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Monday, March 5, 2012

The Absurdity of Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh apologizes:

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone's bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices."

Let’s leave aside for the moment the absurdity of Rush’s hypocritical non sequitur, i.e. that part about thinking discussions of both personal sexual activity and the business of knowing what’s going on in other people’s bedrooms being “absurd,” given that Limbaugh himself is one of the people most responsible for personally making such nonsense part and parcel of American politics. 

Let us also leave aside Limbaugh’s hilariously absurd lament about taking personal responsibility and personal accountability, and his foray into the slippery slope logical fallacy.  Oh noes! What will happen if we let loose college broads get birth control? Next thing you know we’ll be buying sneakers for liberal joggers and jockstraps for Muslim athletes and intimate lubrication for the homosexuals and Viagra for limp dicked radio hosts and, my God, where will it end? Woe! Woe!

Ahem. Sorry.

Instead, let us concentrate for the moment on the part where Limbaugh absurdly claims he didn’t mean for his attack to be personal.

I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I did not mean a personal attack.

Which is, of course, why Limbaugh singled out a college student by name, then told twenty million of his slack-jawed listeners that she was a slut and a prostitute, then went on to completely mischaracterize Fluke’s testimony and fabricate statements that he directly attributed to her, then suggested she post sex videos on-line for Limbaugh himself to view, and if that wasn’t enough then Limbaugh spent the next two days engaged in ridicule and character assassination directed specifically at Sandra Fluke.

But he didn’t mean it personally.

Bullies never do. 

No of course not.  It’s never personal, is it?

Bullies are just looking for a laugh.  He meant it to be humorous he says.  Because calling a woman, an American citizen who wished to use her right to address Congress, a whore on national radio is just plain funny, man.

Limbaugh meant his so-called apology sincerely.  Sure he did. Except, today, this morning, he opened his radio show by blaming Liberals for the situation:

I descended to their [Liberals] level when I used those two words to describe Sandra Fluke. I've always tried to maintain a very high degree of integrity and independence on this program. Nevertheless, those two words were inappropriate. They were uncalled for. They distracted from the point that I was actually trying to make, and I again sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for using those two words to describe her. I do not think she is either of those two words. I did not think last week that she is either of those two words."

I don’t know what’s more absurd, the fact that Rush Limbaugh thinks that is actually some kind of apology or the fact that he actually used the word “integrity” in relation to what he does on the air.  But then, it’s never the bully’s fault, is it? It’s never the abuser’s fault. Of course it isn’t. 

Look what you made me do!

No, of course it wasn’t personal. Of course it wasn’t Rush’s fault. He’s the victim here. Of course he is.

Which immediately begs the question, if it’s the Left’s fault for this situation, if it’s Fluke’s fault, what the hell is Limbaugh apologizing for? 

Note that Limbaugh only “apologized” for calling Fluke a slut and a prostitute, not for lying about her testimony, not for engaging in character assassination, not for verbal assault or for demonizing her in front of twenty million listeners, not for putting words in her mouth, not for demanding that she post pornographic videos for him to enjoy, not for manipulating his listeners and fouling the political discourse. Not for the abuse she will now be forced to endure at the hands of his vicious and mindless minions.  No, of course, because she deserves that for having the gall to want to speak her mind before a Congressional inquiry on women’s health issues. The nerve of that uppity bitch. Really.

See? Look what you made me do! 

Limbaugh either doesn’t actually understand what the firestorm is really about or, like the standard issue abuser, he just doesn’t care. Frankly my money’s on the latter.  Limbaugh knows exactly what kind of people listen to his show, he knows exactly how they think. He knows how they will go after Fluke, he knows exactly the kind of email they’ll send, the threats they’ll make, the harassment they’ll engage in.  He knows exactly how to manipulate those people and he knows that they want to be manipulated. They’re simpleminded dupes who love nothing better than to be told how they think by Rush Limbaugh. 

Allow me an example:

[…] Rush is right and Obama was wrong in calling her [on the phone]. What decent woman would come forward telling their history on sex behavior. She said she had so much sex she had to stop. Why would a woman let the whole world know about her sex life. She is what Rush called her and who knows if she was prostituting. Her mother should be ashamed of her not proud of her as Obama put it. No insurance should cover birth control or contraceptive. Women should know themselves what to do and not do. If the advertisers pulled their ads from Rush who cares. He will pick up others that believe in what he said. Obama called her for political reasons. The women’s vote.

That was posted by somebody signing herself “Mariann Pepitone” on the ABC News forum (Note that Mariann is allegedly a woman, how’s that for cognitive dissonance? But I digress).   That comment, and the thousands of others just like it on ABC, Yahoo and elsewhere indicate that Limbaugh is very likely laughing into his sleeve.  See, Rush isn’t an idiot.  No, bear with me.  He may be an pompous gasbag caught up in his own bullshit, but he’s not an idiot – at least not when it comes to manipulating the weak-minded. When it comes to his audience, Limbaugh knows exactly what he’s doing. Note the part of his apology that says, “the point I was trying to make.” That’s the key, and he made his point, yes he did. Look back to that yahoo comment, listen to those who commonly quote Limbaugh even when they don’t realize they are doing it:

She [Fluke] said she had so much sex she had to stop.

She has so much sex she needs tax payers to pay for it.

Except of course, Fluke didn’t say any of that and, in fact, didn’t discuss her own sex life at all.  She didn’t ask for “free” contraception or any other medical procedure, she simply advocated for regulations that would require insurance (insurance that she is already paying for herself) to cover such things.

Also note that birth control pills cost exactly the same whether or not you have “lots and lots” of sex, or none at all.

But none of that matters, because:

Rush is right. Rush is always right. Always.

“Decent” women don’t discuss such things.  Ipso facto, any woman who does must be a whore.

Obviously any woman seeking access to contraception is probably “prostituting.”

She should be ashamed. Shame! Shame! Shaaaaame!

Insurance shouldn’t cover birth control or contraception anyway.

Women should know what to do and not do, with what not to do being the obvious and proper choice here.

Obama is pandering to the women’s vote.

See?

Limbaugh accomplished exactly what he set out to do. 

It doesn’t matter what the actual facts are. It doesn’t matter what Sandra Fluke actually said, or what she intended, or what in fact the actual provision in the Affordable Healthcare Law actually says.  Limbaugh successfully inserted what he wants his minions to think, and that was his intention all along. Among the angry simpletons who make up his audience, and a significant fraction of the conservative voting block, he has seeded exactly the false reality he intended and there will be no eradicating it. This is Limbaugh’s Death Panel moment.  This was his goal right from the very start.  He doesn’t care about Sandra Fluke, she was just a convenient target of opportunity, an unknown, a college student without voice or means to go toe to toe against a media giant like himself. Sandra Fluke is just a stupid smelly girl

With this attack, Limbaugh succeeded in turning the narrative back onto his own agenda, i.e. liberals are morally bankrupt, they are trying take America from real Americans, and so on. 

This is a perfect example of the practical application of Information Warfare. 

 

This morning the headlines are full of “Did Limbaugh go too far this time?” type headlines. 

Of course, it’s pure hyperbole, nothing but a rhetorical question.

Of course Limbaugh didn’t go too far. He can’t go too far.

This is what Rush Limbaugh does.

The further he goes, the more outrageous his is, the more his audience eats it up.

And they eat it up because they’re exactly the kind of people who get off on watching a bully beat up somebody smaller and weaker. Because to them, it is funny.

This morning the headlines are full of sober proclamations, seven or eight advertisers have pulled their ads from Limbaugh’s show and more are considering it. Oh, well, boy howdy, he’s doomed now.  Limbaugh sure learned his lesson. Wow. Awesome. Way to take a stand, Advertisers. That will teach him.

Please.

Limbaugh has spent the last three years calling the president a traitor, a terrorist, non-American, a usurper, an African colonial despot, and every other bizarre and foul and insulting name in the book. His audience loves it.  He called the First Lady first “fat” and then “uppity” in an unabashed display of racism, which of course he denied actually was racism – and I might even have believed him if he wasn’t also the guy who said, “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals look like Jesse Jackson?”  or how about “Look, let me put it this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There I said it.”  And “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal, they should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”  Or “They’re 12% of the population, so who cares?”  How about when he said to a black female caller, “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”  And his audience cheered.

Limbaugh knows his audience very well indeed. He wouldn’t be who he is, if he didn’t.

But, now?

Now Sleep Number Beds pulled its advertising from Limbaugh’s show? 

Now Legal Zoom and Quicken Loans think Limbaugh has gone too far?  Seriously?  That’s the cutoff, eh?

The Sleep Train, AOL, Tax Resolution Services Co. they were good with Limbaugh’s hate speech until last Friday, but now they’re drawing the line at calling some random law student a tart, is that right?

Limbaugh has repeatedly called the president every racist stereotype barely short of actually using the word “nigger” on the air, and we’re good with that. That’s OK, but calling Sandra Fluke a whore, well, boy, that by God is over the line. 

That’s rich.

That’s humorous.

