Customer Reviews

When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden (Limited)

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In World War II, there was a very famous poster of a man driving a car with a shadow of Adolph Hitler in the passenger seat. The caption was "When you ride ALONE you ride with Hitler! Join a Car-Sharing Club TODAY!" This was an appeal to save gasoline for the war effort and that every gallon of gasoline used was one less that could be used to fight the war. Maher makes the very valid point that it is just as true today as it was during World War II. The reason that American forces are fighting in the Middle East is because there is oil there and the Western nations need it to run their economies. If there was no oil or no need for it, hundreds of billions of dollars could be saved and we could care less what happens there. If even simple, relatively painless fuel economies were enacted, a large amount of that dependence could be eliminated. He also explains how the Bush administration has made very little effort to have the American people sacrifice things for the "war on terror."
Maher also makes other very valid points using posters, some of which had analogues created in World War II. Each poster also has an explanatory caption, where Maher is at his best in intelligent ranting combined with satire. One of my favorites is "Knowledge Wins" where he points out that to fight an enemy successfully, you must understand them. He quotes "The Art of War" and George C. Scott as General Patton when he notes that the only way to defeat the terrorist threat is to understand it. Groups such as bin-Laden's are largely Islamic in nature, well funded and have the support of hundreds of millions of people. Just as importantly, millions of those people own land floating on the oil that we cannot do without. Our national ignorance of other people is our greatest weakness, because knowledge is the ultimate power in our corner of the universe.
My partner Kathy Brogla and I are devoted fans of Bill Maher's HBO shows, his brand of intelligent wit and social insight is very fun to experience, even when we don't agree with him. I consider this his best work to date and strongly recommend it to everyone, independent of where they land on the political and social spectrums.

Who by now isn't familiar with the satire and political incorrectness of Bill Mahr? He has always been capable of thinking as fast as he can talk, and this book encapsulates his opinions into one to two page, easily readable, hilarious proddings to anyone with the brains to question the way things have been going in America since September 11. He points out the many ways most of us here have been choosing to live like ostrichs with our heads in the sand, and ways we can change our politically correct lameness into intelligent, decisive self preservation. I especially enjoyed his explanation of why we should allow profiling in airports, why SUV owners deserve to be drafted (and why there should be a draft), and why we should not allow Muslim countries to muzzle their women - if it were Black men behind those veils, we'd have a fit.

Excellent, thought provoking reading for adults who can pry themselves away from FOX news and reality shows.

Maher is excellent at point out inconsistencies and hypocrisies. His basic platform in this book is following the format of WWII posters appealing to Americans to support the effort. One of these was "If You Ride Alone You Ride With Hitler," referring to the need to save gas. Maher points out that the need to conserve is just as great today because the monies ultimately go to OPEC tyrants who support terrorism. Unfortunately, we now act as though we have a god-given right to drive SUVs and waste gas.

Maher is also upset by the government's political correctness in refusing to use profiling at airport security points - thus, the little old lady in a wheelchair has a great an opportunity of being searched as an Osama look alike. True, the little old lady may be a fake, but that doesn't make me feel any better sitting on a plane behind three obvious Middle Eastern men who did not receive special screening.

Another topic of attention in the book is Maher's disgust that we don't want to see Islam as a problem - despite its prior record of trying to rid the world of "infidels" (everyone else), and the monopoly they have on today's terrorism. Again, political correctness bites America in the rear.

Throughout the book Maher makes clear that his patriotism for America is total - however, that does not mean that we should not question our leadership, or try to understand our enemy.

If only President Bush spent time listening to people like Maher, and not just neo-con crazies!

When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism - And Still Isn't is a parody of a World War II propaganda poster that read "When you ride ALONE you ride with Hitler !", which suggested that automobile owners carpool to conserve gasoline for the war effort. This isn't just ironic today - it is a complete epiphany for those of us who understand History really repeats itself.

I must applaud HBO's host of Real Time with Bill Maher because he has the courage to speak his mind on topics most Americans staunchly are ignorant of. Like Maher points out - the United States is full of people who are wasteful when it comes to everything from oil, food, and the things we should be conserving and happy to have ready access to. FREEDOM!

Maher critiques of the war in Iraq are right on. He pulls no punches and he shouldn't. Bill Maher is intelligent, funny, and has written another fine book for anyone interested in discovering real truth in real time that may change the way they view our government's practices.

I am a father, a veteran, an author, and a concerned citizen. We need more people like Bill Maher, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Ron Paul in this world who know what they are talking about when they choose to be serious.

Oh yeah - Bill - if you need me to come participate in the panel, I think I can silence Christopher Hitchens for you when he gets too pompous and contrived.

Understanding Apples

Gathering Leaves: Understanding Apples Book Two

I got introduced to Bill Maher through his HBO show. That is a mixture of no-nonsense political spiel with comedy mixed in. I then purchased his book "New Rules" which basically expands on the portion of the show where Bill says some really funny things about stupid things (both mundane and political). I really loved that book. This book is very different in that it only gives Bill's spin on how the current administration has "butchered" everything post 09/11 (minus the comedy). If you are an ultra conservative you will be put off by everything Bill says. Being in the middle I find that what Bill says in this book seems to be supported more by logic or common sense rather than digging up supposed "facts" that many of the political pundits seem to load in their books.

What always bothers me about what they claim in those books as "fact" can never really be verified as the sources can be tainted too. Though I agree with Bill on many of his subjects, many others I don't. I appreciate a good argument though (I loved being on the debating team in school).

Whether you agree with Bill or not he has an amazing presentation style that makes me enjoy his TV program even more.

