comment #1

mutinyco says ...

You're fired, Jeff!

comment #2

JaySmack says ...

Notice how it didn't take Baraka week to figure out what he thought of Wright's words?

Gee, seems decisive and prompt, not procrastinating and wishy-washy like Hillary "Wonder How This Will Affect My Poll Numbers" Clinton.
Hillary couldn't stand up to Geraldine Fossil --er, I mean Ferraro, even though she's on Hillary's staff. Barak didn't waste a second before denoncing his own pastor, who (and I add this for the Hillary-lovers) is NOT even part of Obama's staff. He has no responsibilty to say anyhting about Wright, but he did.

That's called character. Hopefully if she spends enough time around Barak some of it may rub off on Hillary. but I doubt it.

BTW, given this stark contrast in how both candidates handled a PR crisis are there still any Hillary-lovers who want to argue about whether she'll ask Bill's advice before she answers that 3AM phone call?

comment #3

Wrecktum says ...

I found Obama's response oddly comforting.

comment #4

bb says ...

Jeff,

I don't look for political wisdom from you. Just some good old fashioned yacking about the movie industry.

So when you engage in idiocy such as the above, proving your complete lack of common sense (suggestion, do a little research on Chomsky and his support for the Khmer Rouge. Just a little.) and dependency on one of our finest actresses for your conspiracies, I don't really get upset, just amused.

Have you ever lived in another country? Amongst the regular citizens? Do you know anything about how life is in other countries except for little forays at a hotel or god forbid, a hostel?

Your ongoing tunnel vision about how the world works and how you want it fixed is a great example for those that look to Hollywood for political vapidity.

comment #5

Dsizzle says ...

Thank you Jeff for stating what should be obvious to anyone who actually reads the news and pays attention to the world. Many of us are afraid to say what you said above because it's so easy to brand such thoughts unamerican. The truth is there should be nothing more American than a rational, empathetic and above all moral position in relation to the world and our own citizens. Such a position requires a little humility and self-awareness. This is not hating America; it's loving America enough to care about her survival and what she stands for.

comment #6

storymark says ...

"Have you ever lived in another country? Amongst the regular citizens? Do you know anything about how life is in other countries except for little forays at a hotel or god forbid, a hostel? "

Right. Because if you did, Jeff, you'd realize that they're all helpless bufoons, who need US to show them the way.

Okay, that idiocy out of the way...

Totally with you, on this one, Jeff.

comment #7

gruver1 says ...

Wells to bb: So the books advancing this view by Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky and Chalmers Johnson are complete poppycock? Using the words "idiocy"and "vapidity" invites people to presume the same about you. Do you expect HE readers to take you seriously? Yes, I've lived in another country. I know what poverty and political repression look and feel like. Do yourself a favor and don't advertise your ignorance quite so emphatically. Be more covert about it.

comment #8

filmsofdust says ...

I am glad you are familiar with the work of Chalmers Johnson Mr. Wells. It may also be noted that the 9/11 Commission Report stated the exact same thing as Ron Paul pointed out to Rudy Giulliani in one of the GOP debates. Robert Pape's book "Dying To Win" is also instructive as is former CIA Middle Eastern specialist Michael Scheuer's book "Imperial Hubris." I would also recommend Ron Paul's book "A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship."

comment #9

a1 says ...

Blaming America for 9/11 is a nasty and stupid thing to say, and Obama can't repudiate this clown fast enough.

I'm sick and tired of people taking their sentiment and shoving it into the ether, like there's some sort of karma pool and America just pushed their luck by pulling too deep from it. If you feel the need to assign blame for 9/11, why don't you start with the people who actually attacked us, the groups they're members of, the organizations that fund and plan those groups, and the countries where the organizations come from? It's supposed to make sense that because the US supported apartheid in South Africa, some Saudi Arabian fundamentalists are going to attack New York as a result?! No, that's just idiocy based on guilty feelings and no facts.

As long as people are struggling in the world who can see we're a country that can host multiple competitive eating contests, those people are going to hate and resent us. Get enough of those people in a group who think they have nothing to lose, and some of them will take a shot. And, besides all of that, the attackers were fundamentalists! They really thought they would get 24/7 virgin service in "heaven" for their efforts! The US could have been the nicest possible country in all history for these guys, and they'd still attack if a charismatic leader and their magic book told them our religious books were leading down the wrong path.

comment #10

caslab says ...

