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Aug. 20, 2009 - Rush Limbaugh Program
33:22
August 20, 2009, Thursday, Hour #3
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Time Text
Yes, yes, yes, yes, as I know.
I'm still looking for the well, and I've misplaced some pages of the Q sheet.
Hang on there just a second.
You said 16, but I don't have the one page I can't find, there's one you need.
Ah, ah, I found it.
All right.
Sorry about that, folks.
I should have been here organizing the program, but there were thousands of people out there who wanted to say hello, and I was being polite, and I should have been organizing and prepping for this hour.
Greetings, great to have you back.
Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network, and the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
We're in Los Angeles this week, but remember, as long as I'm here, it doesn't really matter where here is.
From the Washington Times, candle-lit dinners with the flickering flames are an unrecognized source of indoor air pollution.
Really?
The American Chemical Society announced.
Do you realize nothing is safe?
There is no industry in this country that is safe from attack by some stupid environmental group or special interest group, which always is going to end up having government support.
The American Chemical Society announced yesterday that emission products of petroleum-based candles in non-ventilated enclosed areas are potential health hazards.
And they might not be then.
If it's potential, then it's maybe not a problem.
Paraffin wax candles produce evocative ambience and known human carcinogens.
Now they're cancer causing.
An occasional paraffin candle and its emissions will not likely affect you, but lighting many paraffin candles every day for years or lighting them frequently in an unventilated bathroom around a tub, for example, may cause problems, said Rahulla Masudi, a chemistry professor at South Carolina State University, who analyzed the airborne byproducts of burning candles.
He also suggested some people who suffer from an indoor allergy or two or respiratory irritations might in fact be reacting to air pollutants from burning candles.
Candles made from beeswax or soy, though, more pricey, are apparently healthier.
Mr. Ruhullah Masoud of South Carolina State University says he presented his findings during the Society's annual meeting in Washington.
And which society is this?
The American Chemical Society.
Not to be confused with the American Pigiron Convention.
The eco-minded now have a new source of guilt.
The Green Police have a new target, and hypochondriacs might balk at romantic suppers.
The study also could have profound repercussions, perhaps on politicians with romantic trysts on their minds with their girlfriends or journalists intent on wooing sources.
They just never stop.
These people just never stop.
The American Chemical Society, and they had an annual meeting.
And they have decided, you know what?
You know how this works?
People are going to hear about this.
They're going to light up a candle and they're going to start feeling guilty.
And then you're going to have the candle busybodies.
You're going to have guests over to your house who are going to heard about this.
They're going to have candles lit and they're going to give you grief about it.
Do you know those could be causing?
It's going to be like secondhand smoke all over again.
Now, Philip Gates, who is the General manager at Charlie Palmer Steak, a lush and sophisticated restaurant within a block of the U.S. Capitol.
So, well, this is interesting, but I counter the science with more science.
Candles also produce negative ions like the ocean.
And negative ions are associated with a sense of well-being and happiness.
Negative ions, positive vibes, said Philip Gates.
Just never stop.
As the Obamas prepare to alight in Martha's Vineyard this weekend, the getaway comes with a painful political truth.
As goes the economy, so goes the first presidential vacation.
Unlike his predecessor who spent a month at his Texas ranch, Obama is treating himself to just one week's respite.
I think there'd be a backlash if he took a long vacation, given what the economy is.
Joe Lockhart, who was Clinton's press secretary, this isn't a one-week vacation.
A guy's been out there at the national parks.
He's been out there to Grand Canyon with the family.
He's been out there touring a bunch of different places.
He's been in town halls in the process.
And from thepolitico.com, Democrats are eyeing a new strategy.
Passing a Democrat-only overhaul plan is getting a serious look from a beleaguered White House.
But if President Obama corralling his own fractious party is going to be a lot harder than it sounds.
And it says here he would face a minefield of obstacles under the reconciliation process because opponents could strike anything from the bill that the Senate parliamentarian deems not directly related to the budget.
This could jeopardize some of the most popular reforms, including the insurance exchange and reforms such as prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on a preexisting condition.
So this is true.
It's a good point, by the way.
