Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
IF I WERE THE DEVIL.....
If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States.
I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. In the ears of the young marrieds, I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: “Our Father, which art in Washington” . . .
If I were the devil, I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull an uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. And then, if I were the devil, I’d get organized. I’d infiltrate unions and urge more loafing and less work, because idle hands usually work for me. I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. And I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.
If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions . . . let those run wild. I would designate an atheist to front for me before the highest courts in the land and I would get preachers to say “she’s right.”
If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects but neglect to discipline emotions . . . let those run wild. I would designate an atheist to front for me before the highest courts in the land and I would get preachers to say “she’s right.”
With flattery and promises of power, I could get the courts to rule what I construe as against God and in favor of pornography, and thus, I would evict God from the courthouse, and then from the school house, and then from the houses of Congress and then, in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and I would deify science because that way men would become smart enough to create super weapons but not wise enough to control them.
If I were Satan, I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas, a bottle. If I were the devil, I would take from those who have and I would give to those who wanted, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And then, my police state would force everybody back to work. Then, I could separate families, putting children in uniform, women in coal mines, and objectors in slave camps.
In other words, if I were Satan, I’d just keep on doing what he’s doing.
This monologue was delivered by the legendary Paul Harvey on April 3, 1965
Good day.
Friday, March 23, 2012
THE NATIONAL PANDERING AWARD GOES TO..... ENVELOPE PLEASE.......drumrolllllllllllllllllllll
THIS MAN KNOW NO SHAME - THERE IS NOTHING HE WILL NOT DO FOR A POLITICAL EDGE....
If I had a son, he would look like Travon..... [min 1:30]
Thursday, March 22, 2012
OBAMA IS MENTALLY ILL
Three years ago I posted a blog on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. [Actually three.] I’m convinced this describes our president more today than when I wrote the pieces.
We’ve all heard Tom Hanks’ love fest about Obama, where he says he doesn’t do blame. I still find that statement breathtaking, because Obama will not take responsibility for ANYTHING he’s done for the last 3-1/2 years. I don’t know where the buck stops but it’s NOT in the oval office.
Obama has many huge failures, and I’m not sure if the Volt or Solyndra is the biggest, but today I’m talking about Solyndra. Buckets of taxpayer dollars passed to cronies, bundlers, and leftist yes-men to a company the Bush administration considered for a loan guarantee and then backed away from. Solyndra has been Obama’s well-documented disaster.
9/14/2011: A brief history.
The White House noted to ABC News that the Bush administration was the first to consider Solyndra's application and that some executives at the company have a history of donating to Republicans.
The results of the Congressional probe shared Tuesday with ABC News show that less than two weeks before President Bush left office, on January 9, 2009, the Energy Department's credit committee had voted against offering a loan commitment to Solyndra.
Even after Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, analysts in the Energy Department and in the Office of Management and Budget were repeatedly questioning the wisdom of the loan. In one exchange, an Energy official wrote of "a major outstanding issue" -- namely, that Solyndra's numbers showed it would run out of cash in September 2011.
3/22/2012: Today.
In an interview with Marketplace.org President Obama defends using U.S. taxpayer money to invest in solar energy projects. During the interview, Obama was asked about Solyndra, one of the more well-known solar panel companies that failed after receiving a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.
Obama said: “…Obviously, we wish Solyndra hadn't gone bankrupt. Part of the reason they did was because the Chinese were subsidizing their solar industry and flooding the market in ways that Solyndra couldn't compete. But understand: This was not our program, per se. Congress -- Democrats and Republicans -- put together a loan guarantee program because they understood historically that when you get new industries, it's easy to raise money for startups, but if you want to take them to scale, oftentimes there's a lot of risk involved, and what the loan guarantee program was designed to do was to help start up companies get to scale.
OBAMA IS MENTALLY ILL. HE’S MENTALLY ILL IF THESE ARE HIS WORDS. AND HE’S MENTALLY ILL IF HIS SPEECHWRITERS ARE PUTTING THESE WORDS OUT THERE AND HE’S READING THEM OFF HIS TELEPROMPTER.
THE MAN IS SICK. We are in deep doo doo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
OBAMA LAYS THE GROUNDWORK FOR MARTIAL LAW AND THE POWER FOR THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH TO TAKE OVER CONTROL OF THIS COUNTRY IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
Obama’s latest Executive Order [ http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness ] SIGNED LATE LAST FRIDAY AND PUBLISHED IN A Friday document dump (when they release stuff they hope won’t be noticed by Joe 6-Pack) has set the wheels in motion for this president and his homeland security secretary TO BASICALLY TAKE CONTROL over ‘national defense resources’ in time of emergency.
For those of you who choose not to read the details of this order, it basically puts the president in TOTAL CONTROL of food, water, transportation, energy and medical supplies among other things for the sake of "national defense".
UNFRIKKINGBELIEVABLE!
NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES ….. what are they, you ask?
Check out PART VIII, Sec. 801 – DEFININITIONS: (and if you think THIS is scary, read PART II, Sec. 201 and look at the list of goobers who will be in CHARGE!) ***
(a) "Civil transportation" includes movement of persons and property by all modes of transportation in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce within the United States, its territories and possessions, and the District of Columbia, and related public storage and warehousing, ports, services, equipment and facilities, such as transportation carrier shop and repair facilities. "Civil transportation" also shall include direction, control, and coordination of civil transportation capacity regardless of ownership. "Civil transportation" shall not include transportation owned or controlled by the Department of Defense, use of petroleum and gas pipelines, and coal slurry pipelines used only to supply energy production facilities directly.
(b) "Energy" means all forms of energy including petroleum, gas (both natural and manufactured), electricity, solid fuels (including all forms of coal, coke, coal chemicals, coal liquification, and coal gasification), solar, wind, other types of renewable energy, atomic energy, and the production, conservation, use, control, and distribution (including pipelines) of all of these forms of energy.
(c) "Farm equipment" means equipment, machinery, and repair parts manufactured for use on farms in connection with the production or preparation for market use of food resources.
(d) "Fertilizer" means any product or combination of products that contain one or more of the elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium for use as a plant nutrient.
(e) "Food resources" means all commodities and products, (simple, mixed, or compound), or complements to such commodities or products, that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals, irrespective of other uses to which such commodities or products may be put, at all stages of processing from the raw commodity to the products thereof in vendible form for human or animal consumption. "Food resources" also means potable water packaged in commercially marketable containers, all starches, sugars, vegetable and animal or marine fats and oils, seed, cotton, hemp, and flax fiber, but does not mean any such material after it loses its identity as an agricultural commodity or agricultural product.
(f) "Food resource facilities" means plants, machinery, vehicles (including on farm), and other facilities required for the production, processing, distribution, and storage (including cold storage) of food resources, and for the domestic distribution of farm equipment and fertilizer (excluding transportation thereof).
(g) "Functions" include powers, duties, authority, responsibilities, and discretion.
(h) "Head of each agency engaged in procurement for the national defense" means the heads of the Departments of State, Justice, the Interior, and Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the General Services Administration, and all other agencies with authority delegated under section 201 of this order.
(i) "Health resources" means drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment required to diagnose, mitigate or prevent the impairment of, improve, treat, cure, or restore the physical or mental health conditions of the population.
(j) "National defense" means programs for military and energy production or construction, military or critical infrastructure assistance to any foreign nation, homeland security, stockpiling, space, and any directly related activity. Such term includes emergency preparedness activities conducted pursuant to title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5195 et seq., and critical infrastructure protection and restoration.
(k) "Offsets" means compensation practices required as a condition of purchase in either government to government or commercial sales of defense articles and/or defense services as defined by the Arms Export Control Act, 22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq., and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, 22 C.F.R. 120.1 130.17.
(l) "Special priorities assistance" means action by resource departments to assist with expediting deliveries, placing rated orders, locating suppliers, resolving production or delivery conflicts between various rated orders, addressing problems that arise in the fulfillment of a rated order or other action authorized by a delegated agency, and determining the validity of rated orders.
(m) "Strategic and critical materials" means materials (including energy) that (1) would be needed to supply the military, industrial, and essential civilian needs of the United States during a national emergency, and (2) are not found or produced in the United States in sufficient quantities to meet such need and are vulnerable to the termination or reduction of the availability of the material.
(n) "Water resources" means all usable water, from all sources, within the jurisdiction of the United States, that can be managed, controlled, and allocated to meet emergency requirements, except "water resources" does not include usable water that qualifies as "food resources."
***
Agriculture Tom Vilsack
Energy Steven Chu (oh krap)
HHS Kathleen Sebelius
Transportation Ray LaHood
Defense Leon Panetta
Commerce John Bryson
Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
My friends, we are in deep shit!
I GIVE UP
I’ve come scratching and screaming to the realization that Mitt Romney will be the Republican candidate for president in 2012. My guy Newt suffers from a slow death by a thousand cuts – most of his own making. I still think he will always be the smartest man in the room, but sadly, so does he and this is causing him tons of problems. His mouth also engages before his brain.
Rick... just suffers. I think he’s a social conservative, and that’s a good thing. But it’s not what we need now. Like Newt, he’s prone to stepping on his ding-dong without assistance. But mostly, he’s just boring, like watching grass grow. I doubt he can face down Obama in a debate the way I dreamed of Newt doing.
That leaves two possibilities – a brokered convention, which I don’t see happening – or Mitt Romney, Mr. 30% - the Mitt Romney that couldn’t even beat John McCain (FFS) in the 2008 primary. I will have to put a stick in my eye to stop seeing that, and seeing him running against Ted Kennedy for the Senate and AGREEING WITH EVERYTHING KENNEDY SAID FOR THE FIRST 45 MINUTES OF THE DEBATE! I have to keep telling myself – that’s what he had to do in Massachusetts, that’s what he had to do in Massachusetts, that’s what he had to do in Massachusetts…..