And it means nothing.  A hundred other sponsors are clogging Limbaugh’s phone lines right now, clamoring for a chance to buy advertising time for reduced prices.   Sleep Number, AOL, Legal Zoom, Quicken Loans, they don’t give a good goddamn about Sandra Fluke or what Limbaugh called her, they just see an opportunity to get some free name recognition. 

If they were actually sincere, well, they’d have been offended a long, long time ago, wouldn’t they?

GOP presidential candidates have obsequiously pandered to Limbaugh for his endorsement since the start of the campaign season. They’ve attacked the left for exactly the same things Limbaugh has in language no less insulting or offensive. But now? Now they’re backing away. Well, sort of. That’s laughable. Gingrich (heh heh, Gingrich) called for Limbaugh to apologize, but then blamed the media for not focusing on the larger issues (heh heh Gingrich). Note, Gingrich didn’t blame Limbaugh for not focusing on the larger issues, just the “media.” When it comes to that personal responsibility Gingrich is so big on, well, you know, blame the media – hey, it’s worked for Gingrich so far, why not Limbaugh too? And just never mind that Limbaugh, by any definition, is the media “elite” (but I digress, again).  When asked about the controversy, Mitt Romney said, “Well, it’s not the language I would have used.”  Smooth, Mitt, smooth, way to forcefully support women’s rights. Well done. Very Presidential. Really.  In the spirit of takes one to know one, Rick Santorum said, “He’s being absurd.”  But, hey, continued Santorum, Limbaugh is an entertainer, so you know that’s OK because that’s what entertainers do.  Then Santorum (heh heh, Santorum) expressed concern that President Obama was “trying to impose his values on people“ (yeah, it’s OK if you throw up in your mouth a little bit over that last one. Jesus Haploid Christ, the hypocrisy could stun a charging RINO at fifty paces).

House Speaker John Boehner, in a rousing display of the iron courage he’s so well known for, managed to meekly denounce Limbaugh’s comments by calling them, well, sorry Mr. Limbaugh Sir please don’t take my balls, uh, “inappropriate.” 

John McCain was roused briefly from the thick yellow fog of his senile dementia and angrily shouted “pickles!” When pressed for clarification by Soledad O’Brien, McCain managed a moment of lucidity and said, “totally unacceptable. Totally and completely unacceptable and there’s no place for it.” Then McCain explained how Limbaugh is an “entertainer,” so um, well, you know, Pickles!

Meanwhile, this morning Michael Savage, he of the savage throbbing wiener, professional paranoid and a guy who thinks Limbaugh is too mamby pamby, accused the President of the United States of having Andrew Breitbart assassinated.  I know, I know, go on, make the facepalm (Yes, obviously a ridiculous accusation, if Obama had ordered the hit, he wouldn’t have given Randy Andy a heart attack courtesy of the NSA, he would have done it with a Hellfire missile dropped from a loitering Predator while Breitbart was attending a bar-mitzvah. Duh).  How many of the Savage Nation’s sponsors pulled out this morning? Ten? Five? One?  Yeah. Funny thing, didn’t Breitbart actually pretend to be a prostitute or a pimp or something a while back? 

Meanwhile, over on the Limbaugh Channel FoxNews, Bill O’Reilly puffed up like a poisonous toad and croaked in righteous rage, “Let me get this straight, Ms. Fluke, and I’m asking this with all due respect [all due respect being apparently none, but I digress], you want me to give you my hard-earned money so you can have sex?”  O’Reilly then went on to say that since Fluke wanted society to cover her “activities” (heh, heh, Bill said activities, huh huh huh), the government should have subsidized his college football uniforms, since an injury “might have cost society a lot.”  Bill seems to have completely missed that fact that any injuries incurred on the gridiron would have been covered under his college’s medical insurance.  And in fact sports related injuries cost school medical programs a hell of a lot more than the average monthly prescription for birth control pills. Funny thing, those “activities”  O’Reilly thinks he shouldn’t have to pay for (and which Fluke wasn’t in fact asking him to)?  Medical coverage for those sports injuries are completely avoidable, all we have to do is get rid of college sports.  Everybody wins, no sports related medical costs, no paying for coaches and stadiums and equipment or pedophilia court cases.  Where’s Bill’s outrage now?  Also, I notice that those same advertisers who quit Limbaugh are hanging tough with Fox. Why is that, do you suppose?

Meanwhile, down in the sun blistered desert of Crazyland, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has declared President Obama’s birth certificate a computer generated “forgery.”  Not only that, but he upped the ante by declaring that Obama’s Selective Service registration card may not be authentic either and he called on Congress to investigate the matter – because apparently while we don’t have money to take care of poor people, we’ve got money to investigate Birther claims. 

Sources close to Arpaio say that he was afraid Donald Trump was hogging the Obama hatin’ glory-hole.

And even more meanwhile, the State of Missouri has commissioned a bust of Rush Limbaugh for its statehouse (No, I’m not making that up).

You’ll note that Sleep Number, and Sleep Train Mattress, and Quicken Loans, AOL, and all the rest haven’t decided to pull out Arizona or Missouri. 

And when the smoke blows over, you can bet they’ll be quietly crawling right back to Rush Limbaugh.

Forgive me, if I’m somewhat less than impressed by any of this absurdity.

Here’s the bottom line, folks: What it comes down to is this, Rush Limbaugh attacked a young woman for exercising her right to address Congress.  A lot of people in positions of power on both the left and the right condemned Limbaugh for his thuggish tactics, some more strenuously and sincerely than others, but in the final accounting only one American leader stepped forward to offer support and defense to the victim. It wasn’t a Senator or a Representative.  It wasn’t those CEOs and business leaders. It wasn’t those four sorry bastards seeking the White House. 

And it sure as bloody hell wasn’t any hypocritical Christian leader or prominent clergyman.

No, when the mob gathered to watch and jeer while a bully beat up the weak and helpless, it was the President of the United States who stepped forward.

It was Barack Obama who called Sandra Fluke personally and offered his support. 

And that, right there, says everything you need to know.

139 comments:

  1. Mr. Wright,
    Thank you for writing this. The last week has brought needed attention to the hate speech of the right-wing's most prominent voice but, truthfully, it has been discouraging over the past three years to witness the silence that greets Rush's disgusting racism regarding the President.
    Speaking of our President, President Obama has amazed me. To suffer the slings and arrows directed his way while maintaining his dignity and grace says more about what kind of man we have leading our country right now. When I heard that President Obama personally called Miss Fluke I wasn't surprised. In a strange way, I was touched as if he had reached out to me--and that is exactly what he did. Defending Sandra Fluke was a defense of all women. Exercising our rights and being free to choose our own lifestyles are at stake here.
    Being raised by an untraditional woman and searching for his identity (via his absent father) has given President Obama a desperately-needed empathy; The lack of which is so glaringly absent on the right. We may not actually deserve so great a man for our President but thank FSM we've got him.
    I thank FSM for your amazing voice out there too Mr. Wright.

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Accidentally posted comment twice. Posting on iPhone is not easy! I apologize for mucking up your comment section.
    (note to apology-impaired right-wingers: a real apology doesn't include qualifications. Had I written "I apologize if you were offended by my mucking up of your comment section" that would have been a fake apology. Apologies should never contain the word "if".)

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    1. I apologize for your inability to use my commenting section properly because you selected a tiny and poorly designed phone. Personally, I blame the Left Wing Gay Terrorist CommuNazi Liberal Abortionist Agenda. I'm just saying.

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    2. Could of been a feminazi too Jim. Just saying.

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    3. Hahaha! Good ones. Now my iPhone won't even let me post from it so I understand.

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    4. Wow, Mr. Wright! Your many years of mocking the right-wing have made you a master of conservative victimologist speech. It cannot be easy to cram an insult on my intelligence & my property in a statement blaming me (accusing me) for my commenting mistakes.
      One question though: the blame that you so rightly placed at the feet of the left-wing gay terrorist complex was for what exactly? Me? My cheap ass phone? I ask the prior question with the full acknowledgement that the thugs in the massive Planned Parenthood mafia are actively planning the destruction of 'murica so I'm not questioning you or anything. I kinda just don't want to have to take the blame for effing up. So anyway--I'll just wait for you to clear my name. Ok? Real 'Merrcanzzz never make mistakes so it's real important you clear me on this.

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    5. That's sarcasm, isn't it?

      Oh, you're gong to fit in just fine around here. Welcome aboard, watch out for the white cat, he's not right.

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    6. Thank you very much for the welcome. Not to brag or anything but I am fluent in sarcasm. My parents spoke only in sarcasm at home when I was a child so I'm bilingual. Sarcasm is where I feel most at home. I can just be myself with sarcasm.
      And I love it here. Long time reader. First time poster. Mostly because my abortion-on-demand, homosexual indoctrinating, Saul Alinsky worshipping iPhone deletes most of my comments before I ever have a chance to post them. Blame Obama.

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    7. This is me, ROFLMAO on this thread. =D

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  4. Amen! (Oops, sorry, didn't mean to impose my values on anyone!)

