak, I am waiting to see if the rest of you matches up with your distinctly positive image. Good Luck to you both. It wouldn't hurt to get civil.

Sharon Raphael