Romney will be starting even with Obama. Both are liberals. Both are socialists. Both are big government spenders. It will be hard for Romney to draw a difference between himself and Obama. (Saying I’M LESS LIBERAL, LESS A SOCIALIST, LESS A GOVERNMENT SPENDER THAN HE IS is not gonna cut it.) As Newt once said, Romney would be a government insider if he hadn’t lost to Kennedy, when even the Massachusetts voters opted for Teddy – and that does NOT play well in Tuscaloosa.
It’s time for Newt and Rick to get out. I don’t see either of them jumping on the Romney bandwagon, at least not any time soon. Newt is still pissed about how Romney’s PAC (and therefore, Romney) crucified him in Iowa. Nope, Newt won’t be Romney’s VEEP. Nor will Santorum or RON Paul. My money for THAT job is RAND Paul, but that's a discussion for another day.
Anyway – it’s time to cut our losses and let the dust settle and the wounds scab over before really ramping up against Obama this summer. I really pray Mitt can make chicken salad out of chicken shit between now and November. And I really pray this divisive campaign won’t keep the Republican base, the tea partiers, and the evangelicals home. If that happens, we get four more, and I honestly don’t think we can take four more years of Obama unplugged.
On a positive note, Ann Romney is a real asset. She has a good story and tells it well.
And Obama has a record the Republicans can run against. If they will. If they aren’t afraid of being dubbed ‘racists’ (because we all know THAT is gonna happen).
Finally, maybe this catharsis will help me personally. My neck is still killing me and I know it’s these damn politicians that are a big contributing factor. I’m looking for a quiet island with no TV or internet.
My first ever concession speech – whatdaya think?
Monday, March 19, 2012
PINK SLIME - IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER
There has been a real stink in the last couple of weeks about ‘pink slime’ in ground beef. The public is up in arms about meat fed to their kids in schools and are demanding it not contain treated meat. Here’s an article on HuffPo about it.
I’m a carnivore. In my mind, food eats grass. I will give up quantity for quality any day. For the last few years, I have been buying my beef and pork from a store down east in the complete middle of nowhere. It’s a small community market named Acre Station Meat Farm. I have always dealt with the owner, a man named Ronnie.
I called and placed a meat order this weekend, and while I had Ronnie on the phone, I asked him if the ground meat I got from him had pink slime.
Yes, it was possible. They process much of their own beef and pork, but they do buy GROUND meat from suppliers who MAY treat it with ammonia. He went on to explain why. [He also said that the anti-meat crowd always uses these disgusting terms to make their point. He called it ‘not retail friendly’ – he’s such a diplomat! LOL] So.
In the slaughter process, it’s very likely that the animal has fecal matter both on the outside of its body, and of course, in the entrails. While care is taken in processing, there is no way to prevent some contamination. The large cuts of meat aren’t a problem, though he told me every piece of meat should be rinsed with COLD water and patted dry prior to preparation. [This was news to me but you better bet I’ll start doing that now.] He also said that for every degree above 38° that meat ‘warms’, bacteria grow exponentially. Geez. I was taught to let a steak sit out an hour before grilling it.
Anyway. Because ‘ground’ anything contains pieces/parts of everything, there is a huge chance of e coli contamination. Recall all the ‘recalls’ over the last few years. Ronnie said the best way to kill the e coli [other than cooking ground meat well done] was with a ‘puff’ of ammonia gas at the end of the processing process. The meat is NOT rinsed with ammonia like you find under the kitchen sink. It’s a GAS. The meat goes through a chamber and is gassed, and when it comes out the other side it’s immediately packaged and chilled. He said buying ‘organic’ meat that’s been ground is one solution if you want to avoid the ammonia, but the prices is vastly more expensive, and you may have meat with e coli. He says the best way is to ask your butcher to grind up a chuck roast, or a sirloin roast while you wait. You’ll be paying roast prices, but that’s cheaper than organic.
Here’s another fun link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/is-pink-slime-in-your-burger-you-may-not-know-until-its-in-your-mouth-_-or-ever/2012/03/16/gIQAAEhjFS_story.html
I’m still ‘processing’ what he said but….. I love hamburgers and I’m not going to give them up for long. And I trust this butcher because I have never gotten anything but the very best quality from him.
This reminds me of the guy who went into a restaurant for lunch. The waitress asked him if he wanted the daily special – beef tongue. The guy replied, ‘I’m not eating anything out of a cow’s mouth – I’ll have an omelet.”
Thursday, March 15, 2012
HELP!!!!!
signed............ a technoidiot named FIREBIRD!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
SURVEY SAYSSSSSSSSSSSS
CBS News/New York Times Poll
For release: March 12, 2012 6:30 PM ET
Just 20% of Americans feel their family’s financial situation is better today than it was four years ago. 37% say it is worse, and 43% say it is about the same.
Family’s Financial Situation Vs. Four Years Ago
Better today 20%
Worse today 37
About the same 43
[A mere 80% are the same or worse than they were when Obama took office!]
_________________________________________________________________________ This poll was conducted by telephone from March 7-11, 2012 among 1009 adults nationwide.878 interviews were conducted with registered voters, including 301 with voters who said they plan to vote in a Republican primary.
UMMMMMM – Do the math based on the paragraph above. This means ‘interviews were conducted with 577 people who said they DID NOT plan to vote in a Republican primary – weighted DEMOCRAT nearly 2:1
The Economy
The economy and jobs remains the most important problem facing the country today, volunteered by 51% of Americans. Three in four Americans think the economy is at least somewhat bad – including 30% who say it is very bad.
Condition of the Economy
Now 2/2012
Very good 1% 1%
Fairly good 21 22
Fairly bad 45 46
Very bad 30 29
The percentage that says the economy is getting better has declined slightly from last month, though more still think it is getting better than getting worse. 30% of Americans think the economy is getting better, while 24% think it is getting worse, and 44% think it is staying about the same.
Direction of the Economy
Now 2/2012
Getting better 30% 34%
Getting worse 24 22
The same 44 43
Sunday, March 11, 2012
SIGN OF THE TIMES
This sign is posted at the zoological park entrance…. it should also be at the entrance to every government entitlement office….
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS – THEY MAY GROW DEPENDENT AND NOT LEARN TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES
Saturday, March 10, 2012
JUST A FLUKE, BUT OBAMA MAY HAVE LOST THE ELECTION FOR LACK OF PATIENCE
1/7/2012: THE SET-UP BEGINS: During the Jan. 7 New Hampshire debate, George Stephanopoulos asked the presidential contenders if states have the right to ban contraception. Romney attacked the question, noting that no state was even considering it and it was therefore a non-issue. [1]
In hindsight, this seems to be coordination between ABC and the White House to start in motion a chain of events that surprised even the White House.
On Jan. 20 [just 13 days later], the question of contraception burst onto the national scene as a major issue when the Obama administration announced that religiously-based schools, hospitals and non-profits would be required to provide insurance coverage to their employees for contraception. [1]
Here is where the White House miscalculated. The entire Catholic hierarchy in this country stood up and declared this would not happen and that this was against the constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion.
Catholic bishops said [on 2/12/2012] that they would not support the Obama administration's proposed compromise on a controversial rule that requires most employers to fully cover contraception in their workers' health plans. [3]
2/22/2012: You recall, back in the January debate we had George Stephanopoulos talking all about birth control. We wondered why in the world that contraception -- it's like, 'why's he going there?' Well, we found out when Barack Obama continued his attack on religious conscience. [2]
BACKGROUND ON FLUKE TESTIFYING: The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee convened a panel scheduled for February 16, 2012, entitled "Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?”
Republican members invited 10 panelists, all heads of religions or religious institutions opposed to contraceptive mandates, and Democratic members invited Barry W. Lynn, a prominent UCC minister and leader of the American religious left. Democrats asked the committee to substitute Sandra Fluke for Lynn. Fluke graduated from Cornell University in 2003 and been an activist for 5 years before entering Georgetown Law School. See additional professional bio here [5].
Republican members invited 10 panelists, all heads of religions or religious institutions opposed to contraceptive mandates, and Democratic members invited Barry W. Lynn, a prominent UCC minister and leader of the American religious left. Democrats asked the committee to substitute Sandra Fluke for Lynn. Fluke graduated from Cornell University in 2003 and been an activist for 5 years before entering Georgetown Law School. See additional professional bio here [5].
[Ed. Note: Ms. Fluke KNEW when she entered Georgetown Law that the university’s student health plan did NOT cover contraception.]
Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) refused on the grounds that "she lacked expertise in questions of religious freedoms under federal law." So the Democrats brought Fluke in to testify in the House DEMOCRATIC STEERING and POLICY COMMITTEE – which was not televised. Fluke argued in favor of requiring all private insurance plans to include contraception coverage. [5]
According to some reports, it was Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who pushed for Fluke’s testimony. Maloney also initiated the call for Fluke to sue Rush Limbaugh for his on-air derogatory remark about Fluke, according to the Daily Beast. [4]
In addition, Rep. Maloney is tied to a progressive pollster, Celinda Lake, who recently ran extensive polling in an effort to gauge voters’ reactions to including birth control or contraception in insurance coverage. [4]
Lake heads Lake Research, which lists both Maloney and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as recent clients. Pollster Lake said that she and other Democrats see the strong Republican opposition to contraception as a way to win women back after they swung right in 2010, even though they backed Obama in big numbers in 2008. World Net Daily has found that [Lake’s polling] is one of the driving forces behind the progressive strategy to use contraception as an election issue. [4]
[My guess is that this entire controversy can be laid at the feet of the woman who wants to be Speaker of the House again – one Nancy Pelosi]
2/23/2012: ENTER SANDRA FLUKE: Sandra Fluke, a 2003 graduate of Cornell University and a third-year law student at Georgetown University is the former president of the Students for Reproductive Justice group at Georgetown.
