I am Paul W. Smith, fellow student of the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies, where there is never a final exam, but we are tested every day.
Coming to you, as Johnny mentions from the Midwest campus of the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies in Detroit, Michigan, the Motor City, the growing life sciences corridor.
And uh because of the breaking news of the day, we've had to modify our open line Friday.
But this final hour, let's do it.
Let's have an open line here and uh hear from you on a variety of topics and uh subjects that might be uh something you've been waiting all week to talk about.
Now I know you usually I mean you're not looking forward to bouncing these things off uh the fine uh guest host lineup that we have coming off the bench here, uh Mark Belling, uh Tom Sullivan, and and yours truly were all honored to be here.
You usually want to bounce your ideas, of course, uh, off of Rush, and I'm happy to announce that uh that the fill-in guy Monday will actually be Rush Limbaugh in for Rush Limbaugh Monday on this your favorite radio station.
You should stay tuned to this station all weekend long because there's all kinds of news breaking around the world, and you know you'll get it right here.
Uh meanwhile, the phone line's open to you now at 1800-282-2882.
It might be something that you didn't get a chance to say earlier, or it might be a whole new topic.
Uh it's one eight hundred-282-2882 or rushlimbaugh.com for the Rush Limbaugh program.
A couple of things.
This uh this was oh, by the way, H.R. Kit Carson, executive producer is working today.
You know, he usually uh slips out early on a Friday.
You know, nobody knows it.
But uh I I found out.
I used this uh executive from this uh private intelligence firm, found out that HR slips out on Friday all the time.
Uh Mike Maimon, the director of engineering, is there because if he weren't there, we couldn't be here.
He presses all the the right buttons so that you can hear us and uh and uh and in fact it's HR who's answering the phone at 1800-282-2882 in this open uh forum here, uh, open line Friday.
HR pass this along to me.
It says the American dream is closer to a hallucinatory hope than a reachable reality.
This is a new study presented at the Aspen Institute last week, and this is of course put out uh by people who uh used to work for Bill Clinton, and so of course, since uh they're so down on President Bush and everything else that all of America should say that America is just bad.
Uh Americans surveyed in this thing said that they're not living the dream that European settlers who first founded this country suggested could be realized through hard work, courage, and uh determination to improve one's life.
Even though eighty one percent of those surveyed agree the United States still is the land of opportunity.
They also said the concept is not being achieved and is abstract.
The study indicated sixty-one percent of Americans say they're not living the dream.
Nearly two-thirds of those who are not living it don't believe they will ever live it, that they will ever achieve the American dream in their lifetime.
They say dreams of a better life are directly tied to their finances, and there is a growing affordability crisis in America.
The American dream is largely broken, if not irreversibly destroyed.
Now that is just ridiculous, and I'm not surprised that that sort of stuff comes through like this.
But let's just get a reality check, my friends, and uh talk a little bit about just how good things really are in this great country.
And and and wasn't it uh it was Will Rogers I said earlier.
Will Rogers who said it best.
This is the only country and the only time where we know of people driving to the poor house in a brand new car.
Think about the things that you have and and obviously take for granted, and I want to hear from you on that a little bit.
Couple of other notes.
You want you want to know something that bothers me.
It's one of those little simple pleasures.
You know what I'm talking about.
When you pull up to a parking space, you pull up to a parking space, and there's still time on the meter.
And you didn't even put a quarter in, or a nickel or a dime, or whatever it costs where you live to park.
You drive up, there's twenty minutes left on that meter.
You only needed about ten minutes to go to the grocery store or the dry cleaners or wherever you were headed.
They're taking it away from us.
A Bethesda, Maryland company called Intellipark LLC, wants to take that small pleasure away.
That pleasure of driving up And seeing there's an extra twenty minutes in the meter.
They've got a parking meter called the Intelemeter that uses sonar technology to detect when a space is occupied and then resets the meter to zero every time a car moves out.
There ought to be a law.
Well, not really, because we have too many laws that aren't enforced anyway, but doesn't that annoy you?
That's really where technology has run amuck.
A parking meter that knows when we leave, so it zeroes it out, so that simple good karma feeling, that simple pleasure of getting a freebie is gone forever.
Here's a headline.
I'm not getting into it.
I'm just giving you the headline.