    As always, an amazing job of clearing the flotsam AND jetsam to make room for reality. I particularly appreciate that you pointed out that Limbaugh's advertisers weren't offended BEFORE NOW.

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  5. Thanks for a different perspective on this matter. Yeah--why did they just now get offended by his hateful rantings?

    Excellent, excellent and thanks. I'm sharing on FB.

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    1. They just now got offended because just now someone managed to put together a boycott of Rushbo's advertisers that looked as tho it was actually going to work. When advertising is going to hurt their business, they stop. Kinda like using a spyglass to chase a bug.

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  6. Mr Wright, Excellent history and comment of this event. Thank you.

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  7. Jim, only you can explain things the way they need to be explained. Some 20 million people listen to this idiotic douche bag Limbaugh every day. Advertisers are waiting for the opportunity to display their wares even though he is probably the most hateful person to foul the airways. Thanks for the post Jim, it shows the absurdity of capitalism at best. All this while you saw off the the biggest sled dog race in the world. You are truly amazing.

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    1. Hey dude, watch the broad brush. Douche bags can perform a useful function, Druggie Limpdick has never been shown to have that property.

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    2. http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/azhealthtopics/a/vagdouching.htm

      No they don't

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  8. Lot of punch in this post(the prick deserves it). You nailed it, as usual. You must get exhausted hitting that nail on the head so much.

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  9. Wow, thank you. That is all I can say. You have said it all.

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  10. I wish Stonekettle Station had a radio show with 20 millions listeners. Maybe then we could move this nation forward a few paces.

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    1. I'm predicting a slot opening soon. : )

      Thank you for this most excellent commentary, Mr Wright. From my experience, bullies (and more and more these days Republicans) like to use the "I was just kidding" excuse when caught or called out for their bad behaviour. Gives them away every time.

      bd

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    2. Jim wouldn't do it. Too much like work.

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    3. Of course, the slot opened would be festering and oozing puss...

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  11. Best summation of the whole story that I've read all week.

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  12. This is a super huge long post so I'm just going to say, Racist Limpballs doesn't have 20 million listeners. His show producer claimed it many years ago, but there's no documentation to prove it.

    Seriously, people have to boycott these companies forever because those companies will slyly try to crawl back onto Rush's ponderous belly for the perceived $$$ it will generate for them.

    But, it would be nice if Limpy would be pulled from AFN as VoteVets demanded. After all I have "serious moral concerns" with Limpballs radio show being supported with my tax payer dollars it's an infringement on my religious liberty.

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    1. Arbitron has never attempted to measure the total audience for Limbaugh as it is difficult and there is no economic incentive to do so (translation - nobody will pay us for the figure). Two years ago, a competent estimate was slightly less than 3/4 of 20 million, but that isn't for the full show but rather for people who tune in for 15 minutes or more.

      This is also mixed with those, as myself (I don't know it was Rush, it was a right wing-nut) who listen to a station that mix him in with traffic reports (I changed stations after a few days, the illogic hurts)

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    2. the point of the post isn't the size of Limbaugh's audience. 1 million, 10 million, 20 million, what's the difference? A lot of folks are influenced by this guy, even those that don't listen to him. I've got a shitload of email this morning from people who claim they don't listen to Limbaugh, and yet are quoting him pretty much exactly. As are a number of candidates. Limbaugh is a force in conservative politics.

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    3. It's a shame they are called conservatives. What are they conserving besides hate and misinformation?

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  13. President Obama is without a doubt a class act.

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  14. I had to comment from my Android Telephonic Device just to say: this is extremely well-written and appreciated; thanks!

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  15. I had to comment from my Android Telephonic Device just to say: this is extremely well-written and appreciated; thanks!

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  16. Thank you. From a woman who is sick and tired of the bat-shit crazy.

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  17. Ol' Rush hasn't apologized (several times,) and he won't. Ol' Rush don't care what ya'll, say, do, or think. There's no such thing as bad publicity and Ol' Rush is eatin' it up.

    You said it -
    "Of course Limbaugh didn’t go too far. He can’t go too far.
    "This is what Rush Limbaugh does.
    "The further he goes, the more outrageous his is, the more his audience eats it up."
    - and that pretty much sums it up.

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  18. Whoot-ed, liked, shared on Facebook, with a comment about that lying hypocritical pill-popping sack of feces Limbaugh. I hope my brother who listens to Limbaugh reads my comment, then reads your post.

    As far as why sane people haven't called out Limbaugh for his crap before now, well, in my case it's because I get sick to my stomach after being forced to listen to that lying hypocritical drug addict shit-for-brains for more than 2 minutes at a time. Two minutes being how long it takes for me to convince my brother to change the channel. Since I can't stand to listen to that windbag lying stinking un-convicted criminal druggie Limbaugh, I don't follow what lies he has told recently or over the past few years. One or two exposures every couple of years is enough to make me run the other way upon hearing its' voice - like being exposed to rotavirus, but with even more projectile vomiting.

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    1. I feel for you. I have friends and family who worship the vile windbag. Just always make sure to point the projectile vomiting onto the offending pieces of electronic equipment. It will certainly make them think twice before exposing you to it.

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  19. You're right on target as usual Jim. In my opinion, the reason Rush's sponsors are bailing this time is because they are being flooded with demands for them do so from the general public. I just found and signed a petition to Clear Channel demanding they drop Rush's show immediately, and commented that Don Imus was dropped by MSNBC for less. I used to monitor the Limbaugh broadcasts just to see how far astray he was leading his flock of dittoheads. When Obama was inaugurated, that very day Limbaugh expressed his hope that Obama would fail as President. For me that was the final straw. By speaking against our elected leader, who represents us all, in my opinion he was saying that he wanted America to fail. In a time of war, to me, that's sedition or even treason. It used to be that sedition or treason bought you a one way ticket to a one time appearance in front of a firing squad. I've heard a comment of late that would appear to explain how Limbaugh is using his audience: he's got them confusing patriotism with racism. Btw, I shared the heck out of your Iditarod posting with all my friends, I was posted to Elmendorf back in the '80's and knew the story, but here in the lower 48 it's generally unknown. And it's a true tale of heroism, courage and altruism.

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  20. On the mark as always, good sir! Very important point you make regarding Rush's sponsors tolerance up to now, and it makes me wonder:

    What IS the difference between an intelligent, ambitious, attractive black man, and an intelligent, ambitious, attractive white woman that makes hate speech toward one worthy of subsidy while the other is not?

    These are the things that make me go 'Hmmmmm...'

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    1. This is exactly the kind of situation that should make everyone in this country go "Hmmmmm..."

      And then get pissed off. ;)

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    2. The difference is only skin color, I think. They treat neither party as a class of human being.

      One is an uppity ni-(BELL TOLL) who got elected sheriff of this country that is still backwards and racist at heart. Many of these flapping heads want nothing more than for him and his lovely family to go back to their "place," wherever that may be, and stay there where they don't have to salute him.

      The other is a womb who forgot that she was supposed to be in the kitchen making her man a sandwich, and woe to the bitch who forgot the miracle *WH*ip. Those who fought and continue to fight so hard for the rights of PEOPLE are being drowned out by the dying elephant who is seeking to trample anything and everything in its path on its way down to its grave.

      These are the things that make me go... Hmmmm....

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  21. Thank you Jim for your - as always - sensitive and honest description of events. Many seem to think the President and his family should accept the abuse - because after all - he wanted the job. Interesting that someone else who wanted the job screams "poor me" if anyone suggest she is not the 8th wonder of the ancient world.

    It is the saddest thing in the world to see a woman who was defeated for one position and resigned another, attack Ms Fluke for supporting the women of America, as a byproduct of her (Mrs Palin's) hatred of President Obama. Mrs Palin is friend to no woman - absolutely none. She would attack anyone to be top of the 6 o'clock news.

    The hatred she has for American people because she lost a political campaign is mind numbing to any sane person. She doesn't even have the excuse that she is an "entertainer".

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    1. Though, you have to give it to her, she certainly gives many good "entertainers" fodder for their schtick!

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  22. Holy CRAP! (I mean that in the most secular way possible) This is my first time visiting your blog, but I guarantee I'll be reading more and combing through your archives to catch up. Well said, sir. VERY well said, from a well-educated, independent, married whore (according to Rush, seeing as I use birth control for medical reasons having nothing to do with sex and would like my insurance to cover it).

    Thank you!

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    1. Agreed! Many women use birth control to regulate hormone levels and prevent cysts and tumors from forming. Sometimes it is medically necessary, as my friend Jen just had a huge cyst and a fibroid tumor removed, and is now on 'the pill'. Rush's diatribe is wrong on many levels, and we need to encourange sanity and manners (? LOL) in media.

      Delete
    2. And, if you watch Ms Fluke’s testimony to Congress, this is her point! Limbaugh went from denying prescription drug coverage for the birth control pill to a woman with serious health issues that require her to use the pill, then demanding to watch tapes of “sluts” or women who use the pill, while they are having sex? Because this is his right? He paid for it? This is mind-boggling insane speech. If this is what people are listening to daily no wonder some of them believe Sarah Palin’s word salad is actual communication. His rant is devoid of rational thought.