Fast forward six days when Rush Limbaugh picked this up and ran with it.
2/29/2012: Limbaugh says on his nationally syndicated radio show:
What does it say about the college coed Susan Fluke [sic], who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.
Can you imagine if you're her parents how proud of Sandra Fluke you would be? Your daughter goes up to a congressional hearing conducted by the Botox-filled Nancy Pelosi and testifies she's having so much sex she can't afford her own birth control pills and she agrees that Obama should provide them, or the Pope.
On March 1, 2012, Limbaugh offered what he said was a “compromise” to contraception coverage: purchasing "all the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as possible". He continued that he "[ran] some numbers" on contraception costs and arguing that contraception coverage was "flat-out thievery" that would force taxpayers to pay to "satisfy the sexual habits of female law students at Georgetown".
Later, he dismissed concerns over lack of access to contraception coverage and mocked Fluke's congressional testimony, affecting a baby's voice and pretending to cry, saying: "I'm going broke having sex. I need government to provide me condoms and contraception. It's not fair." He asked, "Ms. Fluke, have you ever heard of not having sex? Have you ever heard of not having sex so often?" After mentioning that Washington, D.C., Department of Health "will send you free condoms and lube," Limbaugh said:
Later, he dismissed concerns over lack of access to contraception coverage and mocked Fluke's congressional testimony, affecting a baby's voice and pretending to cry, saying: "I'm going broke having sex. I need government to provide me condoms and contraception. It's not fair." He asked, "Ms. Fluke, have you ever heard of not having sex? Have you ever heard of not having sex so often?" After mentioning that Washington, D.C., Department of Health "will send you free condoms and lube," Limbaugh said:
So, Ms. Fluke and the rest of you feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it, and I'll tell you what it is. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch. [5]
As a result of Limbaugh’s attacks on Fluke, a campaign was begun to get his sponsors to withdraw. As of March 3, 2012, Sleep Train, Select Comfort, Quicken Loans, GoToMyPC, Citrix Systems, Carbonite and LegalZoom have pulled their advertisements from Rush Limbaugh's radio show. [5]
The Sleep Train’s public comment following this controversy:
“As a diverse company, Sleep Train does not condone such negative comments directed toward any person,” the company said in a statement. “We have currently pulled our ads with Rush Limbaugh.” [8]
The Sleep Train later requested to resume its advertising on the show on March 8, but Limbaugh declined the company's request. [8] In an email to Sleep Train’s President, Dale Carlson, a representative of the show says that Limbaugh personally considered the company’s request, but denied it considering its public comments following the controversy. [8]
“Thank you for your requests last week and this week to restart your voiced endorsement in local markets of The Rush Limbaugh Show,” the email begins. “Rush received your requests personally… Unfortunately, your public comments were not well received by our audience, and did not accurately portray either Rush Limbaugh’s character or the intent of his remarks. Thus, we regret to inform you that Rush will be unable to endorse Sleep Train in the future”. [8]
[Last week, the Washington Post noted how the company (a Rush sponsor for 25 years) had only suspended its ads, not fully dropped the conservative commentator as a retail spokesperson. And while that may have left the door open for a reunion, that has now been rejected by Limbaugh.]
Wonder if Rush will buy a Kingsdown matteress and denounce his sleep number bed as a P.O.S. Too funny! But I digress….
Back to the story……
Limbaugh continues in his Friday show to crank up his criticism of Fluke and her demands. He called her a slut and a whore and the firestorm began in earnest. I’m assuming everyone who reads has read his inappropriate comments.
3/2/2012: NEVER ONE TO MISS A CHANCE FOR A POSITIVE HEADLINE, OBAMA CALLS FLUKE TO OFFER SUPPORT OVER LIMBAUGH COMMENTS, stating that her parents must be proud of her. [6]
[Ed. Note: my parents would have probably left the country! LOL…. They are supportive to a point – this passes that point!]
Obama "wanted to express his disappointment that she has been the subject of inappropriate, personal attacks, and to thank her for exercising her rights as a citizen to speak out on an issue of public policy," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. [7]
[Ed. Note – I missed Obama’s call to Gov. Sarah Palin when Bill Maher called her a ‘cunt’ and a MILF on his TV show]
[Ed. Note – I missed Obama’s call to Gov. Sarah Palin when Bill Maher called her a ‘cunt’ and a MILF on his TV show]
3/3/2012: LIMBAUGH RELEASED AN APOLOGY ON HIS WEB SITE.
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. [7]
In typical liberal fashion, Ms. Fluke said his apology was not accepted. Could this have been simply to keep the flames fanned?
3/4/2012: Never one to miss a chance to pile on, Republican candidate Ron Paul said Limbaugh’s apology was ‘not sincere and was made only because it best served Limbaugh’ [9]
3/4/2012: FAIRNESS AND BALANCE: Writing for the Daily Beast, Kirsten Powers (Fox News Contributor and former girlfriend of Anthony Weiner) has authored a piece that could open another can of worms – that being the complete, total, and unashamed liberal bias in the press. ‘Rush Limbaugh Isn’t the Only Media Misogynist’, Powers writes [and I quote extensively]:
Did you know there is a war on women?
Yes, it’s true. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher, Matt Taibbi, and Ed Schultz have been waging it for years with their misogynist outbursts. There have been boycotts by people on the left who are outraged that these guys still have jobs. Oh, wait. Sorry, that never happened.
Boycotts are reserved for people on the right like Rush Limbaugh, who finally apologized Saturday for calling a 30-year-old Georgetown Law student, Sandra Fluke, a “slut” after she testified before congress about contraception. Limbaugh’s apology was likely extracted to stop the departure of any more advertisers, who were rightly under pressure from liberal groups
But if Limbaugh’s actions demand a boycott—and they do—then what about the army of swine on the left?
During the 2008 election Ed Schultz said on his radio show that Sarah Palin set off a “bimbo alert.” He called Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut.” (He later apologized.) He once even took to his blog to call yours truly a “bimbo” for the offense of quoting him accurately in a New York Post column.
Keith Olbermann has said that conservative commentator S.E. Cupp should have been aborted by her parents, apparently because he finds her having opinions offensive. He called Michelle Malkin a “mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick.” He found it newsworthy to discuss Carrie Prejean’s breasts on his MSNBC show. His solution for dealing with Hillary Clinton, who he thought should drop out of the presidential race, was to find “somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out.” Olbermann now works for über-leftist and former Democratic vice president Al Gore at Current TV.
Left-wing darling Matt Taibbi wrote on his blog in 2009, “When I read [Malkin’s] stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of balls in her mouth.” In a Rolling Stone article about Secretary of State Clinton, he referred to her “flabby arms.” When feminist writer Erica Jong criticized him for it, he responded by referring to Jong as an “800-year old sex novelist.” (Jong is almost 70, which apparently makes her an irrelevant human being.) In Taibbi’s profile of Congresswoman and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann he labeled her “batshit crazy.” (Oh, those “crazy” women with their hormones and all.)
Chris Matthews’s sickening misogyny was made famous in 2008, when he obsessively tore down Hillary Clinton for standing between Barack Obama and the presidency, something that Matthews could not abide. Over the years he has referred to the former first lady, senator and presidential candidate and current secretary of state as a “she-devil,” “Nurse Ratchet,” and “Madame Defarge.” Matthews has also called Clinton “witchy,” “anti-male,” and “uppity” and once claimed she won her Senate seat only because her “husband messed around.” He asked a guest if “being surrounded by women” makes “a case for commander in chief—or does it make a case against it?” At some point Matthews was shamed into sort of half apologizing to Clinton, but then just picked up again with his sexist ramblings.
Matthews has wondered aloud whether Sarah Palin is even “capable of thinking” and has called Bachmann a “balloon head” and said she was “lucky we still don’t have literacy tests out there.” Democratic strategist Jehmu Greene, who is the former president of the Women’s Media Center, told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly in 2011 that Matthews
“is a bully, and his favorite target is women.” So why does he still have a show? What if his favorite target was Jews? Or African-Americans?
But the grand pooh-bah of media misogyny is without a doubt Bill Maher—who also happens to be a favorite of liberals—who has given $1 million to President Obama’s super PAC. Maher has called Palin a “dumb twat” and dropped the C-word [that would be CUNT] in describing the former Alaska governor. He called Palin and Congresswoman Bachmann “boobs” and “two bimbos.” He said of the former vice-presidential candidate, “She is not a mean girl. She is a crazy girl with mean ideas.” He recently made a joke about Rick Santorum’s wife using a vibrator. Imagine now the same joke during the 2008 primary with Michelle Obama’s name in it, and tell me that he would still have a job. Maher said of a woman who was harassed while breast-feeding at an Applebee’s, “Don't show me your tits!” as though a woman feeding her child is trying to flash Maher. (Here’s a way to solve his problem: don’t stare at a strangers’ breasts). Then, his coup de grâce: “And by the way, there is a place where breasts and food do go together. It’s called Hooters!” [1O]
[Ed. Note: I know I put too much of Kirsten Power’s piece here but it is sooooo good I couldn’t help it!]
