Hey all, it's my first post here. I think i've seen just about every new rules that's come out even though i've never had the opportunity to watch one full episode of real time. The humour in this segment though, has slid slightly since the start of the new season. Too many monologues on George bush, and the laughs and cheers seem forced. He's done some amazing segments, like the final one last season about Jimmy Carter, one of my favourites is the one he did at the time of the 2004 election when he tried to urge protesters outside the DNC to riot... there's just a whole bunch of classics to choose from. He just hasn't added to that list this season, somehow. I haven;t seen this one yet, hopefully it will be different.

Thanks for posting the New Rules. Were there any great moments in the panel? It seems like it would be a pretty good one, and I sadly picked a bad weekend to stay in a place that doesn't get HBO.

Hmmm... I timed it and realized that at least half the content could have easily fit on any "right wing" "conservative" program easily. The only difference is, if (for example) the Asian restaurant line had shown up on say, Scarborough, it would have been edited and used as a slam againt conservatives... on Maher. I can almost hear him smirking: "New rule: if you can't use chopsticks, then stay in Kansas!" (knowing laughter, Maher grin). My new rule: knives cut both ways, often awkardly.

Gomen nasai! "awkardly" should be "awkwardly"

Yikes, he was brutal there. He needs to do that more often.

I wouldn't have thought that vegan-"alt-med"-hipster boy Maher doesn't know how to use chopsticks, come on!

Show oh hands: who's ready for the great middle-class uprising? I've got my shotgun ready. Do you?

Maher is currently the sharpest knife in the political pundit drawer

Universal health care and illegal immigration don't exactly mix. We are already paying for maria's anchor baby welfare and their free health care too for being poor. But now I have to pay for her too? No thx. I'll be more generous when the planet has a sustainable population.

His monologue at the end must have been partly inspired by Roseanne Barr's recent comments while on his show. He seemed to be more focused, and the audience was quieter than usual. I'm actually glad he's bringing it up, because if the distribution of wealth continues to go the way it is, the country will be a shit place to live many years from now.

Well well. Our court jester has blossomed into full force, even if chopsticks elude his skill.

Rickler, if you were a doctor confronting a patient, would you be able to say "You are undeserving of my care."?

Sadly, we've spent way too much of our resources in destruction and the saving lives of those who aren't actually alive - resources that could be used to make certain not that the richest could have more, but those who don't have enough break even.

Rickler, yeah Maria's achor baby welfare adn their free health care too for being poor? It is stupid comments like these that make me understand why Bush was elected in the first place.

Bill Maher has gone from a "libertarian" who was mainly concerned about legalizing his drug-using lifestyle to a bona fide liberal on just about every issue.

"But now I have to pay for her too? No thx. I'll be more generous when the planet has a sustainable population."

We already pay for her, when she comes staggering into the emergency room sick or injured. She didn't want to come in earlier because she was illegal. Illegal immigration is a problem, but I don't see how adding universal health care necessarily makes it any worse.

The most that's being proposed in the U.S. is not universal government health care, but universal government health insurance. It's Medicare for everyone. Real government run health care would be like the VA for everyone. Incidentally, "customer" satisfaction in Medicare and the VA are higher than they are in private insurance. So much for the argument that not having "choice" is worse than being in a private HMO.

Rickler has hit the target right in the Bull's Eye. We either merge with Mexico, or make up our collective Mind not to. Free health care for visitors is fine (What's the saying about fish and visitors?).

"Show oh hands: who's ready for the great middle-class uprising? I've got my shotgun ready. Do you?"

Personally, I have been threatened by car, often by someone on drink (they used to call it Highway 666) or on drugs or on a cell-phone many more times than I ever have been with a gun. The ratio? 0 in the denominator is undefined. While not a fan of the NRA, I am beginning to see their point on the these two issues. There is an Amazon River of "illegals" trashing the anything but deserted "Desert" hereabouts. And what could be more "liberal" than the peasants armed with something more than pitchforks for a change?

Yes, the quietness of the audience was telling when Bill started to speak about the radically different Americas already quite well-formed. I would hazard a guess a lot of his audience is fairly well-off and so this was the sort of thing not spoken about in polite company. I could be wrong....either way, I only mention this as an overeducated, underemployed professional in W's America who's worked in all sorts of menial and temp jobs with people with Bachelor's degrees and who realize quite clearly that windows of opportunity have closed to them.