Push for fetal safety blurs women's rights.
Where do you think that's going?
Well, in Arkansas, lawmakers are considering whether to make it a crime for a pregnant woman to smoke a cigarette.
Well, you're not going to like that, are you?
And for those of us who enjoy a fine cigar from time to time, not going to like that either.
But the reality is secondhand smoke is bad for you.
Sorry, it's true.
And for that matter, if the current trends continue to hold, tobacco will kill a billion people worldwide this century.
Ten times the toll it took in the twentieth century.
Tobacco accounts for one in five cancer deaths or 1.4 million deaths a year.
Global tobacco use.
When you uh figure deaths from tobacco related cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and you include those, the yearly toll rises to nearly five million and is expected to increase.
An estimated 1.25 billion people smoke cigarettes around the world, and more than half will die from the habit.
Reducing tobacco use would have the single largest effect on worldwide cancer rates, according to the World Health Organization.
Unbelievable.
They can save two million lives a year by 2020 if they start now getting people to quit.
Six point five million by twenty forty.
We don't have room for all those people, but be that as it may, that's what they're saying about tobacco, and uh I know you guys feel very strongly about your rights.
But the reality is that tobacco is killing people.
And what do you think about this?
1-800-282-2882.
1-800-282-2882.
We no longer sell tobacco to anyone who can't prove they've already started smoking.
Now wait a minute.
I'm not infringing on any smokers' rights.
If you are currently a smoker, and you can prove it by uh smelling or wheezing or doing something when you go to the store, maybe they they've got these little things you could breathe into, could prove you're a smoker.
Uh Mamon was asking about fluid testing.
No, Michael, we're not jumping to that yet.
Not yet.
We'll see.
But if you can prove you're a smoker, you can buy tobacco products.
If you've never started smoking, if you have never smoked, we will not sell you tobacco.
You will not be able to start.
Why would we want somebody to start doing something now that we know we'll kill them?
We're not hurting anybody.
We're helping people.
If they haven't already started smoking, we're helping them.
If you're a smoker and you want to smoke, you still can buy your tobacco products.
If you've never done it, you're not missing anything.
And the fact of the matter is, I I defy anybody to take a cigarette, for example, the first time ever, and take a big, big puff.
Inhale that thing.
Well, you know what happens?
You start gagging and coughing and and and you don't, it's not a pleasant experience.
So we're not taking anything away from anybody who isn't already addicted to tobacco.
What do you think about that?
Since tobacco is the big killer.
I'd I'd sure like to hear your thoughts on that.
No new smokers.
How could you be against that?
1800, 282-2882.
1-800-282-2882.
I want to hear your thoughts on that.
Also, how about this?
What has happened in schools with the way kids show up for class?
Well, for that matter, the way some teachers show up for class.
But now, in Arlington, Texas, a school district has actually taken a stand.
They've expanded their dress codes to include bans on mouth jewelry known as grills.
Grills, apparently white gold diamond cut grills that people put over their teeth that are bad for your teeth and your gums anyway but but now they're going to be banned in school and also this earlobe stretching practice known as gauging.
I'll tell you a story.
And at least for the moment I still work for the Walt Disney Company.
I did a broadcast uh down at uh their uh Animal Kingdom I think it's called uh down at uh Walt Disney World in Florida and the guy who created this kingdom a very creative guy was uh was on my program and he sat across from me and he turned his head at one point and he had a hole in his earlobe that you could drive a truck through it.
It was huge.
And apparently this was years ago before it became really a big practice, but it's happening more and more.
This earlobe stretching practice known as, I guess, gauging.
It's not good for you.
I mean, it looks ridiculous, but it's just not good for you.
And finally, this school district, at least in Arlington, Texas, has taken a stand and saying, along with some of the other things they have in their dress code, they're banning mouth jewelry known as grills.
earlobe stretching called gauging why not good for them why not uh our uh phone lines are open to you at uh 1 800 2828 eight two I can't wait to talk to you in this now modified open line Friday on the Rush Limbaugh program I'm Paul W. Smith the Rush Limbaugh program EIB 1800 282 2882 1800 282 2882
rush limbaugh dot com I'm Paul W. Smith good news rush is back where he belongs come Monday.