If they do go the reconciliation route, the Republicans could move to strike parts that are not related to the budget.
Of course, the Obama people, it's all related to the budget.
And then after that, policy measures in the bill would require 60 votes if they split it up to avoid difficulties.
So there are some, they're in a serious period here of confusion.
They are things are falling apart on.
They had no plan on being where they are now, and they're really grasping at straws.
And it's clear now.
And it's clear to me, it should be everybody else.
This, even though it never was about health care, you and I know this was never about health care.
It's about expanding government.
It's about regulating as much of individual life liberty as they can.
But now it ought to be clear to anybody.
You got Andy Stern, the union thug out there saying, this doesn't pass.
Democrats may lose their majority.
That's threats and intimidation.
It is clear.
And here's what Obama is now calling his plan a moral obligation.
If people reject the details and, you know, appeal to their morality.
So it's clear that what this is really all about, this is, it's totally, which has always been the case, too.
It's always about Obama.
This is simply about Obama.
This is making sure he gets a bill.
He will sign anything that says health care reform on it that comes across his desk.
They really are worried about the impact on Obama if it doesn't pass and what it'll say about his ability to get things done with a Democrat majority.
Because everybody knows if this guy, if this socialist out of Chicago cannot expand government, then they know they have nobody else that can do it.
So it's all about him.
It's all about having this monument built to him so that he can show that he got something done.
It's now clear to everybody that the details are the problem, that they somehow be swept under the rug.
Speaking of union thugs, yesterday on the Bill Press show, we had, let's see, who was this, James Hoffa, and it was asked about the Blue Dog Democrats.
What about these blue dogs?
They wouldn't be there without organized labor.
I agree.
A lot of these people we supported, and I think they're making a big mistake by not supporting the president.
The president needs every Democratic vote in the House or the Senate.
And the fact that they're basically chopping up his bill, I know that he must be very upset about that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The Blue Dogs are really where this in the House is really all this going to come down to the nitty-gritty.
And the Blue Dogs are going to have to ask themselves a very serious question.
Who do they want to respond to?
Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel or their own constituents.
And if these blue dogs, the blue dogs fashion themselves as Democrats, but they're fiscal conservatives, kind of like the Reagan Democrats were.
They care about budgets and deficits.
They don't want government to grow to this unwieldy size that it already has.
If they turn around and vote for this, that's off the board.
They can't say that they're anything other but radical leftists.
You can't say you're fiscally conservative, fiscally responsible if you vote for this.
But they're going to be under a lot of pressure.
Here's the Teamsters, James Hoffa.
And you've got Stern from the SEIU out there threatening these guys.
And then Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO, he was on Squawkbox and CNBC today.
And the question, the AFL-CIO is drawing a line in the sand for lawmakers who aren't fully behind the public plan.
What are you going to do to them?
The only way to break that stranglehold on the healthcare industry is to have a public option.
We said the American people are demanding that you do something.
The Democrats have sort of been negotiating with themselves.
We finally said, look, this is the minimum.
If you're going to do something that works, if you're going to have health insurance reform, you must have a public option.
And if you don't, don't expect us to support you.
Yeah, the union thugs are coming out now, and they're taking the gloves off.
And the threats and the intimidation of the Democrats are obvious.
You can see they hate private insurance, hate private anything.
Got to have a public option if you're going to have anything that works in health insurance reform.
The next question that Trumka got, do you believe the outcries we've heard at town halls are the outliers?
You've said a lot of these protesters, volunteers have been fake.
Or is that just democracy at work?
Is that not a constituent having a voice to face the person you elected to public office?
This has been an orchestrated effort.
They've tried this.
I applaud those people that go out and really want to listen.
They really want to talk about it.
They do the same thing.
They really ask for the pressure.
But don't you do the same thing with your memberships trying to get out the vote and get out support by telling them what you see happening and trying to get them to go out to some of these same events?
We tried to give them the facts.
But it's the same thing.
There's a lot of difference.
We give them the facts and urge them to go exercise their Democratic right.
Trumka also said that I've got the story in one of my stacks, and I'm having trouble finding it.
Trumka also came out against tax increases on the rich to pay for this, which is interesting.