      Delete
  23. Dear baby Jesus in golden swaddling clothes... what can I do to convince you to run for president at some point? I want you in charge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, the Commander in Chief of the United States of America must be at least 35 years of age. Since you are calling for *baby* Jesus, such a nomination would be, sadly, unacceptable.

      Not to mention, none of those "Christians" would vote for the dirty hippie.

      Delete
    2. Remember "Talladega Nights"? Dirty hippy Jesus could get their votes by coming back as the apotheosis of Cal Naughton, Jr.:

      "I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T-Shirt because it says I want to be formal, but I'm here to party. I like to think of Jesus like with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I'm in the front row and I'm hammered drunk!"

      Delete
    3. I can't say that I remember it, since I missed that movie. However, the quote you give is a nice portrait. :D

      Delete
  24. Another point that seems to be missed in this whole debacle.

    Ms. Fluke did NOT testify before the Congressional Committee. Even though she was invited by the ranking Democrat, her testimony was not allowed by Congressman Issa. No women were allowed to testify to the committee on the subject of contraceptives being covered by insurance companies. Her testimony came later, at the Democrat's hearing, which does not carry the weight of a Congressional Committee Hearing (it also was not allowed to be broadcast by C-SPAN by the Republicans.)

    As vile and horrific as Rush's statement was, it has completely drawn the nation's attention away from the fact that no women were allowed to testify to the Congressional Committee that is considering whether or not medical procedures and medicines for women will be required to accessible via their private health insurance policies.

    Rush wins again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is the part that really stinks....men saying what women can or can't do with their bodies. They don't want us to use birth control, and/or want to limit access to it, but the they want to f*** all day long...and then they don't want to support all the kids that comes from f***ing all day long. Can't have it both ways. We are ho's if we do and bit**es if we don't. Time for women to take over.

      Delete
  25. So I was thinking... being as insurance companies pay for Viagra and all, it's only fair that if men expect other people to pay for them to have sex, then we should get something out of it. Therefore they should post videos of themselves having sex on the Internet...

    Then I realized that the videos could well include footage of Bob Dole having sex, and I decided it would be better not to think for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  26. As a non-American who used to live across the pond, I know that not all Americans are right-wing, racist, rabid Christians who can't spell but, sadly, the internet sometimes gives a distorted view to this very effect. I thoroughly enjoyed your post on this and deeply wish you would run for office. The American people deserve all the sanity they can get. Having said that, you are better off fishing and carving your beautiful woodwork than joining the snakes in the pit of politics. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Run for office..." Wha' hay?! That may be the way you use-ta-be-Yurpeens do things, but we treat our mooks, comedians and gadflies with a bit more respect over here in Gawd's Country. No, we need Jim Wright tapping away freely on a keyboard, fish guts on his boots and sawdust in his hair, unfettered by political office. Senator or Congressman Wright could never write more than a partial truth and survive politically in any case.

      "Run for---" Kee-rist. You might as well issue Jim a ball gag and delete his ISP account.

      ;) <- (winkie emoticon offered to signify friendly snark)

      Delete
  27. Thank you so much for saying what needs to be said! I love this website and your articles! Keep up the great work. Stonekettle for President!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thanks, Jim, for your comments on this. Your thoughts on the free pass given to the right and RL in particular with respect to the President since his election as opposed to the sudden dropping of ads due to this sorry performance on his behalf is overdue. I am proud to share the Navy connection with you. Anyway, keep 'em coming!!!!

    Navy Comm O

    ReplyDelete
  29. Excellent post. Just one comment: I'm pretty sure the sponsors (except for Carbonite, whose CEO took the comments personally as a father of 2 daughters) didn't pull due to personal offense, but rather in response to a firestorm of exhortations from folks protesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not to mention the weasel-wording of many among those departing sponsors, along the lines of "suspending our advertising" -- not cancelling, suspending. As in, "once this has died down, we'll be back."

      Delete
  30. Woah... the box for commenting has another version of SKS in it... complete with it's own comments box. How M.C. Escher.

    On the subject of "Plush" Rush Limbaugh... Once a creep always a creep. I've generally given up expending the energy to get truly pissed off at what the man says, because everything that spews forth from his Santorum-y cakehole is pure, unadulterated bile and drivel designed to feed the masterbatory sociopolitical fantasies of inbred, uneducated, bigoted, mouthbreathing monkeypeople that need constant reassurance and validation that their hateful thoughts and beliefs are somehow accurate.

    But occasionally... he comes up with a gem like this, and the Nation takes notice for the time that it takes to yell at him for drawing too much attention to the fact that he cultivates the kind of hateful and ignorant mentality that the Right-Wing needs to keep people voting for them. They give him the finger-wag and tongue-clucking everyone demands, and then let him back out to roam the airwaves, kicking puppies and raping chickens to his heart's content while blaming his deviant behavior on the Liberals.

    Such is life. He's been doing it since I was in High School, only back then I made the mistake of giving him the satisfaction of being truly outraged and appalled by his antics. Once you realize that he's wrong about literally every topic he speaks on, energy can be more properly focused on the vitriol spewed by more credible GOP assholes, which generally echoes Limbaugh to a slightly lesser degree, and therefore looks a little more reasonable by comparison. It's an old tried-and-true shock tactic, present something so heinous and unforgivable that everyone freaks right the fuck out, then turn around and present the same view in a slightly less extreme, so that it looks reasonable by comparison.

    We've always been at war with Eurasia. Bread and jam tomorrow. Pay no attention to the goon with the hard-on who's out to fuck your civil liberties in the ass behind the curtain.

    Currently one of my favorite Internet memes is, "Rush Limbaugh thinks a woman takes birth control every time she has sex, because he has to take Viagra every time he does."

    No doubt that once he gets wind of it, Limbaugh will blame the Elitist Internet Liberals for that one. If there was ever someone who needed their computer hacked by Anonymous... >.<

    Mucho kudos to you for this wonderful post, Jim. I shall share it Internet-wide in order to piss off as many Dittoheads as possible. :D

    ReplyDelete
  31. I gather Mitt Romney has graciously accepted Rush's apology - Ms Fluke declined - she obviously recognizes that the self serving comment from Limbaugh was no apology.

    Why are GOP politicians scared of Rush Limbaugh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The short answer is that he lies for them with plausible deniability for them. He's "just an entertainer" when he seriously screws up in public. He's a rotund godling with the power of rousing and leading the flock at other times. The flock doesn't question if they're going to be sheared (for Limbaugh's profit) or be slaughtered for the GOP's warmongering* victories.

      * I say this as a vet who served in a deployed noncombatant position during the Gulf war, '90-92. The GOP chickenhawks with 5 deferments or who got Tejas Air National Guard drinking medals or just never served, who call people unpatriotic for not supporting war, can kiss my ass. I can't be polite any more.

      Delete
    2. Because he can unleash his minions upon them at any time, as he has demonstrated in the past. He has the dirty ears of millions who take anything he says as gospel.

      Delete
  32. Since contraceptive health care costs far less than the health care issues that arise when there is no contraceptive health care, insurance companies can afford to (and would gladly) foot the bill without passing along extra charges because COSTS GO DOWN. So all this hinges on yet another logic fallacy that has effectively been overlooked in all this hullabaloo--c.h. pays for itself, essentially, so no employer would be paying for those services, indirectly or not, whether or not they have any so-called "moral objections". Attacking Sandra Fluke shifts us all away from any adult discourse because you're right. A lot of America wants to be entertained by the bully. Ms. Fluke is considering a lawsuit, I hear. May she have the best legal counsel, and success in whatever she goes on to do.P.S. You have such an ability to find the best, most appropriate analogies and the finesse to know when to put them out there hammer-on-the-nail style
    or when to couch them ever-so-cleverly in subtle brushstrokes. Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  33. May I be blunt? I'm going to go ahead and assume you said "yes."

    There are many reasons advertisers didn't pull out of Rush's show for his racist diatribes against the President, none of them good. First, racism doesn't cause the social media shitstorm that calling a white student at an elite law school a slut and a prostitute does. That is partly because we are inured to the language of racism, even if it bugs the hell out of us, and partly because a significant portion of the populace does not have any regular social contact with black people. (Riding the subway with folks who don't look like you does not count.)

    But everyone knows a woman, don't they? Everyone has a sister or mother or girlfriend, and almost all of those women have used birth control at some point in their adult lives. Or, if you have young daughters, will use birth control - or so you really, really hope, at least until they're of an age where they're making smart decisions instead of giving in to hormone poisoning. So that's where the social media fire started. You can talk shit about black and brown people, you can stereotype Asians and Jews, and the most that will happen is people change the station or look embarrassed (if that) to have heard what you said. But when you say that a good white girl should film pornography and put it up on the internet, simply because she wants access to medicine, people get righteously pissed off.

