Here. Now. The News REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER CONCLUDES ITS NINTH SEASON

What does it say about me when the three news, views and politics programs  I see as most insightful and best at getting to the crux of an issue are headed up by comedians? Maybe it means I'm shallow, or lazy or have ADHD. Or it could be that the real news is afraid to piss off their sponsors.  

Jon Stewart, Admiral Michael Mullen on The Daily Show in 2009Image via WikipediaI think the best is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  There is something about him: he has good manners and doesn't poke people with a stick because he can but because he realizes that humor allows him to bring things to the fore with more impact than "real" news.  

Stephen Colbert (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)For example, in budget debate this past year a member of Congress said that Planned Parenthood was mostly an abortion service giving a figure that was about 94% off. I only saw this mentioned at all on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Bill Maher.
The Colbert Report and Real Time with Bill Maher are not as incisive due to the demeanor of their hosts.  Colbert plays to a younger demographic with less relevant and more juvenile, even bathroom humor.  But in his pomposity Colbert is playing a role.  While I enjoy Maher's insight he often seems an ass; he believes his own press.  He is not playing the role of a comedian acting as  a journalist as Stewart and Colbert do. Maher actually sees himself as a left leaning but fair journalist. I sometimes find his demeanor and delivery self aggrandizing but the show is funny and he gets very interesting people to debate issues in real time without Robert's Rules of Order. I have often expected them to come to blows.

               

HBO's exclusive series REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER will wrap up its ninth season FRIDAY, NOV. 11 (10:00-11:00 p.m.  live ET/tape-delayed PT) with an instant replay at 11:00 p.m. following the live presentation. Maher's soapbox for his unique perspective on today's political/social and economic issues, the show includes an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests.

The roundtable guests this week are Minn. Rep. Keith Ellison, news anchor Chris Matthews and commentator Andrew Sullivan; Mass. Rep. Barney Frank is an interview guest.

Bill Maher 2099, photo David Shankman

              

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER returns for its tenth season in
Jan. 2012.

                

Since his first special on the network in 1989, Maher has starred in nine solo specials on HBO and remains a favorite with subscribers.

Maher has a new book out this month, The New New Rules:  A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass. If Maher believed in Christmas as a religious holiday he probably wouldn't recommend the book as a gift because of he is no fan of religion. Maher produced and starred in the 2008 feature film Religulous, which examined the irrationality of religious beliefs that are not even found in the tenets of those religions.

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What Will The End of Don't Ask, Don't Tell Achieve? Can one be uncloseted and stll serve?

Does the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell help Gays and Lesbians in the military; does it mean they can live uncloseted and serve. Or, will they be discharged  as they come out of the closet? This is a sensitive issue about which I realize some people feel very strongly—please remain respectful in commenting.


FROM 

HBO.com

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL

DEBUTS SEPT. 19 AT MIDNIGHT ON HBO,

THE DAY THE LAW’S REPEAL GOES INTO EFFECT

     NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2011 – This September, the day the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) goes into effect. HBO will tell the strange-but-true tale of the U.S. military’s ban on gays and lesbians from its implementation, through passionate protests and debates, and finally to its 2011 repeal.  A timely and historical look at the legacy of gays and lesbians in the military, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL illustrates the tumultuous evolution of the controversial policy that fostered hate and intolerance within the military – and undermined the very freedoms American forces defend – by forcing many soldiers to lie and live in secrecy.

     

Directed by Emmy® winners Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL will have a sneak preview MONDAY, SEPT. 19 (midnight-1:30 a.m. ET/PT) on HBO, followed by the documentary’s first prime-time play Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Bailey and  Barbato have produced a variety of acclaimed nonfiction programming, including 24 documentaries for HBO and CINEMAX, including “Heidi Fleiss:  The Would-Be Madam of Crystal,”and, most recently, the Emmy®-nominated “Wishful Drinking.”

     In 1993, President Bill Clinton encountered vehement opposition when he tried to deliver on his election promise of lifting a 50-year ban on gays in the military.  The result was the compromise legislation Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which allowed gays to serve in the military provided they didn’t disclose their sexual orientation.  THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL examines the consequences of the policy and the fight to overturn it, a battle that would last 17 years, span three presidencies and result in the discharge of 13,368 active service members.

Image via Wikipedia

Barney Frank

    
Filmed during the final 15 months of the law, THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL uses archival news footage, interviews with key players, from policy experts to Pentagon personnel, and personal accounts by a number of actively serving gay soldiers (obscured from the camera because speaking about their sexual orientation violates Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell).  Among the featured subjects are:  Mass. Rep. Barney Frank; Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman; former Pennsylvania  Rep Patrick Murphy, an Iraqi war veteran who played a leading role in the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal; Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach; Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer; Jeh C. Johnson, general counsel of the Department of Defense; and Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN).

     

THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL is produced and directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato; supervising producer, Jacqueline Glover; executive producer, Sheila Nevins; producers, Gabriel Rotello and Mona Card; editors, Langdon F. Page, Chris Conway; music by David Benjamin Steinberg.