Let's talk to you at 1 800 28282 and right here somewhere in Detroit Michigan within the shadow of the Golden Tower of the Fisher building Matt is calling in Matt it's your turn welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program.
Thank you Paul I had a comment to make about your uh American dream and about uh specifically made a comment about people with new cars and I I tied the two together saying that uh it's uh Will Rogers who said uh that uh we're it was the only time in our history or of course it's long ago that Will said this but Americans not understanding just how good they have it drive drive to the poor house in a brand new car.
Exactly.
I work the midnight shift here in New Fallujah as a police officer.
He stopped, Rush stopped calling it New Fallujah at my request.
I'm sorry.
Well, it seems like it to me, but anyway.
Wait a minute.
You're a police officer in the city of Detroit, and do you guys say that?
Do you call us that?
That's what I heard Rush calling it, so I started calling it that.
Oh, right now.
Anyway, anyway.
We see a lot of clubs and bars and cruising at that time of night and uh I see a lot of new cars and a lot of money floating around for for the supposedly being the poorest city in the country there's seems to be a lot of money changing hands at the clubs at the bars at the new car dealerships uh you name it.
Well yeah they're always throw that out there too I know it it it's never it's always been the case with people's you know if people talking uh that they're poor and they got two cars and and uh a cell phone and three phones at the house and whatever else they got going on and four television sets we have a whole different level of what's uh you know what what what makes us successful or not successful or the haves and have nots or or poor or not living the American dream.
But Matt, as a uh as a Detroit uh I assume you're a Detroit city police officer.
Yeah that's correct.
We got to get you to stop calling your own city and mine New Fallujah.
Rush stopped okay I'll stop.
We depend on you to do that.
All right go on out there and be careful.
On a side note people pay a lot of money for those grills.
In their teeth?
Yes.
So you've got a lot of money for platinum grills.
Oh my goodness gracious why don't they use that money for something other than ruining their teeth and their gums you see a lot.
All right Matt go on go on let's be careful out there.
I feel like it's Hill Street Blues again.
You'll be careful out there.
Let's go to uh Renee in Wenatchee, Washington.
That's very good, yeah.
Thank you, Renee.
Welcome in to the Rush Limbaugh program.
I'm Paul W. Smith.
Hi.
Thank you so much for taking my call.
Um I had a couple of things.
Yesterday they were talking about um the minimum wage.
And kind of ties in with the American dream for me a little bit.
I'm a business owner.
I'm working my behind off at American Dream, and I think I'm doing pretty good.
Think they have to be really ambitious and get out there and do it.
That's part of it.
It's a little bit of initiative.
A little bit of bravery on your part.
And um as far as the minimum wage goes, really concerns me.
In Washington State, right now I'm paying seven dollars and sixty-three cents an hour to kids, basically.
Because it seems to me that the minimum wage, which is supposed to be at a living wage, people wage earners bringing in money.
They don't want it.
It's not enough for them.
If the minimum wage is ten dollars, it's not going to be enough for an adult to go out there and say, This is what I want.
So instead I have to hire kids at this arageously high amount.
And it pushes I guess all the jobs away from supposed grown-ups.
Yeah, but you know, Renee, that's interesting.
You you make an interesting point.
You don't get any uh adults uh going for that seven dollars sixty three cents per hour, you get kids, and I'm even told that many of the times the kids are kids from uh well to do homes.
They are.
I mean it's these are kids that are earning extra money to help pay for their car insurance.
These are these aren't kids that are providing for their families.
It's it's absolutely ridiculous to me.
I can't pay my two full-time people a higher wage that they absolutely deserve because I'm being bled dry for the minimum wage on these kids who, you know, honestly are five dollar an hour worker.
Well, and this is the very thing, the very issue that people who fought that uh higher minimum wage said would happen, and you are living proof, Renee, as a small business owner, that minimum wage is affecting your business adversely.
Oh, it's yes, completely.
Completely.
I'm working harder.
The people that I need to compensate more, I can't do it.
Well, I feel I I I I can't help you in any way, shape, or form, but I hope you feel better getting that off your chest, Renee, and also sharing your experience.
Thanks very much, Renee.
Uh one eight hundred two eight two two eight eight two, one eight hundred two eight two twenty-eight eighty two.