I purchased the hardcover first and found it to be pretty slim on actual content for the price--the posters really didn't add a whole lot to Maher's commentary. The audio book, narrated by Maher, is delivered in his dry comedic style and as such is much funnier. Maher is, first and foremost, a comedian, and this book has to be heard to be enjoyed.

Excellent Book. Short and to the point. A great level of intelligence - about what is wrong with out system!

I listened to the audio book. I only laughed once during Bill Maher's 3 hour diatribe. I've only watched Maher on TV a few times. I didn't realize that in this book, he pretty much criticizes the American public for being too complacent about terrorism. We ought to be fighting terrorism by driving less and using less energy, so that we buy less oil, the profits of which eventually end up in the hands of Osama bin laden et al.

And we ought to be paying teachers, firemen, and policemen more. I can never understand why millionaire entertainers say such things when they are at the top of the salary food chain.

But what really upset me about this book are several anti-Asian sentiments. Maher contends that racial profiling is fair and practical. He makes fun of Norm Mineta, Transportation Secretary, for the impractical security policy of screening little old ladies the same as young muslim males. He implies that Mineta was unduly influenced by the evacuation of Japanese-Americans. He implies the evacuation was fair because of the severity of the situation. He jokes about Jeffrey Dahmer raping and brutalizing a male Chinese teenager, which the police categorize as a domestic dispute. He implies the bombing of Japan was fair because it showed the people what mass destruction was about, and it stopped the war.

He obviously hasn't studied JA incarceration and relocation. It wasn't fair. It was conducted on behalf of white farmers who wanted Japanese farmers out of California agriculture. Many Nisei demonstrated their loyalty to the US, but I do not know a single Nisei who ever said that evacuation was fair or necessary. Hiroshima showed how little a yellow life meant to the white men who decided to drop the bomb. It wasn't just a matter of being practical.

Maher even misquotes an old Chinese proverb. I think it's only fitting that Maher ends his 2002 book by saying Americans have dominated the world for 2 centuries and should go for a 3-peat. Because in the 21st century, China will be the dominant but politically incorrect and even more practical superpower. And maybe in 20 years, some loud-mouthed Chinese entertainer will joke about an aged Jewish-Irish-American former comedian-pundit who was brutally raped and then eaten by a fellow prisoner.

One last comment-- the audio book is 3 discs, and each disc is one 60 minute track, making it hard to scan.

Bill Maher is one of the poster childern for famous people being indulged for thoughts and in this case, words that would have been ridiculed in any decent school. Maher only seems willing to preache to the choir. Pointing out his own party's failings is beyond him. I checked this book from the library and was glad I didn't waste my money buying it. Mad Magazine is better written and much cheaper.

I will preface this review with the fact that I come from a perspective extremely critical of U.S. foreign policy and of its constant wars ("low-intensity" conflict, the "war on drugs," the wars on oil-containing nations, and the War o[f] Terrorism). Now you know where I'm coming from. That said:

It appears Mr. Maher was stung quite painfully when Ari Fleischer, Bush's then-press-secretary, singled him out for denunciation after Maher said on his talk show, Politically Incorrect, that, whatever the 9/11 hijackers were, they were not cowards. As a result, the stricken Mr. Maher lost his show.

He appears to have decided to respond to this downturn with a frothing-at-the-mouth, wrapped-in-the-flag nationalist rant, curiously intermingled with a platterful of liberal (and sometimes even radical) argumentation in regard to the injustices and inanities in U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Inbetween his rants, he makes excellent points in terms of "why they hate us," and in our (the people's) complicity with the crimes of empire. But, without fail, he returns to anti-enemies-of-the-state and anti-Islam polemics, eerily reminiscent of the "Hate Week" histrionics against Goldstein, Orwell's official enemy of the state in _1984_.

It is apparent that he is trying to vindicate himself by criticizing the "war on terrorism" from an ardent pro-war and pro-empire position.

But Maher, in this book, did not just fall into line in response to his chastening. He decided to attempt to be one of the ideological drill instructors of the punditry, calling for his critics (and, of course, the rest of us) to fall into line as well -- but be nicer about it. In essence, it seems as if he is trying to bark as loudly as his avowedly-right-wing counterparts as he co-opts their position.

It's an extremely ambivalent book -- he makes many excellent points and raises many important issues not raised by mainstream pundits (as other reviewers here have indicated). I recognize this, and it is indeed good. But, the problem is that the overall message undermines these arguments and smothers them in soothing generalities that, in turn, smother critical thought.

In his conclusion, he denounces all critics of American foreign policy and empire, self-righteously reaffirming the conservative line that America's is the gentlest bloody-handed empire (my not-so-complimentary interpretation) in history, and therefore is praiseworthy. Of course, Chileans, Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, Vietnamese, Haitians, Iraqis, Venezuelans, Grenadans, Cubans, the Timorese, and so on, would disagree. His quasi-historical concluding polemic, naturally, fails to substantiate itself, but rather speaks in sweeping, comfortable generalizations that pamper our traditional self-image and, in effect, reaffirm the conservative line. In the end, he becomes one of the best assets the neoconservatives could ask for -- an impassioned "liberal" who, in effect, argues their case but merely whines about methodology. A splendid example of false consciousness in action.

(Incidentally, this friendliness to the conservative worldview is confirmed by the praise received from self-avowed "conservatives" and rightists in these reviews, and from none other than Ann Coulter in her glowing comment quoted on the back cover of the book. If you ever hear conservatives call someone a "reasonable liberal," that should raise some flags.)

When it comes down to it, he is a privileged member of the upper echelons of the corporate media establishment, and he responded hysterically to an outright threat to his ability to stay there. Rather pathetic to observe, really. However, the neocons and "regular" cons can surely enjoy the thrust of his book.