3/5/2012: RUSH OPENS HIS MONDAY SHOW WITH A 30 MINUTE DISSERTATION-EXPLANATION OF WHY AND WHAT HE APOLOGIZED FOR. (See also his on-line apology posted over the weekend.)
3/8/2012: BILL O’REILLY JOINS THE FRAY: He believes this entire controversy was manufactured to divert headlines away from the disastrous decision to force religious institutions to provide contraception – which MAY be unconstitutional. Bill is wondering who is taking Sandra Fluke around the media world, because since her testimony, she has been on 8 national news outlets and oddly [hahaha] has not been challenged at all on her stance. O’Reilly continues:
Now, late today we found out that Ms. Fluke is now being repped by the progressive PR agency SKDKnickerbocker where Anita Dunn, the former Obama communications director is the managing editor... a-ha!
So, this whole deal comes back to the White House, at least indirectly. So, let's run down what we know. Sandra Fluke is a former head of the group "Georgetown University Law Students for Reproductive Justice." On February 9th, a group called "The Feminist Majority Foundation" arranged for Sandra to appear at press conference criticizing the Catholic bishops for objecting to President Obama's contraception mandate.
A man named Mike has booked her on a few programs, but we can't even get his last name. And Mike doesn't provide call-back numbers to those with whom he speaks. So Mike, who are you? And why the subterfuge?
After that, Congressman Elijah Cummings, the former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, invited Sandra to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee. But she was turned down by the chair, Congressman Darrell Issa, because she had no expertise in the church/state subject matter.
Nevertheless, Ms. Fluke went to the hearing and afterward complained to ABC News that she had been denied. A week later, Nancy Pelosi staged a mock hearing starring Sandra. After which Rush Limbaugh made derogatory comments elevating her to left-wing martyrdom.
So it seems there is a powerful presence behind Sandra Fluke. [11]
Another close Obama associate, John Podesta, is currently the visiting professor of law Georgetown. [Another possible connection between Fluke and the White House???] [4]
The sad thing about this is…. Limbaugh, forever using absurdity to SHOW absurdity, dove headlong into an issue [the left wanting taxpayers to pay for EVERYTHING] which he and many on the right see as government encroachment into our lives. THIS was an outrageous example because this woman feels entitled to contraception at the expense of others. Rush no more thinks this woman should put videos of herself having sex with free condoms than he thinks the sun won’t come up tomorrow. This issue was contrived by Pelosi and her minions to take the growing heat off the administration’s unconstitutional demands that Catholic employers provide abortion coverage as part of the benefits package of employees. Rush’s assertion that Fluke’s demands are absurd is totally correct. Fluke was/is an activist looking for a cause and a pulpit. The two ‘met’ and there was a perfect storm – a far worse storm than the left could EVER have imagined. Rush was wrong to call Fluke a slut and a whore and he was right to apologize. The left was outted when Fluke refused to accept the apology. They want the ISSUE!
And the issue is pure demagoguery – REPUBLICANS DO NOT HATE WOMEN AND THEY ARE NOT AGAINST BIRTH CONTROL. The VAST majority of employers do offer birth control coverage in their health plans. Catholics, for one, do not because it’s against their beliefs. They are protected from having that right revoked by a two-page document called the Constitution of the United States. And THAT is the issue – a president who hates that document and ignores it when he feels like it.
[Funny thing is – the left COULD have done tremendous damage to the Republicans in the fall with this false idea that Republicans are against birth control in particular and women’s health issues in general – simply by starting the engines in early September – when the Republicans would have been helpless to stop the train with the truth in time for the elections. But Obama jumped the shark with the absurd ‘compromise’ he offered the Catholic Bishops, and Nancy had to pull the trigger on Fluke to deflect attention away from Obama. And if you think ABC / George Stephanopoulos were not complicit in this grand plan back in January then you may want to place your head where it can get some sunshine.]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[7] http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/03/obama-vs-limbaugh-money-and-politics/1
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
FROM THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR..... RALLY FOR RUSH
So. Did you hear about Carbonite and Rush Limbaugh?
No, you didn't. Not the way you will in a minute. But first?
It's time to turn the tables.
It's time to stand up to the bullies.
It's time to Rally for Rush.
Rush Limbaugh has discussed at length -- at length -- what Sandra Fluke and her statist cronies are up to. Yes, he used the words "slut" and "prostitute" -- using the ludicrous to make his point. Ms. Fluke, in one of the most pathetic, shamelessly whining stories in recent memory, demands to be paid for her sex life because it costs $3,000 for three years of birth control while she's at law school. She demands that a Catholic university violate its fundamental right to religious liberty so she can have others pay for her sex life. So Rush asked the farcical obvious about somebody who demands that someone else pay her for her apparent, self-admitted prolific sex life. He spent two solid days relating her greed for other people's money and a lack of personal responsibility to the oldest of principles.
Right on cue, the blacklisting crowd came out of their Stalinist caves. Having driven Lou Dobbs from CNN, cut off Beck's windpipe at Fox, severed Pat Buchanan from MSNBC, thus emboldened they have now set their sights on Rush.
And Rush, threatened with his livelihood, has issued this statement:
This, but of course, was not enough to satisfy. Sandra Fluke herself raced to the Ed Schultz show on MSNBC to denounce Rush. Yes, the same Ed Schulz who not long ago called conservative radio and TV commentator Laura Ingraham a "slut." And he wasn't joking either. But suddenly, Ms. Fluke simply didn't care. Why? Because this entire controversy over Rush's words was never about the actual subject. It was really about yet another drive to blacklist yet another conservative in the media.
Big mistake. Really big mistake.
Did I mention Carbonite yet? Hold on.
IN THE DAYS AFTER the death of Andrew Breitbart, perhaps the question can be phrased this way: "What would Andrew do?" Well, first, he would suggest you go to one of his sites to learn the facts -- and in this case a very interesting fact about Sandra Fluke's view of free speech. Here's the link at Andrew Breitbart's Big Government where you will find this opening in a story by Charles Johnson:
Well, well, well. So Sandra Fluke has a record of denying free speech to others? In addition to giving a pass to Mr. Ed on the slut business? Free speech for Sandra Fluke but not Rush Limbaugh or those pro-lifers at Cornell? Interesting, yes? Hypocritical and thuggish, definitely. She also walked out in protest of the congressional hearing where supporters of religious liberty were allowed to speak. It turns out, as reported here, that Fluke is no struggling law student -- she's already a professional far-left genderist, long deeply into the leftist scam of judging others by skin color or gender.
We all know the answer as to what Andrew Breitbart would do in this situation. He would stand up to the bullies.
So buckle in. And when you are finished reading -- don't sit there pondering. Stand up. Do something. And yes…. I will have suggestions as to exactly what you can do to Rally for Rush.
As a matter of fact, let's start right there. Let's start with what you can do right now.
First, read this story from the Friday Huffington Post. [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/rush-limbaugh-sleep-train-sandra-fluke-slut_n_1315900.html?ref=mostpopular ] It provides a snapshot of what's going on in the effort to intimidate Rush Limbaugh -- and in so doing intimidate the rest of us.
Now take a look at this story from Politico from January 12 of this year. [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71385.html] That's right, the one that begins this way:
You with me? Conservatives outnumber the left in this country by two-to-one. If you add in moderates, that means 75 percent of the American people do not identify with the kind of people these sponsors are so publicly trying to appease.
So let's start with that recognition as we go through the list of sponsors who are buckling to left-wing bullies. Caving in to thugs who claim to represent a mere 20 percent of the American public. Caving in to fanatics who, unable to sell their ideas by beating Rush Limbaugh in the ratings, seek to drive him from the air, wreck his career -- and most importantly, attempt to intimidate the 40 percent of the American people who self-identify as conservatives. Not to mention the other 35 percent who, as self-defined "moderates," surely don't support left-wing extremists who wish to shut down free speech. To shut us -- their various customers -- up.
These sponsors are:
Sleep Train
Sleep Number
Legal Zoom
Citrix
Quicken Loans
Carbonite
So also in The Huffington Post story is a tweet from Pro Flowers saying they will "reevaluate their marketing plan." They have now done so, and, as seen here, become the seventh sponsor to withdraw from Rush's show. [Ed. Note: The number of sponsors either terminating or suspending advertising is now over 24, though many are local market advertisers]
So what we have are seven intimidated ex-sponsors.
Perhaps it's time to confront every last one of them with a taste of their own medicine. Here's their information.
• Sleep Train: This gutless company says it has been advertising with Rush for 25 years. They should be ashamed of themselves. Absolutely ashamed. The founder of Sleep Mattress is Dale Carlsen.
Mr. Carlsen may be the salt of the earth, but he is about to give his employee-owned company and his employees an enormous, self-inflicted black-eye. Here's the information you need to reach Dale Carlsen.
This is the e-mail for Sleep Train's customer service: customerservice@sleeptrain.com
This is the 800 phone number for Sleep Train: 1-800-919-2337
This is the 800 fax number for Sleep Train: 1-866-293-5719
This is the snail mail address for Sleep Train:
Sleep Train Mattress Centers
2204 Plaza Drive
Rocklin, CA 95765
• Sleep Number: The President and CEO of Sleep Number is Bill McLaughlin. This company has contact through an e-mail form they provide here. [http://www.sleepnumber.com/eng/aboutUs/redirect.cfm?sectionID=contact/contact.cfm]
More about McLaughlin in a minute.