    Second - and this is important - women not only vote, they shop. And if they decide they don't like you because you advertise your product with someone they consider reprehensible (even if they only just figured that out), well, it's worth it to publicly announce that you, too, are O-ffended and will no longer do business with such a person. When the whole thing blows over, you can reestablish your connection to that radio personality, and if anyone calls you on it, you can claim that you don't directly place the ads and it was all a terrible mistake.

    The war on women is not new to anyone who has been paying attention for the past ten years (or longer). It's just that the battle lines have become much more obvious lately. Us "crazy" (and whorish) feminists have been warning that the anti-sex folks would not be satisfied with curtailing abortion but would then come for birth control. I cannot tell you how much it sucks to be right.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Your characterization of President Obama in contrast to our other so-called leaders is right on. It's easy to forget these contrasts in decency. Thank you for pointing it out.

    I lived in Alaska (Eagle River) for 18 years. I appreciated your Iditarod post. I remember flying to watch the race go past Big Lake and beyond. I got to hold back a sled while the musher made adjustments to the traces and could feel the astonishing power of those dogs.

    Thanks for your writing. I wonder if you ever read Michael Tomaski? He used to do a political blog for the Guardian.co.uk and now writes for the Daily Beast. His language is slightly more moderate than yours (less sarcasm) but generally on a similar wavelength.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Thank you, thank you for calling Limbaugh what he is... A BULLY. Thank you for moderating your blog's comments so there can be rational discussion. And...I second the motion, you need your own radio show!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Jim: You said it all big fella. Nothing left for the rest of us to say.
    Like you I'm pi$$ed that sponsors have carried this obnoxious gasbag for so long. Pulling out at this late date doesn't cut it. They are still on our "No Sale" list and there's no way in hell they're gonna come off it.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Has anybody mentioned that Rushbo pulls down around $50 million a year? Who knew that being a bully and a coward paid so well. Years ago someone warned me that his job description was to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted, and he has rarely deviated from that game plan. From his hateful and amoral perspective, why should he?

    This story makes me madder than it should. I'm so sick of the bullies being in charge. It was bad enough when the C students took over. Then the bullies among the C students saw their chance and elbowed their way in. Now half of the political class is terrified to provoke the anger of the rancid little bully with the microphone. How in the world does he not live in fear that somebody's big brother is going to grab his mike away from him and pound him into a thick paste with it? I wish I had some kind of insight on this, but it beats the hell out of me.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Ms.Fluke is just a 30 year old activist with an agenda..she used the plight of women who actually NEED birth control pills..to attack the Catholic Church on their policies toward birth control. Ms. Fluke's agenda becomes clear when you read her paper on transgender surgery..and why it should be covered by insurance..the Democrats only allowed her access to them because her agenda would create a fire-storm that would help to cover their 8 years of failures

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Answer some questions for me, Anonymous:

      1) Ms.Fluke is just a 30 year old activist with an agenda..

      What exactly does Fluke’s age have to do with anything? Please be specific.

      What difference does it make if Fluke is politically active or not?

      Does the fact that she’s concerned about woman’s health issues and actively speaks and writes about those concerns make her concerns any less valid than any other citizens? If so, why? Please be specific. Please point to the relevant constitutional passage or relevant legal precedent that supports your implied assertion that her activism makes her concerns or rights any less relevant than any other citizen.

      Please compare and contrast to Rush Limbaugh’s political activism.

      2) used the plight of women who actually NEED birth control pills..to attack the Catholic Church on their policies toward birth control.

      Among other things, Fluke was advocating for unrestricted access to birth control pills for all women, including those who actually NEED them, including those who currently cannot get them through their employer because that employer is claiming religion as an excuse to provide selective coverage. I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make, please rephrase.

      3) Ms. Fluke's agenda becomes clear when you read her paper on transgender surgery..and why it should be covered by insurance..

      So? Please describe why this is relevant to the conversation at hand. Fluke may or may not have a personal “agenda,” or she just might be, like me, someone who is outspoken about the things she believes in. I fail to see why this should in any way give legitimacy to Rush Limbaugh’s labeling of her a “slut” or a “prostitute” or marking her out for a personal attack. Please explain how having an opinion on gender reassignment surgery and insurance coverage makes Sandra Fluke a whore.

      5) the Democrats only allowed her access to them because her agenda would create a fire-storm that would help to cover their 8 years of failures

      Interesting. So you’re saying that the Democrats specifically selected Fluke for her political agenda, then somehow conned her into attempting to testify before the Issa committee where somehow they tricked Issa into denying her access so that she could then get in front of a different unofficial committee where Rush Limbaugh would notice her and then make her the object of his derision – thus creating a “firestorm” to cover up their own failings. Sounds plausible. Please provide the relevant references to back up this theory.

      Delete
    2. Jim Wright, you rock!!! Amazing how logic can derail the idiots.

      Delete
    3. What I find interesting is that Ms. Fluke is requesting that birth control for Georgetown's students on the health care coverage that I have heard they are required to buy from the university.

      And from what I have also heard, female employees at the university ALREADY HAVE access to birth control via the insurance company.

      And for this she is being called a slut and a prostitute?

      I think I'm confused at RL, but then he confuses me in general anyway.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous: You sure say "agenda" a lot. Is that some sort of code? Do you have evidence of some sort of conspiracy? Perhaps there are secret, clandestine cells of "women" who meet unbeknownst to their true masters (ugly, fat white guys, maybe?) and plot against them. Maybe they're comparing notes with gays about their agendas? Or Liberals?

      Who really knows?

      Delete
    5. Jim

      Don't you realize that the only people who should be called to testify in front of Congress are those people who have no special knowledge of the issues involved? The men who testified for Issa were randomly selected off the street - it is pure coincidence that they all happened to be male religious leaders.

      Delete
    6. C:

      If you're confused by Rush, here's a sure-fire method for understanding his thinking:

      1) Drink heavily, preferably the clear stuff made by hill-billies as it kills brain cells really fast (These are my peeps and I can help you out here if you need it);
      2) Bang the front your head against a wall until your brow has a nice, primeval slope to it;
      3)By now, the alcohol and the head banging should have your breathing through your mouth;
      4) Crouch a little so your knuckles touch the ground.

      Congratulations!

      You are now a slope-browed, knuckle dragging, mouth breather and fully prepared to understand the wonders of the suppurating pustule on the anus of the American Body politic that is Rush Limbaugh.

      Delete
  39. "This is a perfect example of the practical application of Information Warfare." Very insightful, I enjoyed the piece thoroughly. (One of my friends linked this from Facebook.) I will make Stonekettle Station a reagular stop on my internet journeys. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please call it what it is, which is, "misinformation warfare".

      Delete
  40. I just called my local radio station that carries Rush Limbaugh's show - talked w/the receptionist - told her why I was calling - was then transferred to a voice mail system. I left my polite, but firm, message. It was obvious to me that they were getting calls about this subject due to the receptionist moving me on so quickly!

    Certainly hope it works....seems as though he is receiving more and more negative press, which is good. He was, and is, so horrid in what he says about President and Mrs. Obama...makes me sick!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  41. I think Rush is clearly off his meds, and I think it would be in everyone's best interest for us to get him back on the Oxy, ASAP. We need to encourage oxy users in Rush's area to donate their supply to him.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I can understand the hesitancy of organizations to pay for products and services that they do not approve of. After all, if they are paying the bills, they should get to call the shots, right?

    What I do not understand is why they are stopping at birth control. If they do not believe in vaccination, why should they allow their employees to have it? If you work for a Jehovah's witness and need a blood transfusion, well ..... sorry. If you work for a Christian Science organization, you don't get any health insurance at all, but they will pray for you.

    After they win the right to dictate what kind of health insurance you can have and what it will cover, they can move on to your wages. I mean, they are paying them, right? It's, after all, their money, so they should be able to dictate how it is used. Church organizations could dictate that that you could not use the money for gambling (BINGO excepted) or alcoholic drinks (communion excepted)or use it to pay for your own contraceptive.

    Of course, this would be devilishly hard to enforce, so I am proposing that employers pay wages in scrip. This scrip would be good only for designated purchases. Mortgages, rent, taxes, food, clothing etc. would be allowed. Of course, if the employer was Christian, the scrip would be good for modest clothing only, fine, upstanding magazines (NO Playboy), and family movies at the theatre. If you worked for Chiquita Banana, the scrip would not allow the purchase of dog food. Chiqita's CEO does not care for dogs. (That's not really fair. He is a nice guy and would never try to deprive anyone of their dog) Heaven help you if you worked for Monsanto. No healthy food for you, their scrip will be only for GM food. The people you work for are vegetarians and you want a hot dog? Tough. It's their money.

    For too long, the American worker has taken other people's money and spent it to purchase goods and services that are not in line with the beliefs and wishes of their employers. It's time employers everywhere stood up for their right to dictate the lives of their employees. What ever happened to the good old days when a school board could rule that a teacher must be unmarried, not smoke, dress modestly and be in by 7 in the evening?

    Regarding Rush Limbaugh, I never listen to him because I only listen to the radio in the car, and when any conservative talk show is on, spittle keeps coming out of the speakers and soaking my shoes.