I am sure that many people listening feel Renee's pain.
Ben is in Alma, Michigan.
Ben, welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program.
Hi.
Thank you.
It's always nice to hear your voice on the Rush Show.
I love being here.
You were talking about the parking meters that will automatically clear out when the car pulls away.
Yeah.
I'm thinking in light of what recently happened in Mount Pleasant, maybe that's better than getting arrested for pulling up and using somebody else's credit.
Are you familiar with the slot machine case we just had up here?
No, is it s wait a second.
Come on now, Ben.
What happened?
Some old lady uh left about twenty bucks in credit on a slot machine and she walked away from it and uh somebody came up and saw the credits and started playing.
Uh later she realized what she'd done and uh they looked through the surveillance video and found out who did it, who took her credits and arrested him.
Now, luckily he won his case in court, but Yeah, really.
I mean they you know i i i i unless he diverted her away from her machine on purpose to try to steal her twenty dollar credit, that's kind of crazy.
Right.
So it seems to be an exact parallel between parking meters and slot machines.
I mean, somebody paid for that time in the meter or somebody deposited that credit in the slot machine.
Seems like it should all come to the same.
You know, you know, you it's a little bit of a stretch.
Uh somebody walking around yeah, and it's not unusual when you walk around and look at slot machines, uh, you look to see uh if you think the machine has paid recently.
Uh you look to see what the payout was.
And frankly, you look and see if there are any credits, and if you're lucky enough to find them, you play 'em.
But they generally people who stay at their slot machine make sure that it's empty, dry, dead before you get there.
I I'm glad that uh Ben, I hadn't heard that story.
I'm glad that uh that person, you know, uh for goodness sakes, they shouldn't get in trouble for if they come upon credits there and no one's around the machine and they didn't do something, and they've got surveillance cameras that could tell if they did something to divert the the person's attention to pull them away From the machine and then jump in there and do it.
That's another story, but you just come upon that.
Uh you have every right to play it, I would think.
At least it sounds like the court agrees with that.
Thanks for the uh thought there, Ben.
And the the parking meters he's talking about are these smart machines, quote unquote, that zero out.
That means you know, that great feeling when you pull up and you go to put money in the machine in the parking meter and it it's got twenty minutes left on it.
And you go, pfft twenty minutes, I get twenty minutes free.
It's a great feeling.
Technology steps in to take that away.
Intellipark L L C wants to make uh that uh small pleasure disappear.
They've got a parking meter called Intellimeter that uses sonar technology to detect when a space is occupied and resets the meter to zero every time a car moves out.
Technology run amuck.
We're taking your calls at 1800-282-2882.
1-800-28-282-2882.
Thanks, Johnny Donovan, as we continue from the Midwest campus in Detroit, Michigan of the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies, fellow student Paul W. Smith here, talking with you with whatever's on your mind.
We had the serious stuff the first couple of hours, and we wanted to save best we can a modified open line Friday uh on uh on the program here.
1800-282-2882.
1-800-282-2882.
It's Friday.
There are plenty of uh uh horrible stories out there, news wise and otherwise, that I know you'll stay tuned to this your favorite radio station all weekend long and into this next week, because there's a lot going on in the world and you need to know about it.
Right now we're just kind of taking a rest, but we're taking uh just a break, a pause, uh, and uh talking about a couple of other issues that are out there, and I want to hear what you have to say, what's on your mind at 1800-282-2882.
Doesn't mean you can't be serious.
Uh you can talk about whatever you want, like uh Chelsea is about to do from St. Paul, Minnesota on the Rush Limbaugh program.
Chelsea, I'm Paul W. Smith.
Hello.
Hello, Paul.
It's so nice to hear another midwesterner on the radio today.
Yeah.
Um, I'm calling because um, while I agree with a lot of what you're saying, and I hate smoking, and I come from a town with a smoking band.
Um I dislike the type of litigious uh motions you're suggesting for smoking.
To me, it's Wait a minute.
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I'm not suggesting any litigious nothing, nowhere, no how.
I'm just saying I'm giving you a concept that you haven't heard before.
And the concept is anybody who smokes, they have the right to smoke, they should smoke, they can buy tobacco products.
That's it.
But why wouldn't we say, even though if it's impossible to do, but why wouldn't we say that if somebody hasn't started smoking yet, we don't allow them to.