• Legal Zoom: The Co-founders of this company are Brian Liu, Brian Lee, Eddie Hartman & Robert Shapiro. Again, more on these guys below. The contact info for Legal Zoom is as follows:
The address for e-mails is http://legalzoom.force.com/LZWTC
The Corporate Headquarters phone number is: 1-323-962-8600. The fax number is: 323-962-8300
The Corporate Headquarters snail mail address is:
Legal Zoom.com
101 N. Brand Blvd., 11th Floor
Glendale, CA 91203
• Citrix: Mark B. Templeton is the President and CEO, his bio here.
The contact info for the Citrix Corporate Headquarters is: [http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/lp/lp_2315837.asp?ntref=footer ]
Toll Free Phone: 1-800-424-8749
Phone: 954-267-3000
Fax: 954-267-9319
Snail mail:
Citrix Systems Fort Lauderdale
851 West Cypress Creek Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
• Quicken Loans: Quicken, under the leadership of its Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert [ http://www.quickenloans.com/press-room/leadership-team/dan-gilbert ] has gone the extra mile to antagonize the 40 percent. It has this statement on its website:
Note: Quicken is so skittish the above message appears for mere seconds before vanishing. It took repeated tries to copy verbatim the simple, highly provocative message above.
The Quicken contact info is found on this page of their website. [http://www.quickenloans.com/about/contact ] Note: The company has an online chat function on this page. Also:
Phone, Client Relations: 1-800- 863-4332
Snail Mail Address:
Quicken Loans - Main Office – Compuware
1050 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226
• Second last on the list is Pro-Flowers. Their contact info is here. [http://www.proflowers.com/ContactUs.aspx ]
• Carbonite: OK. Now we'll talk Carbonite. And about Mr. McLaughlin of Sleep Number. And two of the co-founders of Legal Zoom.
Carbonite's statement was especially and curiously unctuous, its withdrawal of sponsorship coming as it did after Rush's apology. Here is Carbonite's CEO David Friend:
Mr. Friend added:
Now. Carbonite really deserves some special attention.
David Friend is making his attack on Rush sound like he's one upset a friend with a couple of nice young daughters. And oh, yes, he wants a "more civilized public discourse."
Is that all there is to Mr. Friend? Quite aside that he gives a pass to Sandra Fluke for her obnoxiously intolerant behavior when it comes to the free speech of others, is there anything else going on here?
Yes. Of course.
Take a look here [http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4249346 ] This is a link to Bloomberg/Business Week which profiles Mr. Friend and affirms him as "General Partner" of an investment group called "Orchid Partners" in Boston, Massachusetts. And Orchid Partners? Yes indeed, they are the venture capital firm behind… Carbonite.
Where Mr. Friend is listed as "Co-Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President."
So?
So when you cross check Mr. David Friend of Orchid Partners in Boston with the Federal Election Commission, one finds -- ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh shocker!……… that a Mr. David Friend of Orchid Partners in Boston has been a contributor to… ready? Here's the list of just where David Friend spends his political money:
MoveOn.org, America Coming Together and Democracy for America, all three listed here [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/GEORGE%20SOROS'%20WEB%20OF%20OBSTRUCTION.htm ] as George Soros funded groups, the latter set up by Howard Dean. Texans for Truth also drew Mr. Friend's support. This group, according to Wikipedia, was set up by MoveOn.org spin-off Drive Democracy.org in 2004. Why? To… wait for it… challenge then-President Bush's service in the Texas National Guard. The precise same stunt for which CBS fired Dan Rather after documents were discovered to have been forged. The Bush-Cheney campaign said of Texans for Truth that it was "a smear group launching baseless attacks on behalf of John Kerry's campaign that will be rejected by the American people." They were. But that didn't quench Mr. Friend's affection for either the smear campaign or supporting leftist candidates such as Howard Dean, and John Kerry.
And get a load of this - listen right here at the Ed "Laura Ingraham is a slut" Schultz's site for his radio show.
Who is listed as a Schultz sponsor? That's right: Carbonite. Like Rush Limbaugh, Ed Schultz apologized. The difference? If Rush uses the word "slut" to illustrate the absurdity of the left-wing Sandra Fluke's views -- David Friend is outraged. But when Ed Schultz refers in hostile fashion out of the blue to conservative and Catholic Laura Ingraham as a "slut" -- hey, no big deal for Carbonite.
In other words, to put it politely, Mr. Friend's woe-is-me I'm-withdrawing-my-company's sponsorship-from-Rush Limbaugh-because of-my-lovely-daughters is as close to certifiable BS as one can imagine. Mr. Friend, one can only suspect, placed Carbonite's ads with Rush Limbaugh because he knew it would make him money -- which he obviously then funneled to MoveOn and the rest. Meanwhile, he keeps advertising on the Ed Slut Show… sorry… Ed Schultz Show. His daughters? His daughters? What a deeply cynical man.
Not to mention Friend's chutzpah calling for a "more civilized public discourse" when he is busy contributing to MoveOn.org, the self-same group that put together this charming video comparing George W. Bush to Hitler. Not to mention MoveOn's "Bush Lied" routine. This is pathetic.
And oh yes, Mr. Friend isn't the only Rush-drop out whose leftist connections are suspect in this episode. Sleep Number's CEO Bill McLaughlin, Sleep Number being a product of a company called Select Comforter? That appears to be the same "William McLaughlin" who identified himself to the FEC as being with Select Comforter of Minneapolis -- when he contributed to the same Soros-funded "America Coming Together" as Mr. Friend.
And how about two of the four guys running Legal Zoom? Mr. Brian Liu is recorded as giving tens of thousands of dollars to two Obama campaign outlets, including the Obama Victory Fund 2012. Brian Lee gives his bucks to the Democratic National Committee Services Corporation. Did I mention Mark Templeton of Citrix gave Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign $2,300?
Here is Carbonite's contact info, not that it will do you any good. [http://www.carbonite.com/en/about/contact-us]
• Last on the list is the newly added Pro-Flowers. Their contact info is here. [http://www.proflowers.com/ContactUs.aspx ] And yes, you got it. Founded by a now Democratic congressman, Jared Polis, the company is currently owned by Provide Commerce, itself owned by Liberty Media. Provide Commerce's CEO William Strauss is a contributor to the Pro-Flowers founder, the Democrat Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado.
NOW, LET'S UNDERSTAND a few things here. Let's pull back the curtain and see what's really going on.
Remember the recent spate of stories on Media Matters from Tucker Carlson's The Daily Caller?
The first one found here. [HERE] To summarize, the Daily Caller discovered the leftist Media Matters, along with other leftist groups, had engaged in an intense behind the scenes campaign to fire Don Imus, at one point employing some fifty people in the effort, while Media Matters head David Brock "personally called the heads of various liberal activist groups to coordinate a message. By the end of the week, Imus was fired."
Writes the DC:
DO YOU GET the picture? The American Left -- whether it pops up in the form of Media Matters, Color of Change, MoveOn.org, Texans for Truth or other groups -- is determined to shut off conservative dissent from their agenda by whatever means necessary. Fueled in part by money like that they received from David Friend of Carbonite. To do this they are quite specifically going after conservative talk radio hosts and television commentators one by one by one. The fact that David Friend of MoveOn.org/Carbonite is there to stick it to Rush is all the better. The fact that Ed Schulz called Laura Ingraham a slut is one big no-big-deal to Sandra Fluke herself when she wants air time on with Mr. Ed. Why should David Friend care if Ms. Fluke doesn't? So, Carbonite continues as Mr. Ed's sponsor, sluts be damned.
As noted earlier, what began with Don Imus, Lou Dobbs, and Glenn Beck has just hit Pat Buchanan.
Now, they want Rush's scalp. So all these companies are bleating about angry customers demanding they stop sponsoring Rush? Mr. Friend of Carbonite has the gall to lay off his decision on his daughters when he's a card carrying leftist who gives the slut business the brush-off when it's Ed Schultz?? Are these people (other than Carbonite, whose CEO manifestly appears to have an agenda) really that professionally incompetent as a company that they don't understand what the Daily Caller story was saying?
Are they really, seriously that clueless when there is a very detailed story out there X-raying in graphic detail just how this anti-free speech game is played? Fifty people assigned just to get Don Imus alone? The head of Media Matters personally calling "the heads of various liberal activist groups to coordinate a message" to fire Imus -- having the job done within a week? What don't these sponsors understand when a left-wing radical activist crows that "we" got Lou Dobbs fired? What don't they understand about "fingerprint coverage" designed to fire prominent conservatives?
Are these sponsors really that stupid that they aren't aware they are being played for suckers by leftist radicals? Or, in fact, like David Friend and Carbonite, are they shadowy, behind-the-scenes participants?
Once upon a time -- in 1962 when Ronald Reagan was the host of General Electric Theater on CBS -- there was a call for Reagan's scalp for the same reason. The Left didn't like what he was saying. In fact, Michael Reagan once wrote about the day GE fired his Dad for speaking what we now call truth to power. Wrote son Michael Reagan of his Dad's encounter with saying the politically incorrect:
Ronald Reagan in 1962. Rush Limbaugh fifty years later in 2012. The left never changes.
But conservatives have changed in those last fifty years. In his last speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) just weeks ago, Andrew Breitbart stood at the podium and said: "Conservatives used to take it and we're not taking it anymore."
There isn't going to be any of this intimidation anymore.
Conservatives are the majority in this country politically. No longer are they required to sit meekly, just take it and shut up. Rush Limbaugh's audience doesn't have to put up with this garbage as conservatives of an earlier era once did.