    Jeanne in WV <-- Who speaks fluent sarcasm also, with a slight ironic accent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "What ever happened to the good old days when a school board could rule that a teacher must be unmarried, not smoke, dress modestly and be in by 7 in the evening?"

      I went to that school system.

      Delete
    2. Goes for politicians in S.C.

      http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/03/05/south_carolina_county_gop_requires_pledge_to_run.html



      "Which To be on the ballot as a Republican in Laurens County, you do not have to be “just” Republican.

      You, apparently, have to be the “right kind” of Republican.

      You must oppose abortion, in any circumstances.

      You must uphold the right to have guns, all kinds of guns.

      You must endorse the idea of a balanced state and federal budget, whatever it takes, even if your primary responsibility is to be sure the county budget is balanced.

      You must favor, and live up to, abstinence before marriage.

      You must be faithful to your spouse. Your spouse cannot be a person of the same gender, and you are not allowed to favor any government action that would allow for civil unions of people of the same sex.

      You cannot now, from the moment you sign this pledge, look at pornography.

      You must have:

      “A compassionate and moral approach to Teen Pregnancy;”

      “A commitment to Peace Through Strength in Foreign Policy;” and

      “A high regard for Unites States Sovereignty.”
      "

      Delete
    3. Jeanne, Well said! It is unbelievably scary to be a teacher (thus public sector worker) in WI right now for exactly this reason. The "I pay taxes, therefore I pay your wage, therefore you can not spend your wage (aka _my_ money) on your retirement fund and good health care coverage" frothers have been out in droves of late. We also get the "I don't have good insurance and your efficient state-run retirement system is socialist/communist/unfair/bullshit/MY MONEY NOT YOURS" line of thought that seems to go along with the "I get to tell you how to spend your money because I pay your wage" camp. Yikes, scary, sad.... I'm putting faith (stupidly?) in my fellow Wisconsinites and hoping this attitude is temporary insanity.

      Delete
    4. Exactly why I quit teaching after only a couple of years... I got called to the principle's office far more as a teacher than as a student, mostly for trying to get the class to calm down by telling them to quit their jabbering and sit facing forward and start listening. Apparently, discipline is only for dogs anymore...

      Delete
  43. well said, everything I thought but could not find the right way to do it. Keep up the good work

    ReplyDelete
  44. Not only advertisers and listeners are "stunned". How about the select group of politicians who are "stunned" by what Rush has done now. Maybe there is hope for the future of the Republican Party!

    livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/murkowski-stunned-by-rushs-incendiary-comments


    ""The comments made by Limbaugh, I was just stunned," she added. "In the end, I'm a little bit disappointed that there hasn't been greater condemnation of his words by people in leadership positions."

    Including Republicans? "Everybody," she responded. "What he said was just wrong. Just wrong.""

    Powerful statements like this deserve everyone's attention and scrutiny.

    Because sometimes many of the things that Rush has said are ambiguous and kind of in the gray area between exaggeration and hyperbole. Had there not been so many faux outrages over less significant statements of his and others in the past, then the current situation would not be so locked up in a left-right he said-she said confuzzle.

    I'm not even sure Lisa is really outraged, could she be pandering to the Santorum voters here? On the other hand, it is possible that she had no idea what this fringe player was really up to. This is unlike some radio hosts on the left which require fealty from the DNC.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Jim, you got the good parts, I'll just throw in a little slime:

    I'm surprised no one has commented that the individual slandering Ms Fluke was arrested in 2006 for having illegal (no prescription) Viagra while flying to the child sex center of the Western hemisphere, the Dominican Republic.

    Now THAT is a fine position to comment on sexual morals from.

    Rush routinely gets a couple insults appended to his description.

    He's fat. I really don't care, and it's a puerile insult.

    He's a pain pill addict. OK, the hypocrisy is really amusing, but aside from that, again, I really don't see the point. (Aside, as I said, from the hypocrisy - big, big point there for the blowhard.)

    I care that he's an evil son of a bitch who wants to degrade, and probably destroy, the civil society I love.

    And I definitely care that he's probably (no conviction...) an abusive kiddie fiddler.

    So folks - this is aimed at my fellow commenters, not Jim - remember, when you want to hang a tag on Rush while writing about him, you can do a LOT better than fat, or pill-popping.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I allow the use of the insult "fat" and other weight related descriptions specifically in reference to Limbaugh due to his repeated attacks on the First Lady's weight and fitness message.

      Delete
    2. Whoops, I forgot that! Maybe Scotch really does kill brain cells.

      Right, fuck the fat bastard.

      Delete
    3. Thorvald,
      I'm guessing that you meant it was Rush Limbaugh who was detained for carrying illegally-obtained Viagra, not Ms. Fluke (for whom Viagra would have been no more than a selective blood pressure medication).

      Delete
  46. Oh, sorry, the police "detained" him, he was not, in fact, legally arrested.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why "throw slime" when you could be posting the links to the alleged documents concerning this?

      General description of the Viagra seizure.
      http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/rush-limbaughs-dominican-stag-party

      CUSTODY RECEIPT FOR SEIZED PROPERTY AND EVIDENCE (29@ 100mg Viagra seized from Rush Limbaugh by Bureau of Customs and Border protection dated June 26, 2006 )
      http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/rush-limbaughs-dominican-stag-party?page=1

      Statement of Rush Limbaugh to Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office that day concerning the Viagra seized.
      www.thesmokinggun.com/file/rush-limbaughs-dominican-stag-party?page=2

      Notarized Affidavit of Rush Limbaugh concerning the Viagra dated Jun 29, 2006.
      www.thesmokinggun.com/file/rush-limbaughs-dominican-stag-party?page=3

      Delete
    2. Eh? I figured anyone interested could Google the details. At Stonekettle I don't generally think you have to spoonfeed people.

      Delete
    3. Takes just a moment to supply the links. This is how Santorum is defined. Links.

      Delete
  47. Whooo Boy if you thought the birth control article you wrote will attract the crazies just hope you don't have this one go viral. The ditto heads are another whole level of crazy beyond the religious pro-lifers. If you really really want to understand people like Rush and his followers give this a read. Really opened my eyes. Hell it pretty much explains the religious right and Republicans as well.

    http://members.shaw.ca/jeanaltemeyer/drbob/TheAuthoritarians.pdf

    Warning 246 page book. The author (Dr. Robert Altemeyer) and the University of Manitoba publish it free of charge.

    Also see his web page at the University of Manitoba.

    http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

    Jim in Michigan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Should have said publish it in PDF for free of charge. All others pay cash.

      Delete
  48. "I always say my real purpose is to attract the largest audience I can, and hold it for as long as I can, so I can charge confiscatory advertising rates," Limbaugh told NPR in 2007. "Getting along is not the objective."

    That's from NPR today: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/06/147991875/rush-to-judgment-advertisers-flee-limbaughs-show

    Sounds to me that Rush isn't just a bully, he's a bully who doesn't actually care about the issues he claims to champion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Just doing it for the money" is also called "prostituting your talent". I call it ironic that the self-admitted whore is Rush Limbaugh.

      Note, however, that I do not say that Rush Limbaugh *has* any talent. He's a glib fast-talking conman.

      Delete
    2. Best quote so far, from Stephen Colbert-"Rush will do anything with his mouth for money". Remind me-who's the prostitute in this shitstorm? I don't think it's Ms. Fluke.

      Delete
    3. Holy carp! (You know, ugly fishy thing) Very nearly spit my noodles on that one!

      Delete
  49. So, post "Slutgate," a female friend stated in public that Rush Limbaugh is one of her heroes. And the beat goes on.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Awesome writing Jim! I'd kiss you right on the mouth for this wonderful post, but since according to Rush I would also qualify as a slut and a prostitute, I guess I'd have to charge you for it.
    Where should I send the bill?

    ReplyDelete
  51. I wanted to emulate the hate-spittle-crap people like Rush defecate out of their mouths, but after many desperate tries, all I could come up with was this sentence in his defense:

    but when Michelle Obama tries to install a Stalinazist policy of forcing American kids to eat exotic un-American vegetables like some hippie, the lamestream media are silent!

    so you know what: I thought this free-of-logic spitting would be liberating, but it actually is a chore. I get those people even less now. I also see that I am unworthy of this discussion. Bummer.

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  52. I'm warning you. My love for you is reaching the level of my love for Jon Stewart...

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  53. I have been flailing around trying to find the right way to voice what is wrong with the absurdity of it all. I think I may just check your blog whenever I struggle with how to give voice to everything that is just confounding me about society right now...

    Please. Don't stop. And find a bigger platform...so more people might hear reason....

    P.S. I'm with Amanda :) No really, we know each other...

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  54. Oh, if I were king for a day.

    I would so decree that Rush be drug down the runway at slow speed by a Gulfstream V, then fed a large handful of someone else's Viagra and be hung inverted at eye-level from a light pole near a food bank in Detroit or New Orleans so poor kids could whack at him like a pinata until all the gooey shit drained from his ears.