I just think that that kind of thinking um kind of opens the doorway for social engineering and the idea that there's somebody else that knows what's better for me than myself.
And it's just even though I don't like smoking and I, you know, hate being around smokers, I just don't want any uh motions to open up something that might potentially take away some of the rights that I enjoy later down the road.
I know it's a bit of a slippery slope, but I just think it was something that you know should be kept in mind in the discussion.
Cigarettes today, hot fudge Sundays tomorrow.
Exactly.
Could very well be the case.
I understand what you're saying, Chelsea.
I just wanted to call in and say that.
All right, but I but I had not talked about any kind of uh laws.
I I wouldn't know how you could possibly enforce something like this.
There'd be a black market to kids for cigarettes, and you know what we would do is just go anywhere we saw a bunch of kids coughing wildly and uh and red faced, and we'd know that they were uh experimenting and trying cigarettes because they weren't supposed to be.
And there's nobody who picks up a cigarette and smokes it the first time and doesn't cough and choke and gag and feel horrible.
So I'm not asking you to take it away from people who already use it.
I love I enjoy a fine cigar from time to time.
Uh boy, you're on a golf course, it almost seems like you have to have a cigar on a golf course.
But if you've never smoked anything, why not make it so you can't?
You're not taking away anyone's rights, you're taking away something that will inevitably kill them.
Even you know, the people who smoke now and have joy and and enjoy it.
I'm not even I'm not talking about them.
Let's go to Mark in Cape Coral, Florida.
Mark, you're on the Rush Limbaugh program.
I'm Paul W. Smith.
Uh, it's Friday, Mark.
Well, good afternoon, sir.
Good afternoon to you.
Yeah, I was uh I wanted to make a comment about the um well the Aspen uh convention with the American dream and how it's uh hallucinatory.
We have a terrible, a terrible life here in America.
Yes, it is.
And and I want the r my comment was define the American dream.
You've got people south of the border that'll come up here and work like dogs for ten bucks an hour.
You got folks um like those down in New Orleans that sit back and let the government take care of them.
You've got business owners out there, you've got Democratic congressmen that who believe the American dream is you know taxing your your pants off.
Uh so I guess the only way to define the American dream is to grab each individual person and ask them what it is.
So how can somebody you know in Colorado sit down and say that it no longer exists?
Precisely, and the fact that we have the opportunity to define what the American dream is to us personally, and then go for it completely, is uh what makes America great.
What is the American dream to you, Mark?
Uh American dream to me is being able to raise my family in a free society.
Um, you know, I'm one of the um what I would consider the less worst nightmare, you know, strong right wing political Christian conservative, white middle aged male with three kids.
Ruining America.
And enjoying every minute of it.
Yeah, me too.
All right, Mark, uh, keep an eye on Cape Coral, Florida for us, will you?
I will, thank you.
Judy is on a cell phone calling in from somewhere in Illinois on the Rush Limbaugh program, 1-800-282-2882, a modified open line Friday, 1-800-282-2882.
Uh Judy, Judy, Judy.
Hi.
Hi.
Um, I just wanted to comment on the American dream.
Yes.
Uh, my husband and I, we we have five children.
We uh left Iowa in eighty-one and ended up in South Florida in January 82.
We started with 28 dollars in our pocket at the time we had a six-month-old baby.
If we wanted to make ten dollars an hour, we worked two five dollar an hour jobs.
I worked, my husband worked.
When we got to the point where we could afford two cars, we didn't buy two cars.
I rode a bicycle to work.
My husband had the vehicle because he had to go further than me.
We worked together, we saved, we bought a house, we bought a business, and we worked our butts off.
That's it.
Right now we've been married for twenty-six years.
We have five children, all of them are productive members of society.
We give all the glory to God and our Savior Jesus Christ, every bit of it.
And that's what's great about this country.
No, no, no.
That's you are what's great about this country.
You and your husband, he's sitting right there.
What's his name?
His name is Dennis.
All right.
Judy, you and Dennis are what's great about this country.
Because you have taken full responsibility for your quest for the American dream and your happiness.
Well, thank you.
I appreciate that.
And and let me tell you, it wasn't all peaches and cream for us because we were dairy farmers back in the early eighties.