He made a point that is made by conservatives all over the place.
If you tax only the people who can be taxed, the people that have enough money, eventually you're going to take everything they've got.
There's nobody left to tax.
So Trump is a little bit concerned that all these tax increases on the rich are being used to pay for all this.
But besides, that's a minor point.
These guys, you've got the Teamsters, the AFL-CIO, and you've got the SEIU within 24 hours of each other, warning Democrats from blue dogs to Democrats in the Senate.
If you like walking, you listen to us.
And we're back, Rush Limboy.
This is the EIB Network, as usual, talent on loan from God.
Here's a story from the Telegraph UK.
You'd never see this story in the American state-controlled media.
When Barack Obama arrives on Martha's Vineyard for his first family holiday as president, what a first family holiday.
They just got through touring the friggin' parks.
They're looking over at the Grand Canyon, you know, and it's the families out there.
And, you know, I'm watching the family look at the Grand Canyon.
I wonder what criticism do they have of that?
Who are they angry at for causing the Grand Canyon?
Or who got ripped off when the Grand Canyon was formed?
That's what I'm thinking they're looking at when they're looking at it.
Who can we blame this on?
Anyway, he said when he gets to Martha's Vineyard, he will enjoy the sparkling sea, salty air, and fresh fish and clams.
And like others, Obama will probably be unaware of the thousands of illegal immigrants the island relies on during the summer season.
But in the recession, a small army of dishwashers, gardeners, and laborers, mostly from Brazil, oh, have you heard, speaking of Brazil, have you heard about this?
Obama has authorized $2 billion for Brazil to help him drill for oil.
I kid you not.
We're having to drive little bubble cars, windmills, and all this other rotgut BS.
He's given the Brazilians $2 billion to help them drill for oil.
So most of these illegals on Martha's Vineyard are from Brazil.
It's created a simmering tension with some of the locals.
And amid the excitement over the impending trip of the Obamas, some islanders hope their visit will bring attention to problems with immigration.
So what do we have?
We have racial tension simmering on Martha's Vineyard, a liberal enclave.
Remember, I go to Martha's Vineyard sometimes to play golf.
And I put chaff dispensers on the airplane in case I get attacked to distract the missiles.
It's a liberal enclave, and they've got racial tension.
He's not even, he's not even.
His vacation can't even be post-racial.
Here's the Trump thing.
Was asked about taxing health care packages.
That's what it was.
He was asked, well, what do you think about taxing, removing the deduction for employer-provided health plans?
We'll oppose that, Trump said.
It's actually a stupid concept because if you tax those that have to pay it and have to pay for those that don't, eventually those that have benefits won't.
And then who do you ultimately tax?
Oh, and Obama supporters are huddling on health reform today at the DNC and at the White House to try to figure out yet a new strategy.
David Gergen, Anderson Cooper 360 last night said.
I have been very surprised by their failures on persuading people.
Their messages are obviously not getting through, but I think they also have substantive problems with this package.
There are a lot of Americans who do not want the kinds of things Democrats are putting forward.
Wait a minute, Mr. Gertrude, which is it?
Either the message isn't getting through or is it is?
I've been very surprised by their failures on persuading people.
Their message obviously not getting through.
A lot of Americans do not want the kind of things they're putting forward.
It sounds like the message is getting through is the bottom line.
The message is getting through, and they are stunned.
Obama with his magic cannot persuade.
Where is the Obama of the campaign?
Here is where he is.
And that's white comedian Paul Shanklin as President Obama and take off on Don McLean's American Pie.
I never really liked that song.
I was a struggling young disc jockey.
And that song went to number one.
And the station I worked on, the theory is you play the number one song every 54 minutes.
And it was seven minutes long.
And there's nothing against Don McClain, but as a buddy Holly and all that sort of stuff.
Well, it was.
It was good for bathroom.
MacArthur Park.
You had to go to bathroom, put MacArthur Park on.
You got seven minutes.
If you can't do it in seven minutes, you have no business going to bathroom in the first place.
Washington Post, Obama has to drop the public option.
We'll be back.
The Washington Post in an editorial today, no longer an option.