    Then, I would decree that polyps of the sigmoid colon be forever known as "Limbaughs", and make it a new holiday; a solemn day of healing and remembrance of when the shit-filled gasbag who made a career of enriching himself by polarizing the country and trying to steer the United States towards another civil war was finally vanquished. From then on, a sheep would be symbolically slaughtered signifying illumination of the sea of idiots. On that day, a tradition of awarding scholarships would begin, as an ominous reminder of the consequences of an uneducated voting populace being poisoned by a treasonous, arrogant, greedy shit-bag.

    And, while I was at it, Sarah Palin would be sent to the vet's to be de-barked and spayed. Roberts, Scalia and Thomas would be ordered to become the personal servants of Wall Street CEOs and actually have to wipe their asses . . . oh - wait; never mind.

    Then I'd pour a few fingers of single-malt or Islay and take the rest of the day off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For every one of you, Anonymous, there is a right wing authoritarian who would give Rush Limbaugh exposure over all airwaves (100% owned by Murdoch), hang all members of the ACLU without trial, elect or appoint Palin to a high office, impeach judges for protecting the Constitution in ways he doesn't like (a la "historian" Gingrich), de-regulate Wall Street and all other corporations, cut taxes on the rich to zero, ban abortion, make prayer mandatory at school and work, shut down the SEC and the EPA, then <strikethrough> pour himself a glass </strikethrough> down a six-pack of Bud-piss-Lite.

      That's why no one in America should ever be king, for a week, a day, or for one f-ing second. No matter who it is. No matter if you agree with him or her in all respects. No matter what.

      Sorry for messing with your humor, if it was meant to be funny. With un-self-conscious morons like Gingrich around, the part of the oath that requires me to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" comes to my mind more and more. Along with the fact that I never felt that I ever stopped keeping that solemn promise.

      Delete
    2. Jerry;

      Yeah, you're right. No one gets to be king around here, even for a day. I'll table the motion, and yes, it was supposed to be funny, thanks for noticing!

      Regards.

      Delete
  55. You might have addressed it and I didn't see it but I was wondering what your thoughts were about the argument that it was ok for Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a cunt but it's not ok for Rush to call this woman a slut?

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    1. This is a trick question: What differences are there between Sarah Palin and Ms. Fluke? Take your time - I'll wait.

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    2. I addressed that question on my facebook page, but not here.

      My opinion is that the question is a fallacy of false comparison.

      Maher’s crass behavior doesn’t justify Limbaugh’s crass behavior. Implying that it does (not that you were doing that, Anonymous, but others have including Limbaugh himself). Maher’s comments should be as unacceptable to liberals as they are to conservatives, and vice versa when it comes to Limbaugh’s comments. This adolescent bullying and infantile name calling is precisely what is wrong with our democracy. Now, certainly this vitriolic behavior has been around since the beginning of politics, the difference is that with the advent of instantaneous communications and social networking this stuff can and does have a direct and negative impact on the mechanics of the Republic. As I said in the post, Limbaugh did this deliberately and he was successful – far too many folks on the right now fully believe that they themselves heard Sandra Fluke say that she had so much sex that she couldn’t pay for it and therefore taxpayers should. It’s in the public mind now and no amount of denial will alter this reality, believers will double-down on their beliefs even when confronted with the actual tape proving that they are wrong and Limbaugh lied. Just as there is a large, large number of folks who swear they saw the Tonight Show when Johnny asked to pet Zsa Zsa Gabor’s pussy. It didn’t happen, it never happened, it couldn’t happen, not on live TV in the 1970’s. Both Carson and Garbor denied any such event happened, the tapes back them up, as do the FCC records. And yet I know people who swear, who actually believe, that they saw that exact event. Limbaugh accomplished the exact same thing with Fluke’s testimony, which was his intention. He vilified Fluke for a political goal, to alter an election, to directly influence congressional decision makers and a political base. Maher was making a vulger comment, one that had no measurable effect on the political discourse or Palin herself.

      Maher referring to Palin as a dumb slut and a cunt, doesn’t make Limbaugh's behavior acceptable. And it appalls me that supposedly mature adults would think that it does, as if they really want to be in bed with somebody who behaves in the same manner as Limbaugh because Bill Maher acted like an asshole. My mom used to ask, "If the other guy jumped off a cliff, would you too?" That. Right there. I'm astounded that the party that believes themselves to be of such superior moral virtue would attempt to justify Limbaugh's obnoxious behavior by essentially saying, well uh uh uh the Left does it too! The party who claims the virtuous mantle of Christianity doesn’t seem to be much offended by Limbaugh’s obvious and provable baring of false witness against Sandra Fluke. The Maher comparison is a ridiculous and idiotic justification for Limbaugh’s behavior, however it doesn’t surprise me in any way whatsoever that Limbaugh would attempt to use exactly that argument in order to shift the goal posts and shed himself of blame. That’s exactly his modus operandi. That’s the method of the moral coward and the bully. Blame the media (of which he’s a major part). Blame the liberals. Blame Bill Maher. Blame Fluke. Blame Obama. Blame anybody, but don’t take responsibility for your own actions while decrying the lack of responsibility among your adversaries. Rush’s apology was a non-apology that simply attempted to shift the blame, sure I called her a slut but it’s not my fault, the liberals made me do it. That’s Rush Limbaugh, right there. Newt Gingrich too, for that matter.

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    3. Now, as to the specifics, as I said above, the comparison of Fluke and Palin is a logical fallacy, the fallacy of false comparison. Sandra Fluke did absolutely nothing whatsoever to invite an attack by either left of right, and especially by Rush Limbaugh. Palin and other politicians are an entirely different story. Fluke is a private citizen. Palin was and is a powerful public figure who engaged in deliberate and divisive politics and continues to engage in vicious attacks on anyone she deems unAmerican – including her comments on this particular issue. Fluke is a college student who wanted to tell a bunch of clergymen about watching another women suffer horribly from ovarian cysts, a condition that could have been easily prevented by simple and comparatively inexpensive birth control pills. She didn’t ask the public to pay for it, she asked that they allow their insurance carriers to cover it as they do any other medical condition. Fluke didn’t mention her own sex life in any way, or tell others how to conduct theirs. She simply asked to speak before a commission of her own government about something she felt strongly about. If she had gone in there to denounce abortion in Jesus’ name, well, we wouldn’t having this conversation, would we? Palin on the other hand, speaks on the national stage and has made very clear that anyone she doesn’t approve of is not entitled to the benefits of America. Period. Live by the sword, die by it.

      However, my position vis a vis Limbaugh's comments does not mean that I agree with Maher's use of certain vulgar insults to describe Palin or any other person in the public light. Nor do I think that attacks on Palin’s family, or any other politician, are justified unless those family members deliberately make themselves part of the process, e.g. Bristol Palin who now gives lectures for $30K a pop to school kids about why abstinence only birth control works.

      You'll also note that while I strenuously and vehemently disagree with everything Rush Limbaugh and extremists like him stand for, I did not call for a boycott of his show or his removal from the air. Nor did I attack his personal life or family. One of the things I fought for was his right to be a fucking jackass if he wants to be. Just as it is my right to engage him and other like him at every turn.

      A right I will continue to exercise most vigorously.

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    4. Maher usually calls them like he sees them, and I believe he uses vulgarity for shock value, but he could have made a better choice of words (to paraphrase a recent quote from R-Money). I have five lovely sisters and a mother, a wonderful wife, sisters-in-law, friends, co-workers, fellow citizens who are women; I don't use that word for any reason, for anyone. I also don't appreciate anyone else using it, not because I'm a prude but because it is vulgar and completely disrespectful, and my reply to Anonymous failed to make that clear. Even Sarah Palin is someone's mother.

      My point was that Ms. Fluke is a private citizen and Sarah Palin is not, which you pointed out, much better than I could have hoped to.

      I'll consider myself chastised and vow to apply more critical thinking in the future. Now, since it's noon, where did I put that Balvenie?

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    5. I will admit to having used the 'c' word to describe Ms. Palin.

      In context, it was during a replay of her "difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom" speech, and I was not entirely awake at the time (it was the morning after said speech, and NPR's Morning Edition was replaying it. I woke up shouting "shut up you stupid [c-word]")

      I am not trying to excuse my behaviour, however.

      Delete
  56. Rush is one of the best at speaking clearly with his foot in his mouth up to mid-thigh.

    I put this right up there with Obama and Sarkozy discussing Netenyahu in terms of dumbass things to say.

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  57. The petition to Clear Channel to remove Rush Limbaugh from their roster has been signed by over 369,000 people so far up from 127,000 when I signed it yesterday. If you haven’t signed this petition, and you would like to sign it, here’s the website:

    http://signon.org/sign/clear%2Dchannel%2Ddiscontinue?source=mo&id=36711-17576294-GiBFzXx

    Reading the comments of those who signed is very gratifying as well!

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  58. I'm a fairly liberal person and in my meanderings of late I came across this
    little missive... That by being tolerant of the views of others, supporting racial
    equality of our fellow countrymen and supporting gender equality, but we have over looked something. It is a flaw in ourselves and in our outlook.