It's not "assigning blame" to discuss cause-and-effect like reasonable and rational adults. Life does not occur in a vacuum.

The "people hate us because we're the prettiest girls in school" argument isn't terribly compelling either.

comment #11

filmsofdust says ...

"The al Qaeda attacks should not be used to justify more intervention; instead they should be seen as a guerilla attacks against us for what the Arabs and Muslim world see as our invasion and interference in their homelands. This cycle of escalation is rapidly spreading the confrontation worldwide between the Christian West and the Muslim East. With each escalation, the world becomes more dangerous. It is especially made worse when we retaliate against Muslims and Arabs who had nothing to do with 9/11 – as we have in Iraq – further confirming the suspicions of the Muslim masses that our goals are more about oil and occupation than they are about punishing those responsible for 9/11...

Continuing to deny that the attacks against us are related to our overall policy of foreign meddling through many years and many administrations, makes a victory over our enemies nearly impossible. Not understanding the true nature and motivation of those who have and will commit deadly attacks against us prevents a sensible policy from being pursued. Guerilla warriors, who are willing to risk and sacrifice everything as part of a war they see as defensive, are a far cry, philosophically, from a band of renegades who out of unprovoked hate seek to destroy us and kill themselves in the process. How we fight back depends on understanding these differences.

Of course, changing our foreign policy to one of no pre-emptive war, no nation building, no entangling alliances, no interference in the internal affairs of other nations, and trade and friendship with all who seek it, is no easy task.

The real obstacle, though, is to understand the motives behind our current policy of perpetual meddling in the affairs of others for more than a hundred years."

comment #12

Mgmax says ...

Yes, they blame us.

They blame us for letting our women run free. They blame us for not killing our Jews. They blame us for a popular culture so seductive it steals their children from their duty of sitting in madrassah memorizing the Koran day after day. They blame us for the fact that our spirit of scientific inquiry and individual initiative and education has left them far behind us, when once theirs was the culture of learning and advancement and ours was tribal and violent-- like theirs is now.

They blame us for Ataturk ending the Caliphate in 1926. They blame us for the defeat at the Gates of Vienna in 1683 that ended the dream of a Muslim Europe. (That would be... September 11, 1683.) They blame us for shaming them for slavery and murder in Darfur. They blame us for not submitting. They blame us for being. They ask only our submission to Allah's will.

Nuts.

comment #13

filmsofdust says ...

From bin Laden's own letter to America:

"As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:

(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us... "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver

comment #14

a1 says ...

'It's not "assigning blame" to discuss cause-and-effect like reasonable and rational adults.'

That would be great. Jeremiah Wright isn't doing that. He's pointing out that the US has done bad things (including such concerns of Osama as the bombing of Hiroshima), and thus some Muslim fanatics get the green light to attack because we don't have the moral high ground.

The "people hate us because we're the prettiest girls in school" argument isn't terribly compelling either.

Really? Because hatred and envy of people in a higher "station" than you seems to me to be a pretty basic and common part of human behavior.

Let me put it a slightly different way: what could the US have done that would have kept Mohammed Atta and company from making the decision to fly those planes?
I don't have an answer for this, but what do you think we could have done?

comment #15

KeithNYC says ...

Thank you MgMax for making a fool of Jeff.

I didn't know anyone still takes Gore Vidal seriously.

Yes, it is important to understand why your enemy hates you. However, when that thinking starts to excuse repressed, fundamentalist whackos who fly planes into buildings then we have a big problem.

But hey, Osama had a good reason for 9/11, our occupation of Iraq...oh wait...that hadn't happened yet.

I guess Jeff agrees with Bill Maher. Atta and his cronies showed real bravery in their suicide act.

Damn those poor shlubs working in the upper floors of the towers who were instantly incinerated when a Jet came flying through there windows. They should have thought more about unfair U.S policy and as Osama said they're all "tax payers" and are complicit.

Jeff, you're an idiot. Stick to movies.

comment #16

filmsofdust says ...

KeithNYC,

Are you familiar with the first Gulf war?