To pass health reform, the Obama administration will have to ditch its goal of a public plan and hurry.
Maybe the White House meant to signal it was backing away from its commitment to a public option as part of a new health insurance exchange or maybe the hedging words of administration officials are overinterpreted on an otherwise sleepy Sunday morning in August.
There haven't been any sleepy mornings since this guy showed up.
It's a problem.
Doesn't matter, the Post says, because either way, the reality is that if the administration wants to get health reform done, it's going to have to back away from the public option sooner or later, and it's getting awfully late.
Under the proposed reforms, even without a public option, insurance companies would have to agree to cover people regardless of their health status.
The government would extend Medicaid coverage to millions and provide subsidies so that millions more could purchase insurance.
Obama was right when he described the public option as just one sliver.
So they're trying to pull Obama's feet out of the fire here by saying, just drop it because you're going to get what you want in a bunch of other ways.
At the White House press briefing this afternoon, Baghdad Bob Robert Gibbs answered a question from a reporter.
Is Obama going into this Net Root online questioning session today expecting to get flack from his base?
I've watched newscasts just this week where people have said illegal immigrants are going to get health care as a result of this bill, despite the fact that the president said six weeks ago that wasn't true and said 26 minutes ago that that wasn't true.
We'll see if those rumors can finally be put to bed based on the truth.
Did you bring that up?
Wouldn't the American-born children of illegal immigrants be eligible for health care?
I don't know what the provisions are.
They're American citizens.
I'd have to look at that aspect of the bill.
Did you people hear this?
Baghdad Bob Robert Gibbs is not going to be health insurance coverage for these illegal aliens.
This is going to happen.
Six weeks ago, he said it.
He said it 26 minutes ago.
Well, what about the children?
Well, I don't know what the provisions are.
If you know what the provisions are, what are you doing answering the question for, Baghdad Bob?
Plant says, well, they're American citizens.
Gibbs, I'd have to look at that aspect of the bill.
He doesn't have a bill.
This is the bottom line.
When Obama says that there's no insurance coverage for illegals, he can't hold up his bill and say, right, here it is.
On page 4030, it says here plain as day, no insurance and coverage for illegals.
He can't say it because it's not there.
And in the House bill, it is.
To the phones, we go to Virginia Beach, Virginia.
This is Don.
I'm glad you called, sir.
Thank you for waving.
Hello.
Oh, gosh.
Thank you, Rush.
I'm really pleased to be on your show.
Thank you.
And I want to thank you for sticking with the conversation about H.R. 3200.
I mean, it's so important, and it's a very important thing.
Hang on just a second.
For those of you in Rio Linda and Port St. Lucie, H.R. 3200 is the House health care bill.
I downloaded it from the government printing office.
It's the PDF version with the page numbers.
And I can't believe people won't read this because it's not that we're lying.
It's in there.
And I'm not a lawyer.
I can read it.
And I think I found something that might be of interest to everybody because right in the bill on page 124, on page 288, and a third time in 325, and it's probably more, there is a thing called limitation of review.
Agencies are supposed to have a way that an individual can, you know, if you've gotten in trouble with their law, you can address it.
You can get arbitration or see a court.
This specifically denies that.
So the minute this whole bill becomes a law, it's beyond the reach of any citizen forever.
I mean, how would you, as far as I can see?
Wait, wait, Zuff II.
I don't mean to be arguing or disagreeing with you, but I have seen a little segment on an appeals process in this.
It's convoluted and it's not very strong.
Well, I guess that's the thing.
There is something about an appeals process in it.
Well, see, the feet on these three pages, when you have a time to look, on page 124 under limitations on review, it says specifically, there will be no administrative or judicial review.
Now, this, maybe it only applies to that section, but that means you couldn't take them to court.
You can't get arbitration.
And that might also mean that the Supreme Court will never see this.
Because as far as I know, the Supreme Court only reviews a case.
It doesn't just go out and look for things to worry about.
Well, Obama's counting on the Supreme Court hearing a lot of this.
The Supreme Court, on illegal immigration, for example, the Supreme Court has already said illegals are entitled to citizenship services.