    We have become almost tolerant of those who are intolerant.

    It is a great danger in our way of thinking. It is a self serving trap that allows the intolerant, and those who would lead them, to amass great power and influence. What to do about it is happening here and in other places. Speak up about it and identify it when you find it. Spread the word that intolerance can no longer be accepted in our society.

    Jim in Michigan.

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  59. What an exceptional post! Thank you, Jim.

    Recently, I discovered a wonderful website called "Letters of Note" which provides some of history's most amazing private correspondence.

    Yesterday's post was a letter written by Alduous Huxley (author of "Brave New World") to George Orwell (author of "Nineteen Eighty-Four") shortly after Huxley had finished reading Orwell's book. (Wild, huh ???)

    It contained what struck me as further insight into Limbaugh:

    "The philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-Four is a sadism which has been carried to its logical conclusion by going beyond sex and denying it. Whether in actual fact the policy of the boot-on-the-face can go on indefinitely seems doubtful. My own belief is that the ruling oligarchy will find less arduous and wasteful ways of governing and of satisfying its lust for power ..."

    http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/03/1984-v-brave-new-world.html

    Unfortunately, while gaining a deep understanding of Limbaugh's ways and wiles provides me with some comfort (bordering dangerously on smugness), I'm old enough to know when I'm over-analyzing a problem rather than doing anything to solve it.

    I'm therefore genuinely curious: could we come up with some simple, inexpensive, innovative -- but effective -- way(s) by which an "average American" could help to chip away at Limbaugh's power ? (Ways, of course, which are legal and ethical.)

    An example of this: several years after AIDS had begun devastating the gay community, the news media still treated virtually every LGBT-related story by either demonizing or ignoring it.

    Finally, in the late 80s, a March On Washington drew an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and/or AIDS-impacted people to our nation's capital.

    And when THAT event went virtually unreported in the news ... ? Somebody finally came up with a scathingly brilliant idea:

    (From "Among Friends -- News Magazine and Resources for Gays and Lesbians of Wisconsin," May of 1988:)

    "Protests can be registered by gathering the pre-paid subscription postcards found in every issue of Newsweek, Time, and US News and World Report. [Some people even went to newstands and pulled hundreds of those cards.]

    "Each of the cards may be sent anonymously, but across the face of the card, individuals should write the phrase, 'No March - No Money' to register their protest.

    "The financial cost to the companies of these cards is about 39 cents each." [But could cost considerably more if the postcard was securely glued to, say, a brick ?]

    Whether or not that protest was directly responsible for it or not, a funny thing happened: within a year, those news magazines were covering LGBT and AIDS stories as they never had before.

    So ... if anyone can come up with some similarly devilish strategy that they'd be willing to share, the time for helping to "rush" Limbaugh into retirement, obscurity and obsolescence is long overdue.

    (Jim: I hope this isn't too incendiary. If you feel the need to edit or even kill it entirely, my apologies for wasting your time -- but I hope you'll consider writing another of your excellent posts which suggests strategies for hastening the end of Rush's reign over the Republicans.)

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  60. wooly bully.... once again you've hit the nail on the head, excellent insight and analysis. reminds me of years ago, when richard nixon won the election, much to my utter disappointment, and my father told me, "he's everyone's president son, including you." not so with rusho the clown, he started immediately with the character assassination. why people don't see him for what he is, and what he does, profiteering while misinforming a portion of our electorate and wrapping himself in the flag as some kind of patriot. it's the height of hypocrisy. speaking of prostitutes, i guess rusho will do anything for a buc, thanks for your work jim, and keep it going

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  61. A former friend of mine used to *gush* over how *right* Rush was whenever we would get into debates. She (that's right, folks, *she*) would talk about how right he was about his views on the economy, welfare, and how people were just too lazy to get up off the couch and do what needed doing. She would talk about how horrible it was that there were so many folks sucking off the 'gubment' teat and that they were vile, lazy futhermuckers.

    She always hated it when I pointed out that not only was she on social security disability, getting income from the government because she couldn't work due to her illness, but that because of that *and* her lifestyle choices (poly, pagan witchcraft, bisexual, using contraceptives) that she fell into that pool of people she was demonizing and would be strung up by people like her idols of Rush, O'Reilly, and Palin.

    I don't understand the appeal of people like Rush to people like her. On the surface, she embodied everything that he leads the rhetoric against.

    All I can do is tilt my head to the side and try to keep the urge to bash my head against a wall in full check.

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    1. I have a close friend who is a therapist; he's almost 70 now and been getting into people's heads for years. He has told me that, from his years of hearing people tell him what's going on in the the dark recesses of their minds, he's convinced that about 25% of the general population is seriously mentally ill. Ill to the point that meds and therapy won't help.

      To paraphrase what he's told me,"I take their money and talk to them, but they won't get any better," he sighs. "You wouldn't believe what goes on in there. It's just weird and sad and pathetic. The worst part is that since they can't be happy, they generally try to make other people feel as bad as they do."

      There are just a lot of broken people in the world, and it takes a lot of constant self repair and monitoring not to be one. (The jury is still out on me, I suppose.)

      Delete
    2. Oh, I am pretty damned broken. She was/is too. She knew it, knows it, and still spouts bile that is contrary to everything that she claims to hold dear. Our friendship fizzled because of other factors, though this ended up playing a part in it.

      I am broken. I know it. I monitor how I am broken and work to stay functional despite it. Sometimes the silver god: one side shiny, one side matte; one side sticky, one side smooth; binder of all things... is the answer. Why yes, I worship Duct Tape. :D

      Delete
    3. Duct tape is indeed excellent, and don't forget the WD40 and baling wire. My brother in law can fix just about anything with those three.

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    4. My husband favors Scotch, dog spit and zip ties. He drinks the Scotch, uses the spit as adhesive (dog slaves know that it will adhere to anything and is cement like after it dries) and zip ties to keep things together until they set. I have heard, however, that cat saliva can dissolve dog drool. Is this true (never had a cat, so don't know).

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    5. I am unsure if it is the cat saliva that dissolves the dog drool or the fact that their tongues are so incredibly rough!

      As for the WD40, baling wire, scotch, and zip ties... I think we are talking about a party I can get behind!

      Delete
  62. Reading the editorials in the Richmond Times Dispatch this morning and a woman writes in excoriating "women's libbers" for wanting government to pay for their birth control because of what Sandra Fluke said in her testimony. Rush did his job well. It is obvious that his minions, I think he calls them "dittoheads," are quickly spreading out and reguritating his falsehoods. I live in Virginia and have spent the last two weeks protesting against the crazy in this state. Thank you again for being a safe haven from the insanity.

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  63. Gentle Readers,
    Ah yes, Rush. Has anyone ever considered The Rush as a "performance artist"? All of this does make much more sense when viewed as an artistic effort. Not to say a benign effort, though.

    Hmm. Let's look at another "Artist" ... and consider the actual form of his "canvas". Adolph Hitler was a failed portrait artist but not a failed artist. His expressive medium was revealed to him in the 1st World War: Politics-as-Armageddon. How can I equate the horror and stench of the 2nd World War with something as benign as a "flash crowd" in the local mall? I'm not. Oh no, I'm not.

    What I am saying is: Rush Limbaugh is deadly serious. Not a performer, not entertainment, not ignorable, and is an Artist. Wiki says he was a failed radio music DJ. That's not just a job spinning records.

    RL is quite likely an expression of his listeners and not vice-versa.

    Regards,
    Roidy
    P.S. I usually hang out in Patrick's Jail, but you all seem crazy enough. I'll visit here from time to time.

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  64. Sigh. I'm reading Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue trilogy, about a world where women lose the vote and men treat them (and children) like shit. For a moment or two, I thought that things had changed since the first book was published in 1984. Then this pops up.

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    1. I recall seeing a movie version of the Handmaid's tale when I was a kid. It is something that really stuck with me on multiple levels, and is probably why so much of what these elected officials are doing to infringe on the rights and bodies of half of the population squicks me so badly.

      I haven't read the Native Tongue trilogy, but I think I will look it up. :D

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    2. Dammit- why didn't I ever know that was a trilogy??? thank you!!!!!! I'm off to get the rest now lol- seriously tho- what a brilliant book Native Tongue is- and Handmaid's tale.

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  65. I remember The Handmaid's Tale, don't know of Native Tongue trilogy, will look.

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  66. Just a thought ~ perhaps Rush is really a closet Democrat, saying these incredibly vile things to give the Repubs enough rope to hang themselves on? I mean, seriously, the more the four Rebiblican pols speak, the more the female vote trends to Obama.

    Ah, well, it was just a thought. I'm going to go lie down (drink Scotch) until the fit passes.

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  67. Was in Missouri over the weekend. ain't no hubbub, most of the city folk don't listen and don't care. In Jefferson City, far removed from either population center, they have "famous Missourians Hall of Fame" The curator is quoted this morning "it's Called famous missourians, it don't say good or bad"...

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  68. I think you hit this one out of the park. Very well said, sir!

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