[Vision2020] New Rules from "Real Time with Bill Maher"

[Tom Hansen]

New Rules from "Real Time with Bill Maher" (April 28, 2006) -

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And now it is time for New Rules, everybody! 

All right. New Rule: When you marry Charlie Sheen, don't be surprised when
he turns out to be Charlie Sheen! We are talking about a guy who paid
hookers by check. Marrying Charlie Sheen and getting mad he's a freak, is
like electing two shills from the oil industry and getting mad when the
price of gas goes up. 

New Rule: Instead of the White House hiring Tony Snow away from Fox News,
the White House and Fox News should just merge. Republicans should also
admit that they secretly picked the judges on "American Idol" to reinforce
their three favorite stereotypes: a black guy who doesn't do anything; a
woman who doesn't know anything; and a foreigner who should go home. 

New Rule: You can't write the story of your life if you're too young to have
had one. This week we found out that best-selling teenage author Kaavya
Viswanathan [he mangles pronunciation] stole huge honking chunks of her
first novel. Everybody got a little suspicious when the teenage heroine went
shopping at the mall and ended up hiding from the Nazis in an attic in
Holland. I tell you, between this and that Million Little Pieces book being
phony, I've got half a mind to quit Oprah's Book Club! 

New Rule: Supermodels should not speak to flight attendants. That's what
supermodel May Andersen did, and she was deemed unruly and got arrested upon
landing. Look, supermodels, it doesn't matter what you're saying: "Can I
have a pillow?" "I like your shoes." What the flight attendant hears is,
"I'm a supermodel and you're not. Let's fight!" You're natural enemies like
the snake and the mongoose. The postman and the Rottweiler. Pat Robertson
and reason. 

Haven't we learned by now that sometimes the best relationships are the ones
where you don't speak at all? [photo of Bill and Hillary Clinton shown] 

And finally, New Rule: Drug companies have to stop making up diseases! I
don't know - I don't know what the terrorists are planning next for America,
but if I had every problem they talk about in medicine commercials:
breathing, lifting, walking, sitting, sleeping, crapping, not crapping,
getting a boner and male pattern menopause-I would welcome death. Bring it
on! Deadly nerve gas? Please, I've got seasonal allergies! 

I mean, it seems like every time I turn on the TV these days, I see some ad
for some drug I never heard of, to treat some disease I never heard of.
That's not a stomach ache you have from eating the chili-cheese fries at
Johnny Rockets, it's Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Or I.B.S. Or as I call it,
"B.S." Which would also apply to the dreaded "Social Anxiety Disorder." Or
as we used to call it, "shyness." And we treated it with an old home recipe:
scotch and water. 

Your wife doesn't get turned on? Well, it couldn't be because you're a
snowman-shaped sausage casing--so full of beer you sweat hops. It's because
she has "Female Sexual Dysfunction." 

And before they came up with "Restless Leg Syndrome," did that even exist?
Did you ever hear someone say, "Sorry I couldn't make the party, Bill." "The
old restless leg was acting up." You know, next time you have an
uncontrollable urge to move your feet, maybe you should just...move your
feet! Your feet are trying to tell you the same thing your dog is trying to
tell you when he's been cooped up in the house all day: "I want to go for a
walk!" 

But be careful. There's a Tasmanian Devil living under your toenail. 

Now, just in the last two years, the "medicines" that have made the
headlines under the category, "Take two and call me in the morning if you're
still alive," include Vioxx, Ambien, Zyprexa, Ortho Evra, Prempro, Zoloft,
Paxil, Ephedra, Celebrex and Fosamax. 

And yet it was marijuana last week that was declared by the FDA to have no
known medical value. Actually, what marijuana has is no known lobbying
value. And, yes - yes, back in 1999, when we still believed in science, the
National Academy of Science said what millions already knew from practical
use, that weed is useful in treating pain, nausea and weight loss. And that
lab rats exposed to it were 38% more likely to forget the maze and just kick
it old school. 

Folks, drug companies are pushers, and Congress and the FDA are the cop on
the beat who's been paid off to look the other way. New drugs used to have
to go through a rigorous process of testing. Now they just give it to
Courtney Love, and if she lives, it's approved. 

And by the way, just to prove who has the power in this country, that fake
FDA report about marijuana having no medical value was issued - on purpose,
I am sure - on April 20th - four-twenty. And that joke only makes sense to
stoners. 

So, mom and dad, if your kid just laughed, you might need to search his
room.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
sideways, chocolate in one hand, a drink in the other, body thoroughly used
up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO. What a ride!'"