Make no mistake. The question is now on the table: should the sponsors who allow themselves to be intimidated by these bullies into attacking Rush Limbaugh deserve commercial support from conservatives? Some are doubtless sponsors of other conservative shows. Carbonite is now instantly revealed by its own CEO as being a cynical player of a double game -- funding left wing groups who participate in blacklisting campaigns, giving a pass to lefty Ed Schultz for using the exact word as Rush, then helping from the inside and laying the blame for withdrawing Carbonite's ads from Rush on his daughters. But clearly, if they are abandoning Rush Limbaugh, this serves as an implied threat to every talk radio host in the land who has these companies as sponsors. By doing what they have now done, these one-time sponsors of Rush Limbaugh's show have now startlingly indicated that they are signing on with anti-First Amendment thugs.
How does the far left play this blacklisting game? They exploit race and gender to try and destroy First Amendment protections. People who support a philosophy long on record as supporting every racial gambit from slavery, segregation, lynching and the Ku Klux Klan right on through to the violation of voting rights by the Black Panthers, racial quotas and illegal immigration have no scruples. Genderism, as Sandra Fluke demonstrates anew, is not about individuals, it's about the left's concept of one gender. And, as Ed Schultz's slut comment about Ingraham demonstrated, if you don't fit that profile well -- you're a slut.
No one disputes the right of any would-be sponsor to choose where they place their advertising dollars. That simply isn't the question.
The question is: do these sponsors listed above, all willing participants in this thuggish behavior, understand that they are going out of their way to self-identify with those who have quite effectively demonstrated themselves to be anti-free speech thugs?
Do they understand that they are, with enormous effectiveness, voluntarily identifying themselves as peddlers not of mattresses, legal services, high tech gizmos, mortgages, computer back-ups or flowers -- but radical left wing politics designed to deliberately blacklist, insult, target and shut down the free speech of 40 percent of the American people? Their own customers? And that in some cases the people engaged in these efforts use their addiction to skin colorism or judging by gender to do these things? Clearly David Friend does believe this or he wouldn't be supporting MoveOn.org and Ed "The Slut" Schultz -- but the rest? (Note: Another Mr. Ed sponsor? That would be ESPN -- which forced Rush out after he suggested Donovan McNabb wasn't that great of a quarterback but the press covered for him because of his skin color. Apparently ESPN doesn't care about Schultz's slut problem either. Yet another double-standard.)
Do these companies understand that the message they are sending to every single Rush Limbaugh listener is that they are going to play hard ball with their own conservative customers?
If so, why in the world should any conservative -- part of that two-to-one 40 percent identified by the Gallup Poll -- ever in a million years want to buy a product from these people? .
AND LAST BUT not least: Rush Limbaugh, now a very familiar figure on the American political scene, is one of the most decent human beings on the planet. He is well known to his listeners. There is zero need here to say a word about this man's character, his endless devotion to charitable causes, his staunch support for the American men and women in the military, and much more. The mindless treatment these sponsors are engaged in with this man is shameful. Disgraceful.
So. Let's note carefully. This is exactly the moment where a talk radio host -- this one the most prominent in the land -- needs help from his longtime listeners, fans and friends. For the record, it's safe to say I have not contacted Mr. Limbaugh or sought him out for contact on this story. He will be reading this for the first time.
As this Rush-drama unfolded over the weekend I had an over-the-Internet-transom e-mail from a woman identifying herself as a "Rush Fan -- Ellie from Akron." Said Ellie: "We all need to stick by Rush in this latest assault by the attack dog media…. how many of these cowardly, so-called 'indignant' sponsors deserting him now, came to Rush's defense 3 years ago when the NFL, CNN, ESPN were calling him a racist simply because he wanted to be part owner of a pro-football team." Excellent question, Ellie from Akron.
It's time to fight back.
To take on Sleep Mattress, Sleep Number, Legal Zoom, Citrix, Quicken Loans, Carbonite and, now that they've caved, Pro-Flowers. And anybody else who wants to play this disgraceful blacklisting game with their customers.
To expose the hypocrisy and double standards. To make it crystal clear that that those who sell out our First Amendment rights to far left radicals are in fact going to be actively perceived as collaborating in a deliberate attack on their customers, real and potential.
It's time to stand up for free speech. To draw a line in the sand. And let these companies know that the blacklisting line stops with Rush.
It's time -- way past time -- to stand up to the blacklisting free speech bullies. By phone. By e-mail. Twitter, snail mail or whatever.
But however you do it?
It's time to Rally for Rush.
Jeffrey Lord, writing for The American Spectator:
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/05/rally-for-rush
No, you didn't. Not the way you will in a minute. But first?
It's time to turn the tables.
It's time to stand up to the bullies.
It's time to Rally for Rush.
Rush Limbaugh has discussed at length -- at length -- what Sandra Fluke and her statist cronies are up to. Yes, he used the words "slut" and "prostitute" -- using the ludicrous to make his point. Ms. Fluke, in one of the most pathetic, shamelessly whining stories in recent memory, demands to be paid for her sex life because it costs $3,000 for three years of birth control while she's at law school. She demands that a Catholic university violate its fundamental right to religious liberty so she can have others pay for her sex life. So Rush asked the farcical obvious about somebody who demands that someone else pay her for her apparent, self-admitted prolific sex life. He spent two solid days relating her greed for other people's money and a lack of personal responsibility to the oldest of principles.
Right on cue, the blacklisting crowd came out of their Stalinist caves. Having driven Lou Dobbs from CNN, cut off Beck's windpipe at Fox, severed Pat Buchanan from MSNBC, thus emboldened they have now set their sights on Rush.
And Rush, threatened with his livelihood, has issued this statement:
- 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.
This, but of course, was not enough to satisfy. Sandra Fluke herself raced to the Ed Schultz show on MSNBC to denounce Rush. Yes, the same Ed Schulz who not long ago called conservative radio and TV commentator Laura Ingraham a "slut." And he wasn't joking either. But suddenly, Ms. Fluke simply didn't care. Why? Because this entire controversy over Rush's words was never about the actual subject. It was really about yet another drive to blacklist yet another conservative in the media.
Big mistake. Really big mistake.
Did I mention Carbonite yet? Hold on.
IN THE DAYS AFTER the death of Andrew Breitbart, perhaps the question can be phrased this way: "What would Andrew do?" Well, first, he would suggest you go to one of his sites to learn the facts -- and in this case a very interesting fact about Sandra Fluke's view of free speech. Here's the link at Andrew Breitbart's Big Government where you will find this opening in a story by Charles Johnson:
- As a student at Cornell and treasurer of a pro-choice organization at the school, Sandra Fluke, helped shut down a pro-life speech on Cornell's campus by counter protesting. She argued that a pro-life organization at Cornell was about "manipulating [students'] emotions" with misleading statistics about abortion. But when it is her turn to speak on Capitol Hill, the third-year Georgetown Law Student demands she gets her say in a hearing that has nothing to do with birth control.
Well, well, well. So Sandra Fluke has a record of denying free speech to others? In addition to giving a pass to Mr. Ed on the slut business? Free speech for Sandra Fluke but not Rush Limbaugh or those pro-lifers at Cornell? Interesting, yes? Hypocritical and thuggish, definitely. She also walked out in protest of the congressional hearing where supporters of religious liberty were allowed to speak. It turns out, as reported here, that Fluke is no struggling law student -- she's already a professional far-left genderist, long deeply into the leftist scam of judging others by skin color or gender.
We all know the answer as to what Andrew Breitbart would do in this situation. He would stand up to the bullies.
So buckle in. And when you are finished reading -- don't sit there pondering. Stand up. Do something. And yes…. I will have suggestions as to exactly what you can do to Rally for Rush.
As a matter of fact, let's start right there. Let's start with what you can do right now.
First, read this story from the Friday Huffington Post. [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/rush-limbaugh-sleep-train-sandra-fluke-slut_n_1315900.html?ref=mostpopular ] It provides a snapshot of what's going on in the effort to intimidate Rush Limbaugh -- and in so doing intimidate the rest of us.
Now take a look at this story from Politico from January 12 of this year. [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71385.html] That's right, the one that begins this way:
- Conservatives continue to make up the largest segment of political views in the country, outnumbering liberals nearly two-to-one, according to a new poll Thursday.
- The Gallup survey found that 40 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative; 35 percent consider themselves moderate; and 21 percent see themselves as liberal. The figures did not change from 2010.
You with me? Conservatives outnumber the left in this country by two-to-one. If you add in moderates, that means 75 percent of the American people do not identify with the kind of people these sponsors are so publicly trying to appease.
So let's start with that recognition as we go through the list of sponsors who are buckling to left-wing bullies. Caving in to thugs who claim to represent a mere 20 percent of the American public. Caving in to fanatics who, unable to sell their ideas by beating Rush Limbaugh in the ratings, seek to drive him from the air, wreck his career -- and most importantly, attempt to intimidate the 40 percent of the American people who self-identify as conservatives. Not to mention the other 35 percent who, as self-defined "moderates," surely don't support left-wing extremists who wish to shut down free speech. To shut us -- their various customers -- up.
These sponsors are:
Sleep Train
Sleep Number
Legal Zoom
Citrix
Quicken Loans
Carbonite
So also in The Huffington Post story is a tweet from Pro Flowers saying they will "reevaluate their marketing plan." They have now done so, and, as seen here, become the seventh sponsor to withdraw from Rush's show. [Ed. Note: The number of sponsors either terminating or suspending advertising is now over 24, though many are local market advertisers]
So what we have are seven intimidated ex-sponsors.
Perhaps it's time to confront every last one of them with a taste of their own medicine. Here's their information.
• Sleep Train: This gutless company says it has been advertising with Rush for 25 years. They should be ashamed of themselves. Absolutely ashamed. The founder of Sleep Mattress is Dale Carlsen.