A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found evidence that there was a threefold increase in the mortality of Iraqi children under five years of age caused by the Gulf War and trade sanctions. The estimate from the study indicates more than 46,900 children died between January and August 1991. A 1998 UNICEF report found that the sanctions resulted in an increase to 90,000 deaths per year. Many argue that the sanctions on Iraq and the American military presence in Saudi Arabia contributed to an increasingly negative image of the United States in the Arab world.

comment #17

bb says ...

Wow Jeff, by your logic, you just double reversed "idiocy" and "vapidity" back on yourself and then took on the label of "ignorant". I like your sophisticated way of saying "I'm rubber, you're glue..." Now I know what you are reading when not devouring the latest Chomsky opus.

MgMax already laid this out but perhaps you should go back and read what those oppressed assholes who blew up the WTC, blew up the bali nightclubs, blew up the african embassies and on and on said about their many reasons for blowing up so many places and people. And while you're at it, why don't you read what they say about why they put women in burkas, slice off their genitalia, collapse walls, hang, stone and murder in all kinds of creative ways people who happen to be gay and would gladly slice your throat if you stepped out of line.

The fact is, these aren't the simpleton natives of your imagination that look to the west for wisdom (behold, I make fire!) but fully functioning human beings responsible for their horrific actions that they take. Give them the respect of owning their own crimes.

comment #18

MovieBob says ...

Chomsky etc. aren't "kooks," but they ARE shortsighted, self-serving and every bit as willfully blind as the rubes they talk down to.

U.S. foriegn policy is only "responsible" for 9/11 etc. in as much as it's perception in the Muslim world among the broader populace (largely under-educated, overly-religious third worlders) nominally increase the "pool" of pissed-off-people that Al Qaeda, Hamas, etc. can recruit from. The people who "hate" the U.S. because we support the Israelis - and in turn hate the Israelis because they belong to the wrong church and had the nerve to move in next door.

What Chomsky etc. fail to ultimately grasp is that even if we were to mollify the entirety of the 'mainstream' Muslim world, you'd still have the master-planners in charge of both terrorist organizations and goverments that USE said organizations to wage proxy wars... and they'll NEVER run out of ignorant, religion-infected saps to do their dirty work for them.

comment #19

cbuckie says ...

The Reverend Wright also states that HIV was created by the US government to wipe out minorities. No wonder he is so mad in his sermons.

comment #20

truefaith says ...

Mrs. Obama said that she never felt proud to be an American until now. I just heard on TV that the reason she said that was because of slavery. She has to go back 3 or 4 hundred years to find a reason why she never felt proud to be an American? Is she for real? In case you don't know, Mrs. Obama, life is not fair. Ask the Jews who had relatives in Germany during WWII. However, people don't go through life with a chip on their shoulders--they learn to get on with their lives. How can anything constructive come from a negative frame of mind? Keep talking, Mrs. Obama. You're gonna drive your husband's campagin into the ground.

comment #21

KeithNYC says ...

Filmsofdust,
Yes, I have heard of the first Gulf war and I am aware of how the first invasion may have the failed the Iraqi people. However, if you really believe that Bin Laden cares about the plight of Iraqic children then you have your head in the sand. The Palestinian plight only became important to Bin Laden when it was politically convienent. Bin Laden and his ilk are homicidal opportunists.

comment #22

filmsofdust says ...

Sorry KeithNYC, when you say the following you have lost all credibility and any reason for me to rationally debate:

"But hey, Osama had a good reason for 9/11, our occupation of Iraq...oh wait...that hadn't happened yet."

Truefaith, your math is off by quite a few years. Lets see. 2008 - 1863?

Strange group of movie lovers you have collected Mr. Wells. My apologies.

comment #23

D.Z. says ...

Mgmax: "They blame us for letting our women run free."

So we fight back by denying them birth control.

"They blame us for not killing our Jews. "

So we fight back by allowing "Left Behind" Christians to dictate our foreign policy.

"They blame us for a popular culture so seductive it steals their children from their duty of sitting in madrassah memorizing the Koran day after day."

So we fight back by inundating ourselves with more pop culture to the point that we're more ignorant than the rest of the world.

"They blame us for the fact that our spirit of scientific inquiry and individual initiative and education has left them far behind us, when once theirs was the culture of learning and advancement and ours was tribal and violent--"

So we fight back by banning evolution, global warming, and sex ed in schools.