And you you couldn't you couldn't make it.
I mean, we we lost our dream.
And my husband was orphaned when he was six.
And I mean, you just work.
You don't you don't sit there and with your hand out and go, I'm an American, give me, give me, give me.
You sit there and go, I'm an American, I'm gonna make it work for me.
That's that's what you do.
That's why we live here.
And it's the greatest country in the world, and anybody who doesn't like it here, take your stuff and leave.
I'm just I am loving sitting back and listening to you, Judy, uh, on your cell phone somewhere in Illinois, uh, telling us like it is, and I'm not surprised uh that you're listening to this radio station and you're listening to this program, the Rush Limbaugh program.
Well, we're on a vacation with our three children.
Yeah, you know, you know, I gotta tell you something.
I because I have headphones on, I'm not sure that our listeners can hear that Dennis, all along the way that you've been talking is kind of feeding you information and you just seamlessly work it into what you're saying, and the two of you seem to get along very well.
Oh, we get along great.
I mean you must I mean you must you have five children.
You must get along and I'm reminded of the old Groucho Marks line.
Uh five children?
That's a lot of children and and then Groucho says uh and the wife says well I love my husband and he says well I love my cigar too but I take it out once in a while.
You uh take care, Judy, drive carefully and enjoy yourself and thank you for spreading what you have done and uh the joy that you share of being a great American and living the American dream.
Here on the Rush Limbaugh I'm Paul W. Smith.
I'm living the American dream here on the Rush Limbaugh program.
I'm Paul W. Smith in for Rush 1 eight hundred two eight two two eight eight two rushes back Monday.
That's the good news I can share with you on this Friday.
One eight hundred two eight two twenty eight eighty two the Rush Limbaugh program and let's go to Victor in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Hello Victor.
Yes I'm so smart thank you for m taking the call.
Mm-hmm I I have a little different perspective on the American dream.
I am a Middle Eastern immigrant, a legal immigrant I have to say and uh I came to this country almost eleven years ago.
Um Welcome and I'm glad you did it the right way.
Thank you.
And uh one the big reason that I live in my home country Egypt is uh I uh needed or I wanted to live the uh religious freedom.
Um and uh as a Christian Egyptian um uh I don't need to go into details of the uh horrific act of the Moslems against the uh Egyptian uh Christians uh needless to say that the Egyptian Christians are the natives of the land in Egypt.
But going back to the Egyptian dream I mean the American dream excuse me.
Yeah isn't that funny we when there's no other country where they have a dream that we hear about you even caught yourself on that.
It is the American dream period.
Absolutely freedom, the ability to be whom you are and uh what what hurts me is that the American people who uh were born and raised here for generations do not appreciate what they have.
Uh they have to I want you to say that I Victor you know you gotta say that again and it always comes through from people like yourself who have come to this country.
By the way he as he said legally say what you just said again, please well um I have to say that I it hurts me uh and I mean it you know from the bottom of my heart that it does hurt when you see the American people have been born and raised here for generations and generations do not appreciate what they have.
Uh those uh people who uh you know scream up and down about the how we should be like the other world how like we should be like the Europeans uh how we uh should learn from other cultures I come from another culture um and uh you know probably the the current situation in the in the Egypt's community um uh people don't know what they're talking about.
uh...
it at the very uh...
that that american people do not appreciate the freedom the equality uh...
you know i i i will go out for the year people talking about discrimination here or are you know that could be perc p uh...
go back i can tell you know i can take your whole show talking about uh...
what is the determination and either uh...
what you know being shot or you know what thirty-six bullets in your head like i want to cover the have because he
was just walking to in his way through I just gonna tell you Victor Victor you've made your point well and you're singing to the choir here other than the folks uh who uh are operatives and have to take notes to criticize the program and such uh although the ones that listen and really take notes can't criticize the program it's only those who don't listen uh that can criticize the program really on a regular basis here but I appreciate what you've done Victor very very much thank you let's go to Chris in uh Cincinnati it's your turn on the Rush Limbaugh program Chris I'm Paul W. Hi
Paul thank you for taking my call I was just listening to comments made about the American dream.
I'm an African American team now And uh about twenty three years ago I started out with as a single parent um of one child, and I ended up um I do have two children now.