Mr. Carlsen may be the salt of the earth, but he is about to give his employee-owned company and his employees an enormous, self-inflicted black-eye. Here's the information you need to reach Dale Carlsen.
This is the e-mail for Sleep Train's customer service: customerservice@sleeptrain.com
This is the 800 phone number for Sleep Train: 1-800-919-2337
This is the 800 fax number for Sleep Train: 1-866-293-5719
This is the snail mail address for Sleep Train:
Sleep Train Mattress Centers
2204 Plaza Drive
Rocklin, CA 95765
• Sleep Number: The President and CEO of Sleep Number is Bill McLaughlin. This company has contact through an e-mail form they provide here. [http://www.sleepnumber.com/eng/aboutUs/redirect.cfm?sectionID=contact/contact.cfm]
More about McLaughlin in a minute.
• Legal Zoom: The Co-founders of this company are Brian Liu, Brian Lee, Eddie Hartman & Robert Shapiro. Again, more on these guys below. The contact info for Legal Zoom is as follows:
The address for e-mails is http://legalzoom.force.com/LZWTC
The Corporate Headquarters phone number is: 1-323-962-8600. The fax number is: 323-962-8300
The Corporate Headquarters snail mail address is:
Legal Zoom.com
101 N. Brand Blvd., 11th Floor
Glendale, CA 91203
• Citrix: Mark B. Templeton is the President and CEO, his bio here.
The contact info for the Citrix Corporate Headquarters is: [http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/lp/lp_2315837.asp?ntref=footer ]
Toll Free Phone: 1-800-424-8749
Phone: 954-267-3000
Fax: 954-267-9319
Snail mail:
Citrix Systems Fort Lauderdale
851 West Cypress Creek Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
• Quicken Loans: Quicken, under the leadership of its Founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert [ http://www.quickenloans.com/press-room/leadership-team/dan-gilbert ] has gone the extra mile to antagonize the 40 percent. It has this statement on its website:
- Due to Rush Limbaugh's continued inflammatory comments -- along with the valued feedback we have received from our clients and team members -- Quicken Loans has suspended all advertising on the Rush Limbaugh radio program."
Note: Quicken is so skittish the above message appears for mere seconds before vanishing. It took repeated tries to copy verbatim the simple, highly provocative message above.
The Quicken contact info is found on this page of their website. [http://www.quickenloans.com/about/contact ] Note: The company has an online chat function on this page. Also:
Phone, Client Relations: 1-800- 863-4332
Snail Mail Address:
Quicken Loans - Main Office – Compuware
1050 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226
• Second last on the list is Pro-Flowers. Their contact info is here. [http://www.proflowers.com/ContactUs.aspx ]
• Carbonite: OK. Now we'll talk Carbonite. And about Mr. McLaughlin of Sleep Number. And two of the co-founders of Legal Zoom.
Carbonite's statement was especially and curiously unctuous, its withdrawal of sponsorship coming as it did after Rush's apology. Here is Carbonite's CEO David Friend:
- No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show.
Mr. Friend added:
- We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.
Now. Carbonite really deserves some special attention.
David Friend is making his attack on Rush sound like he's one upset a friend with a couple of nice young daughters. And oh, yes, he wants a "more civilized public discourse."
Is that all there is to Mr. Friend? Quite aside that he gives a pass to Sandra Fluke for her obnoxiously intolerant behavior when it comes to the free speech of others, is there anything else going on here?
Yes. Of course.
Take a look here [http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4249346 ] This is a link to Bloomberg/Business Week which profiles Mr. Friend and affirms him as "General Partner" of an investment group called "Orchid Partners" in Boston, Massachusetts. And Orchid Partners? Yes indeed, they are the venture capital firm behind… Carbonite.
Where Mr. Friend is listed as "Co-Founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President."
So?
So when you cross check Mr. David Friend of Orchid Partners in Boston with the Federal Election Commission, one finds -- ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh shocker!……… that a Mr. David Friend of Orchid Partners in Boston has been a contributor to… ready? Here's the list of just where David Friend spends his political money:
MoveOn.org, America Coming Together and Democracy for America, all three listed here [http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/GEORGE%20SOROS'%20WEB%20OF%20OBSTRUCTION.htm ] as George Soros funded groups, the latter set up by Howard Dean. Texans for Truth also drew Mr. Friend's support. This group, according to Wikipedia, was set up by MoveOn.org spin-off Drive Democracy.org in 2004. Why? To… wait for it… challenge then-President Bush's service in the Texas National Guard. The precise same stunt for which CBS fired Dan Rather after documents were discovered to have been forged. The Bush-Cheney campaign said of Texans for Truth that it was "a smear group launching baseless attacks on behalf of John Kerry's campaign that will be rejected by the American people." They were. But that didn't quench Mr. Friend's affection for either the smear campaign or supporting leftist candidates such as Howard Dean, and John Kerry.
And get a load of this - listen right here at the Ed "Laura Ingraham is a slut" Schultz's site for his radio show.
Who is listed as a Schultz sponsor? That's right: Carbonite. Like Rush Limbaugh, Ed Schultz apologized. The difference? If Rush uses the word "slut" to illustrate the absurdity of the left-wing Sandra Fluke's views -- David Friend is outraged. But when Ed Schultz refers in hostile fashion out of the blue to conservative and Catholic Laura Ingraham as a "slut" -- hey, no big deal for Carbonite.
In other words, to put it politely, Mr. Friend's woe-is-me I'm-withdrawing-my-company's sponsorship-from-Rush Limbaugh-because of-my-lovely-daughters is as close to certifiable BS as one can imagine. Mr. Friend, one can only suspect, placed Carbonite's ads with Rush Limbaugh because he knew it would make him money -- which he obviously then funneled to MoveOn and the rest. Meanwhile, he keeps advertising on the Ed Slut Show… sorry… Ed Schultz Show. His daughters? His daughters? What a deeply cynical man.
Not to mention Friend's chutzpah calling for a "more civilized public discourse" when he is busy contributing to MoveOn.org, the self-same group that put together this charming video comparing George W. Bush to Hitler. Not to mention MoveOn's "Bush Lied" routine. This is pathetic.
And oh yes, Mr. Friend isn't the only Rush-drop out whose leftist connections are suspect in this episode. Sleep Number's CEO Bill McLaughlin, Sleep Number being a product of a company called Select Comforter? That appears to be the same "William McLaughlin" who identified himself to the FEC as being with Select Comforter of Minneapolis -- when he contributed to the same Soros-funded "America Coming Together" as Mr. Friend.
And how about two of the four guys running Legal Zoom? Mr. Brian Liu is recorded as giving tens of thousands of dollars to two Obama campaign outlets, including the Obama Victory Fund 2012. Brian Lee gives his bucks to the Democratic National Committee Services Corporation. Did I mention Mark Templeton of Citrix gave Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign $2,300?
Here is Carbonite's contact info, not that it will do you any good. [http://www.carbonite.com/en/about/contact-us]
• Last on the list is the newly added Pro-Flowers. Their contact info is here. [http://www.proflowers.com/ContactUs.aspx ] And yes, you got it. Founded by a now Democratic congressman, Jared Polis, the company is currently owned by Provide Commerce, itself owned by Liberty Media. Provide Commerce's CEO William Strauss is a contributor to the Pro-Flowers founder, the Democrat Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado.
NOW, LET'S UNDERSTAND a few things here. Let's pull back the curtain and see what's really going on.
Remember the recent spate of stories on Media Matters from Tucker Carlson's The Daily Caller?
The first one found here. [HERE] To summarize, the Daily Caller discovered the leftist Media Matters, along with other leftist groups, had engaged in an intense behind the scenes campaign to fire Don Imus, at one point employing some fifty people in the effort, while Media Matters head David Brock "personally called the heads of various liberal activist groups to coordinate a message. By the end of the week, Imus was fired."
Writes the DC:
- Media Matters soon became more sophisticated in its campaigns against non-liberal cable news anchors. Lou Dobbs, then of CNN, was a frequent target.
- "As part of the Drop Dobbs campaign," explains one internal memo prepared for fundraising, "Media Matters produced and was prepared to run an advertisement against Ford Motor Company on Spanish Language stations in Houston, San Antonio, and other cities targeting its top selling product, pick-up trucks, in its top truck buying markets."
- Ford pulled its advertising from Dobbs's program before the television ad aired, but Media Matters kept up its efforts, working primarily with Alex Nogales of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, and with the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and other self-described civil rights groups.
- In November of 2009, Dobbs left CNN. "We got him fired," says one staffer flatly.
- Certainly Media Matters deserves a lot of credit for the work they did," Nogales said in an interview. "They're very effective."
- Glenn Beck, the former Fox News Channel host, drew the ire of a wide spectrum of liberal groups while his program aired nationally. But according to several people who watched the process from the inside, it was Media Matters that orchestrated much of the opposition to Beck
- "We called it 'fingerprint coverage,'" explains one former staffer, "where you know it was the result of your work." As an example, he cites the left-wing group Color of Change, co-founded by the controversial former White House "green jobs" czar Van Jones, which received much of the credit for pressuring advertisers to drop their sponsorship of Beck's show. But in fact, he says, Media Matters developed the campaign that cowed Beck's sponsors.
DO YOU GET the picture? The American Left -- whether it pops up in the form of Media Matters, Color of Change, MoveOn.org, Texans for Truth or other groups -- is determined to shut off conservative dissent from their agenda by whatever means necessary. Fueled in part by money like that they received from David Friend of Carbonite. To do this they are quite specifically going after conservative talk radio hosts and television commentators one by one by one. The fact that David Friend of MoveOn.org/Carbonite is there to stick it to Rush is all the better. The fact that Ed Schulz called Laura Ingraham a slut is one big no-big-deal to Sandra Fluke herself when she wants air time on with Mr. Ed. Why should David Friend care if Ms. Fluke doesn't? So, Carbonite continues as Mr. Ed's sponsor, sluts be damned.