"They blame us for Ataturk ending the Caliphate in 1926. "

So we fight back by supporting another Caliphate in Saudi Arabia.

"They blame us for the defeat at the Gates of Vienna in 1683 that ended the dream of a Muslim Europe."

So we fight back with our own failed war.

"They blame us for shaming them for slavery and murder in Darfur. "

So we fight back by doing business with other countries which support white slavery and murder.

"They blame us for not submitting."

So we fight back with, "You're either with us or against us."

Keith: "Yes, it is important to understand why your enemy hates you. However, when that thinking starts to excuse repressed, fundamentalist whackos who fly planes into buildings then we have a big problem."

Of course, it's another problem, when the reverse of that pattern of thinking allows us to excuse fundamentalist whackos running our government.

"But hey, Osama had a good reason for 9/11, our occupation of Iraq...oh wait...that hadn't happened yet."

Except for when we put Saddam in charge...

"I guess Jeff agrees with Bill Maher. Atta and his cronies showed real bravery in their suicide act."

Rush Limbaugh agreed with him, too, actually.

"Damn those poor shlubs working in the upper floors of the towers who were instantly incinerated when a Jet came flying through there windows. They should have thought more about unfair U.S policy and as Osama said they're all "tax payers" and are complicit."

I'm definitely on the side of the victims in that attack, but you do have to admit that we didn't really care when we bombed that medicine factory in the Sudan, or when we
mutated the Vietnamese with enough Agent Orange to make them physically deformed for at least three generations. Hell, how much did we really care enough about how our own citizens were doing, that we allowed them to be too poor and unprotected to escape a hurricane?

These kinds of disasters happen in the rest of the world all the time; and we just usually change the channel, rather than hear about it. So, we as a society definitely need to show more concern for others around us-and not just by blowing the hell out of them.

bb: "And while you're at it, why don't you read what they say about why they put women in burkas, slice off their genitalia, collapse walls, hang, stone and murder in all kinds of creative ways people who happen to be gay and would gladly slice your throat if you stepped out of line."

That's messed up, but what does it say about us, when we're still willing to do business with countries which engage in those practices, if they're willing to sell us oil?

truefaith: "Mrs. Obama said that she never felt proud to be an American until now. I just heard on TV that the reason she said that was because of slavery. She has to go back 3 or 4 hundred years to find a reason why she never felt proud to be an American? In case you don't know, Mrs. Obama, life is not fair. Ask the Jews who had relatives in Germany during WWII. "

Well, life hasn't been fair to Jews for at least that amount of time, either. Why should either group accept that kind of thing as "normal"?

"However, people don't go through life with a chip on their shoulders--they learn to get on with their lives."

Um, there are a lot of survivors who still can't listen to Wagner without going nuts, because that was what was played in death camps. And I imagine that it's as tough for them to deal with skinheads tagging their property with swastikas as it is for black people to have nooses and Confederate flags being shoved in their faces.

comment #24

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

So, uh, when is McCain going to "repudiate" *his* wacko Reverends? He's got TWO of 'em.

comment #25

christian says ...

At least McCain isn't playing the fear card:

SPRINGFIELD, Pennsylvania -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday he fears that al Qaeda or another extremist group might attempt spectacular attacks in Iraq to try to tilt the U.S. election against him.

comment #26

janeygotagun says ...

It seems to me that if Obama called for the slaughter of all children of a certain age, Wells would suggest that such a comment is justified on the ground of population explosion...yawn

comment #27

LFF says ...

People who say, "how could he ignore these types of statements?", "How could he knowingly associate with a church that says this?" and whatever other versions of these statements, or who do what wells did here by drilling down to the merit/non-merit of specific comments are ignoring the larger issue.

Religion in modern life _requires_ exactly this kind of cognitive dissonance from its adherents. Millions of Americans consider themselves to be a follower of some variant of Christianity, yet its only the most evangelical sects that truly aim for any form of consistency of behavior as proscribed their holy documents. People believe thou shall not kill, but do not publicly stone blasphemers as God instructs. People like "love thy neighbor". but choose to ignore that "the natural use" of women is sexual pleasure for men. Willful ignorance of this type is part and parcel of modern religious faith. (This is universal: Ayaan Hirsi Ali described it as having a "shutter in your brain" that you hide contradictions behind.)

