Bill Maher

I have always enjoyed watching his show Real Time With Bill Maher, even though at times he made it sound like Saddam Hussein wasn't such a bad guy. Last night I watched the first two episodes of Real Time's season (On Demand is awesome) and I was pleasantly surprised. Apparently over the three month break Bill talked to Senator Joe Biden, who was a guest on the second episode. They talked about Iraq as three different countries, and Bill observed that most US troops have been killed by the Sunni Arab insurgency. Craig Ferguson pointed out in the first episode that there was sectarian violence in Iraq before this civil war, and he said that 'sectarian violence breeds sectarian violence.' Then they talked about global warming. The guests in the second episode included Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who talked about dhimmis. It's amazing how much they can fit into an hour long show, and they do have to summarize and thus leave out important details (like Baghdad's mixed neighborhoods), but I love watching smart people get together and talk politics.