However, um I was able to being an American, even though um some may say as an African American it's harder, but I've been able to um get a bachelor's degree, a master's degree.
I have an excellent job, and I just got accepted into a PhD program.
And um, you know, you hear a lot about um you know discrimination and everything, and I'm not saying that it doesn't exist, but I've always felt like it's not what someone does to you to keep you down and what you do to keep yourself up.
And with being in America, I don't think I would have been able to do the things that I've done other than with God because it's just been God myself and my kids.
What what a great pleasure it is to meet you here on the Rush Limbaugh program, Chris, and what an inspiration you are.
Boy, do I love hearing that, and I'm sure I speak on behalf of a whole bunch of other people listening in to what an inspiration you are.
Chris, keep up the good work.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Greg is in Galveston, Texas, on the Rush Limbaugh program.
I'm Paul W. Smith.
Hello, Greg.
Hey, how are you doing, Paul?
I'm great.
It's Friday.
Hey, thank God.
Yeah.
Hey, I just wanted to say that uh you know America is the land of opportunity.
The American dream is all about opportunity.
I I come from humble beginnings, no college education.
I worked twenty-five years uh in a small business while I've operated myself, and through that small business, I've invented uh a product that is that's going to be launched onto the American scene here shortly.
Recently won an invention fitness invention of the year award at an Impex Trade Show in Pittsburgh.
And this country is is all about opportunity.
It's still there, still great, as far as I can always will be.
You're an American classic, Greg, in Galveston, Texas.
You're an inventor, you're an entrepreneur who has uh has uh done it all himself and uh and you're doing it the hard way.
Hey, you know it.
And if anybody out there is listening and wondering if it's still there, I can testify that it is.
It's a place where you can go from humility.
Well, humility is great, but humble beginnings and and transverse uh across the city.
Hey, how many people how many people told you, Greg, along the way there was no way you were gonna do it?
Don't you know who you are?
You're not educated, don't you know you can't do this?
I quick yelling a while back, but you you're right, there were quite a few.
Don't you know who you are, Greg?
Come on, you're you're undereducated.
You're not gonna invent something anybody needs.
You're not an entrepreneur, and you just kept doing what you had to do, and now all you have is success in front of you.
Amen.
All right, Greg, thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you, Paul.
We appreciate it.
Greg in Galveston, Texas.
We're gonna wrap this thing up here in just a moment at 1-800-282.
Do we have time, H.R. to get a couple more calls in coming up?
1-800-282-2882.
I'm Paul W. Smith on the Rush Limbaugh Program.
Beverly in Marysville, California, on the Rush Limbaugh program.
We said we'd get one more in, and it's your turn to wrap it up, Beverly.
Yes, thank you.
It's funny.
I invoked my kids.
We all have college degrees, we all work, and yet we're in a high unemployment area where nobody wants to work.
I find it amazing.
So see, it's not uncommon.
We all do it.
It is really uh America.
It's what we're all doing.
We work, we go to school, we do our job, pay your taxes, and do what you're supposed to do.
That's it.
We do what we're supposed to do.
Beverly, thanks for that.
Ending on that high note, and uh, and I just want to uh thank uh H.R. Kid Carson, executive producer, Mike Maymoon, Director of Engineering for the Rush Limbaugh program.
And I know that uh Mark Belling and Tom Sullivan have enjoyed being here as I have been today.
But we are also happy to tell you that Rush is back where he belongs on the Monday.
He'll be back here in the big chair, Rush Limbaugh, in for Rush Limbaugh, Monday.
You know, research shows that people who are grateful, optimistic, and forgiving have better experiences with their lives, more happiness, fewer strokes, higher incomes.
Uh, I'm living the American dream mostly, and I couldn't do it without my uh two children, three-year-old Sophie and thirteen year old Adam, my wife Midea, who works hard as a district manager for Arabon International, and me having a great job in Detroit, being able to talk to people like you, and from time to time being able to share time with the world's greatest audience on this your favorite radio station on the Rush Limbaugh program.
You go on out and make it a great w rest of the uh weekend, and then be sure to be right back here Monday for Rush.
Now, for that matter, you better stay tuned because there's all kinds of breaking news you need to know about.
So stay right here on this your favorite radio station for Rush Limbaugh.