Obama is no more (or less) hypocritical for not leaving his church after hearing sermons or statements he disagreed with than any other American who wears a crucifix on a neck chain but refuses to stone a rape victim who "didn't cry out loud enough".

Even if it is something that has hit the public consciousness as a result of political muckraking, its very encouraging to see the American public examine the question of consistency. Reason is taking hold again in our country, and its long overdue.

comment #28

Rich S. says ...

You know, the "chickens have come home to roost" argument makes a lot more sense when they attack our military or at least our seats of government. When they murder three thousand people, including Muslims, who just happen to be going to work in the morning, sorry. There is no justifying that, ever. (And before you chime in, D.Z., no, I do not think there is any justifying many of the civilian casualties in Iraq.)

And as to how horrible the United States is, do they ever give us any credit, of any kind, for any of the good things this country does? See Bob Geldoff's recent articles in Time for just one example. Even he is befuddled that our efforts have not gotten more play in our own media.

I guess one good thing can come out of all this. If one of these apologists is ever on a bus going to see Roman ruins in Italy, and it blows up, his last thought can be a comforting, "well, at least I had it coming."

comment #29

Dave says ...

What a week. First, increasingly personal attacks against commenters. Now, 9/11 conspiracy enabling.

You know what? I came to your site for years to read about movies. I accepted the political stuff because it's your site, you can write all you want about what you think is important, and I can always choose not to read it.

Well, today, I choose not to read it any longer. I can get movie news from hundreds of other sites, and I doubt that even one of those authors would insult and belittle their readers 1/10th as much as you seemingly take pride in doing. And I know that I'll never have to read how they take the rantings of reality-denying "intellectuals" seriously enough as to adopt them as their own beliefs.

This site just isn't an enjoyable place to be any longer, Jeff. I thank you for your excellent film commentary, and I appreciate your past indulgence of opposing views. I regret that the Jeffrey Wells I read, respected and recommended for over ten years is no longer writing for an audience that I am willing to be part of.

Good luck in your travels.

comment #30

redmond says ...

Satan attacked us cause we done got flat screen TVs from the Wal-Mart and lets our womens run nekkid. We's number one, y'alls. All them other countries can kiss our awesome butts. I'm gonna go watch me some Britney because that shit keeps me informed. Then I'm gonna fire my gun at some beer cans because I live in a free country. Damns, we kickass, America. Let's go make them brown people live like us. Hey, Abib, you like Nascar? Wells you gonna! Hyuck!

Seriously, we brought 9/11 on ourselves. You can't put your boot on the neck of the world and not expect to get bitten back. In the meantime, continue to swallow the Kool-Aid that we're the best goddamn thing since sliced bread and anyone who thinks otherwise can just get out. Thomas Jefferson would wreck your dumb ass.

D.Z., great comments, man. Always love your stuff. No jokes.

comment #31

Mikeb says ...

Hey Jeff can I keep his hat? His decoder ring?

comment #32

Walter Sobchak says ...

What's the point? The only reason Rev. Wright "makes some sense" is because he's Obama's minister.

If the same guy said the same thing but he was a "spiritual advisor" to anyone else running for president Wells would be cracking on him for being the whack-job that he is.

comment #33

KeithNYC says ...

Sorry KeithNYC, when you say the following you have lost all credibility and any reason for me to rationally debate:

"But hey, Osama had a good reason for 9/11, our occupation of Iraq...oh wait...that hadn't happened yet."

Yeah filmofdust, way to avoid my substantive arguments. If you notice I used the word "occupation", a direct reference to the SECOND Gulf War.

When D.Z. is the only one left making arguments for Jeff then you know your viewpoint has serious problems.

comment #34

bb says ...

bb: "And while you're at it, why don't you read what they say about why they put women in burkas, slice off their genitalia, collapse walls, hang, stone and murder in all kinds of creative ways people who happen to be gay and would gladly slice your throat if you stepped out of line."

That's messed up, but what does it say about us, when we're still willing to do business with countries which engage in those practices, if they're willing to sell us oil?

That's messed up? Wow D.Z. is that all it is to you? Is that what we've come to? Can you not recognize pure evil when it is creating havoc across the world, subjugating women when possible, committing genocide in Africa, Decapitating buddhists in Thailand? That is just "messed up"?