As noted earlier, what began with Don Imus, Lou Dobbs, and Glenn Beck has just hit Pat Buchanan.
Now, they want Rush's scalp. So all these companies are bleating about angry customers demanding they stop sponsoring Rush? Mr. Friend of Carbonite has the gall to lay off his decision on his daughters when he's a card carrying leftist who gives the slut business the brush-off when it's Ed Schultz?? Are these people (other than Carbonite, whose CEO manifestly appears to have an agenda) really that professionally incompetent as a company that they don't understand what the Daily Caller story was saying?
Are they really, seriously that clueless when there is a very detailed story out there X-raying in graphic detail just how this anti-free speech game is played? Fifty people assigned just to get Don Imus alone? The head of Media Matters personally calling "the heads of various liberal activist groups to coordinate a message" to fire Imus -- having the job done within a week? What don't these sponsors understand when a left-wing radical activist crows that "we" got Lou Dobbs fired? What don't they understand about "fingerprint coverage" designed to fire prominent conservatives?
Are these sponsors really that stupid that they aren't aware they are being played for suckers by leftist radicals? Or, in fact, like David Friend and Carbonite, are they shadowy, behind-the-scenes participants?
Once upon a time -- in 1962 when Ronald Reagan was the host of General Electric Theater on CBS -- there was a call for Reagan's scalp for the same reason. The Left didn't like what he was saying. In fact, Michael Reagan once wrote about the day GE fired his Dad for speaking what we now call truth to power. Wrote son Michael Reagan of his Dad's encounter with saying the politically incorrect:
- General Electric wants us to feel warm and fuzzy every time we screw in a GE made-in-China twisty light. But I haven't felt warm and fuzzy toward GE since that day in 1962 when Dad came home and told us he had just been fired by GE and his show, "General Electric Theater," was canceled.
- Dad explained that CBS hadn't canceled the highly rated show. Instead, GE had pulled the plug. As the company was negotiating some government contracts, Bobby Kennedy, the attorney general of the United States, bluntly informed GE that if the company wished to do business with the U.S. government, it would get rid of "General Electric Theater" and fire the host.
- Dad had criticized the Kennedy administration in some of his speeches, and the administration fought back through the president's brother. Within 48 hours of Bobby Kennedy's call, Ronald Reagan was out of a job.
Ronald Reagan in 1962. Rush Limbaugh fifty years later in 2012. The left never changes.
But conservatives have changed in those last fifty years. In his last speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) just weeks ago, Andrew Breitbart stood at the podium and said: "Conservatives used to take it and we're not taking it anymore."
There isn't going to be any of this intimidation anymore.
Conservatives are the majority in this country politically. No longer are they required to sit meekly, just take it and shut up. Rush Limbaugh's audience doesn't have to put up with this garbage as conservatives of an earlier era once did.
Make no mistake. The question is now on the table: should the sponsors who allow themselves to be intimidated by these bullies into attacking Rush Limbaugh deserve commercial support from conservatives? Some are doubtless sponsors of other conservative shows. Carbonite is now instantly revealed by its own CEO as being a cynical player of a double game -- funding left wing groups who participate in blacklisting campaigns, giving a pass to lefty Ed Schultz for using the exact word as Rush, then helping from the inside and laying the blame for withdrawing Carbonite's ads from Rush on his daughters. But clearly, if they are abandoning Rush Limbaugh, this serves as an implied threat to every talk radio host in the land who has these companies as sponsors. By doing what they have now done, these one-time sponsors of Rush Limbaugh's show have now startlingly indicated that they are signing on with anti-First Amendment thugs.
How does the far left play this blacklisting game? They exploit race and gender to try and destroy First Amendment protections. People who support a philosophy long on record as supporting every racial gambit from slavery, segregation, lynching and the Ku Klux Klan right on through to the violation of voting rights by the Black Panthers, racial quotas and illegal immigration have no scruples. Genderism, as Sandra Fluke demonstrates anew, is not about individuals, it's about the left's concept of one gender. And, as Ed Schultz's slut comment about Ingraham demonstrated, if you don't fit that profile well -- you're a slut.
No one disputes the right of any would-be sponsor to choose where they place their advertising dollars. That simply isn't the question.
The question is: do these sponsors listed above, all willing participants in this thuggish behavior, understand that they are going out of their way to self-identify with those who have quite effectively demonstrated themselves to be anti-free speech thugs?
Do they understand that they are, with enormous effectiveness, voluntarily identifying themselves as peddlers not of mattresses, legal services, high tech gizmos, mortgages, computer back-ups or flowers -- but radical left wing politics designed to deliberately blacklist, insult, target and shut down the free speech of 40 percent of the American people? Their own customers? And that in some cases the people engaged in these efforts use their addiction to skin colorism or judging by gender to do these things? Clearly David Friend does believe this or he wouldn't be supporting MoveOn.org and Ed "The Slut" Schultz -- but the rest? (Note: Another Mr. Ed sponsor? That would be ESPN -- which forced Rush out after he suggested Donovan McNabb wasn't that great of a quarterback but the press covered for him because of his skin color. Apparently ESPN doesn't care about Schultz's slut problem either. Yet another double-standard.)
Do these companies understand that the message they are sending to every single Rush Limbaugh listener is that they are going to play hard ball with their own conservative customers?
If so, why in the world should any conservative -- part of that two-to-one 40 percent identified by the Gallup Poll -- ever in a million years want to buy a product from these people? .
AND LAST BUT not least: Rush Limbaugh, now a very familiar figure on the American political scene, is one of the most decent human beings on the planet. He is well known to his listeners. There is zero need here to say a word about this man's character, his endless devotion to charitable causes, his staunch support for the American men and women in the military, and much more. The mindless treatment these sponsors are engaged in with this man is shameful. Disgraceful.
So. Let's note carefully. This is exactly the moment where a talk radio host -- this one the most prominent in the land -- needs help from his longtime listeners, fans and friends. For the record, it's safe to say I have not contacted Mr. Limbaugh or sought him out for contact on this story. He will be reading this for the first time.
As this Rush-drama unfolded over the weekend I had an over-the-Internet-transom e-mail from a woman identifying herself as a "Rush Fan -- Ellie from Akron." Said Ellie: "We all need to stick by Rush in this latest assault by the attack dog media…. how many of these cowardly, so-called 'indignant' sponsors deserting him now, came to Rush's defense 3 years ago when the NFL, CNN, ESPN were calling him a racist simply because he wanted to be part owner of a pro-football team." Excellent question, Ellie from Akron.
It's time to fight back.
To take on Sleep Mattress, Sleep Number, Legal Zoom, Citrix, Quicken Loans, Carbonite and, now that they've caved, Pro-Flowers. And anybody else who wants to play this disgraceful blacklisting game with their customers.
To expose the hypocrisy and double standards. To make it crystal clear that that those who sell out our First Amendment rights to far left radicals are in fact going to be actively perceived as collaborating in a deliberate attack on their customers, real and potential.
It's time to stand up for free speech. To draw a line in the sand. And let these companies know that the blacklisting line stops with Rush.
It's time -- way past time -- to stand up to the blacklisting free speech bullies. By phone. By e-mail. Twitter, snail mail or whatever.
But however you do it?
It's time to Rally for Rush.
Jeffrey Lord, writing for The American Spectator:
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/05/rally-for-rush
THE LEFT IS GOING AFTER RUSH'S WALLET
The following companies have either terminated or suspended advertising on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. Seems he’s taking a huge financial hit. Apparently two radio stations have also dropped his show. I’ve put an asterisk by the companies that I know for sure Rush has made personal commercials for. I’m sure there are others.
I have notified Carbonite that I will not be renewing my subscription to their services.
Carbonite*
Citrix
Quicken Loans
Sleep Number Beds*
Legal Zoom
The Sleep Train (mattress)
Pro Flowers*
AOL
Taxresolution.com
Bare Escentuals
Vitacost.com
Hadeed Carpet
Servicemagic
Polycom
Thompson Creek Windows
Bethesda Sedation Dentistry
St. Vincent’s Medical Center
John Deere
Cascades Dental
Allstate Insurance
Sears
Bonobos
Geico
Jcpenney
Accuquote
I sent the following email to Carbonite:
Rush is the reason I have subscribed to your backup service.
I am disgusted that you caved to political pressure and stopped advertising on his show. Personally I think it's a stupid business decision, but it's YOURS, not mine.
MY decision is not to renew my subscription when it ends.
I have notified Carbonite that I will not be renewing my subscription to their services.
Carbonite*
Citrix
Quicken Loans
Sleep Number Beds*
Legal Zoom
The Sleep Train (mattress)
Pro Flowers*
AOL
Taxresolution.com
Bare Escentuals
Vitacost.com
Hadeed Carpet
Servicemagic
Polycom
Thompson Creek Windows
Bethesda Sedation Dentistry
St. Vincent’s Medical Center
John Deere
Cascades Dental
Allstate Insurance
Sears
Bonobos
Geico
Jcpenney
Accuquote
I sent the following email to Carbonite:
Rush is the reason I have subscribed to your backup service.
I am disgusted that you caved to political pressure and stopped advertising on his show. Personally I think it's a stupid business decision, but it's YOURS, not mine.
MY decision is not to renew my subscription when it ends.
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