They've already ruled that.
So at least when it comes to illegals being covered under Obama's plan, the Supreme Court's already taking care of that.
A lot of people have read the bill, Don, and that's why there's so many of them showing up at these town hall meetings to protest.
But I'm going to have to review myself because I know there's a small section in there on appeals.
You're talking about judicial review, meaning who do you sue?
But there is an appeal if you're denied some coverage or if you're denied this, you can appeal it.
But remember who you're appealing it to.
You're appealing it to the same people that run the cash for clunkers program.
And you're going to die before the appeals process is heard.
It's all a moot point anyway.
Gretchen in Long Beach, Mississippi, I'm glad you called.
You're on the EIB network.
Hi.
Hey, hi, Rosh.
Listen, my point is I'm a nurse, and from my experience, and I've worked in hospitals, and I know doctors' offices.
Besides technology, if we just set that aside, and Americans love technology, I love it.
Healthcare is expensive because the government makes it expensive.
They are burdensome.
If you go to any doctor's office, any intern, and see the amount of stuff, I don't mean to say stuff, training, paperwork, filing that just maybe one staff member of that man's or woman's office has to contribute to Medicare or to Medicaid if they are taking those patients.
It's outrageous.
It's a burdensome cost.
It ties their hand.
The overhead goes through the roof.
That's why doctors, some of them, started restricting their Medicare patients because they can't afford to take it because it's a loss.
All Medicare patients are always a loss to any office.
And a doctor's office is a small business, and they have to give their employees a raise.
They are required.
They are mandated for continuing education for themselves and their staff, their nurses that they have.
These are all mandates.
They also want to keep their employees, so they want to give their good employees a raise.
Most small businesses, most doctors' offices want to take good care of their employees.
But when you're constantly taking a loss over time, And you're not getting any kind of a break or any kind of a nothing.
And believe me, if you mess up on any of these documents, they will be there not only to go over your books, to go over your filing, you will have your fines and your penalties and everything else that you have to deal with with the federal government.
I mean, think of what happened in New York and in California a couple of times.
Doctors absolutely just in some places just were shutting down for the day as a protest.
But this is a major cost.
You have bureaucrats who know nothing about health care, know nothing how medicine works, how nursing works, how physical therapy works, what needs to be done, telling people how to do things.
Well, exactly.
Exactly, Gretchen, because what's going to happen here is people are just going to become budget items.
Your story about doctors refusing more and more to see Medicare patients is exactly illustrative of that, and that is happening all over the place.
Doctors are looking at patients as budget items.
I can't afford to see this budget.
I can't, this budget item, I can't afford it.
Are they going to pay me enough to compensate me to pay my employees?
I'm going to opt out.
And you talk about these bureaucrats and the way they look at this.
It's all going to be just going to become budget items.
The whole relationship that Americans have with their doctors and so forth is going to change forever under this.
It's become entirely impersonal.
So it's an excellent point that you make.
I'm glad you called.
I really appreciate your holding on to it.
People have been very patient.
Let's pay attention to a little-known fact.
Few of you heard of a bill that passed through the House of Representatives before they took their break this month.
Very few of you heard about it.
It's called the Waxman-Markey Climate Change Bill.
It's one of the Obama administration's agenda items implementing a cap and trade limit on tens of thousands of businesses, if not more.
And we learned today that the first major case of tax fraud in the European Union cap-and-trade program, these guys, they were fraudulently trading and reporting on their trades.
They were not investing in the offsets.
They were taking the money instead and buying lavish cars and vacations and so forth.
It's another disaster waiting to happen.
If you believe in global warming, you believe that government should put a cap on the amount of energy and emissions that each of them can produce.
If businesses are very productive, profitable, and want to grow, they have to trade for other people's allowances of carbon credits under the cap and trade program.
And sitting right there in the middle is Wall Street.
Trades, like stock trades.
Somebody's going to get really rich trading all these carbon credits.
Goldman Sachs.
Now, there is an energy cost on that expansion imposed by the government.
It has to be paid for by somebody, and that somebody is you.
And it's the Heritage Foundation, the one organization I know and trust that has a full breakdown on just what the cap and trade bill is going to cost all of us.