I don't know what kind of satisfaction people get when they so easily dismiss what we are talking about. It would have been consistent if you had at least blamed all those acts on the US. At least be consistent.

comment #35

K. Bowen says ...

How do you repudiate something that you went and listened to weekly for 20 years? Personally, I think this, along with a couple other things, is eventually going to kill Obama's presidential campaign. It's built for 30-second Swift-Boat-like commercials.

comment #36

dangovich says ...

We were hit on 9/11 because of the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, home of Islam's holiest sites. Everything else is a smokescreen.

Of course, this doesn't justify the murder of 3,000 innocent people.

But if you're going to fight terrorism without bothering to try and understand it, you are on a fool's errand.

comment #37

D.Z. says ...

bb: "That's messed up? Wow D.Z. is that all it is to you? Is that what we've come to? Can you not recognize pure evil when it is creating havoc across the world, subjugating women when possible, committing genocide in Africa, Decapitating buddhists in Thailand?"

Again, what's more evil? That it's happening, or that we're allowing it to happen in exchange for oil?

comment #38

bb says ...

D.Z., I'm not engaging in a debate over the mostest evilist. If you are looking for that I'm sure you'll find it at some site dedicated to Moral equivalence or whatever. Try some of the white supremacist sites still arguing over the reasons Hitler was forced to go to war. They would love it.

comment #39

George Prager says ...

I'm late to the party, but this guy thinks that Wright helps Obama. Because people who buy into this stuff thought he was a Muslim, right?

Given that some public opinion polls say that as much as 13 percent of the electorate still thinks Barack Obama is a Muslim, the more focus on his Christian pastor the more that smear gets permanently erased.

http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=893

comment #40

Mgmax says ...

Apparently Oprah goes to this church.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Oprah, richest woman on earth, Empress of Chicago, with her own private army of millions of zombie housewives she can send to bookstores to make instant bestsellers, goes to a church to hear that rich white people run everything.

O-kaaaaay.

comment #41

gansibele says ...

"There's one view of 9.11 that is tolerated in this country"

You have no idea of what tolerance means. Wright (he can't be called "reverend") has not been arrested or suffered in any way. Instead, he's a respected pastor in a well-attended church.

I don't think Obama should be held responsible for what his baffoon minister says. For all we know, Hillary's pastor is probably pro-life. I regret Maher was fired (although I understand ABC is a coporation and he's doing a much better job in HBO). But let's not take this to the level of "tolerance". Intolerance is repressive. This is a free country. Every voter is free to wonder if Obama nods his head in agreement at what Wright says and let that color his mind.

I'm as progressive as it comes, but if the pastor in my church (if I had one) ever says anything as idiotic as Wright, I'm walking out and not coming back. You can't compare him to Chomsky and especially not to Chalmers Johnson. I don't think you have read Johnson's book or you wouldn't be making the comparison. Johnson's book(s) are scholarly critiques of foreign policy, not the rantings of a preacher.

comment #42

jasonvang says ...

i don't care these things, however, i like dating girls.
months ago a friend told me a online dating site WealthyLoves.c o m where people can find their perfect matches or quality friendships. ....maybe we can keep in touch and make friends on this site.

comment #43

jasonvang says ...

i don't care these things, however, i like dating girls.
months ago a friend told me a online dating site WealthyLoves.c o m where people can find their perfect matches or quality friendships. ....maybe we can keep in touch and make friends on this site.

comment #44

D.Z. says ...

bb: "D.Z., I'm not engaging in a debate over the mostest evilist. If you are looking for that I'm sure you'll find it at some site dedicated to Moral equivalence or whatever. ]"

I'm not discussing moral equivalence, just hypocrisy.

"Try some of the white supremacist sites still arguing over the reasons Hitler was forced to go to war."

Your last sentence kind of makes the case against war in general.

Mgmax: "Oprah, richest woman on earth, Empress of Chicago, with her own private army of millions of zombie housewives she can send to bookstores to make instant bestsellers, goes to a church to hear that rich white people run everything."

Well, they certainly ran the dollar into the ground, anyway.

gansi: "I regret Maher was fired (although I understand ABC is a coporation and he's doing a much better job in HBO)."

A corporation which is willing to fire Maher while airing a "blame Clinton for 9/11" propaganda movie.