As I have continued to urge you, support the Heritage Foundation and their work by becoming a member for as little as $25 a year.
A lot of members give more than that after a while because they so appreciate what the Heritage Foundation thinkers do and they want them to keep thinking out there.
You too can immediately benefit from all of the research that they provide as legislation moves through Washington.
You'll never be in the dark.
Just go to askheritage.org and see that world open up right before your eyes.
A couple little loose items here I want to get to and a couple of more calls before we have to get out of here from Auburn Hills, Michigan, Chrysler, which is Obama's car company.
I'm sorry, I just laugh when I'm looking at him on television right now, Obama's car company, and I don't even think he knows how to start one.
Chrysler says it's dropping its lifetime powertrain warranty.
Remember, Obama said your warranty would be fully honored, a full faith and trust of the U.S. government.
You buy a car from my company and your warranty is fully honored.
Well, Chrysler, Obama's car company, dropping its lifetime powertrain warranty in favor of a five-year or 100,000-mile guarantee.
A Chrysler spokesman said the decision, get this, decision driven by market research that showed consumers prefer warranties with a fixed time period.
Consumers don't want a lifetime warranty?
They would prefer a warranty of only five years?
Is that what Obama's customers are telling him?
This is BS.
They want shorter warranty.
Man, oh man, who rigged this research?
There's word that the CIA hired private contractors for a secret program aimed at killing top al-Qaeda operatives.
They hired Blackwater, which the Democrats, you know, besmirched and impugned.
This story is written by state-controlled Associated Press as though we're supposed to be unhappy about this.
We're supposed to be offended.
We're supposed to be outraged that the CIA would hire contractors to go out and wipe out al-Qaeda.
Who do we think we are wiping out the enemy?
Don't they know?
Obama said he doesn't want victory in Afghanistan.
It's humiliating.
The government says the number of women arrested for drunk driving has increased nearly 30% during the past decade, representing a dangerous trend for Americans on the nation's roads because it was already bad enough out there with women sober.
Now they're out there drunk.
What is going on with American women?
I thought that especially with Obama in the White House that all this kind of tension and angst was supposed to subside.
Utah governor Gary Herbert has signed a conservation easement that will prevent a commuter rail stop from being built on what was once an American Indian village.
Do you realize they could use this to stop building anything in this country?
Because this whole thing used to be an Indian village.
This was all Indian land once.
Jonathan in Peoria, Illinois, thank you for calling.
Great to have you on the EIB network.
Hello.
Ah, Roshi.
All right.
Good to talk to you.
Quick question.
There's not much time left.
If we paid for our health care ourselves, would it bring costs down?
Yeah, it would.
Yeah, if you get some other players out of the game, yeah.
Of course.
What do you mean, other players?
I'm sorry.
Government.
Get the government out of it.
Get the government.
Their stupid regulations.
Get the government out of Medicare.
Look at the only way that cost-price ratios make sense is based on the consumer's ability to pay.
There has to be a direct relationship between the customer and the business of the surface.
Okay, I just broke my wrist.
It was costing me $6,000.
I can't afford that.
Well, you shouldn't have broken your wrist.
Yeah, true.
You know why it costs $6,000?
Because you technically aren't paying for it.
An insurance policy is paying for it, backed up by some government insurance policy or what have you.
Do you think if you walked into what, do you travel, you stay in hotels?
Yeah.
All right.
What if you checked into, I assume you got pretty good coverage here on your wrist.
The surgeon was pretty good doing what he did.
Yeah, well, the coverage is great, but I can't afford to pay for it.
Well, imagine you walk into the nearest Radisson hotel and they say, okay, a room is $5,000 tonight.
And you say, okay, no problem, because I got hotel insurance, and my insurance company is going to pay for it.
The reason that motels, hotels, airplane tickets, cars, whatever cost what they cost is because they're priced on the ability of the consumer to pay it.
That's not the case in healthcare.
And the only way to get costs down is to introduce genuine competition.
And the way you do that is called a health savings account.
And this is a very broad explanation of it.
But the way the health service account works is you take the money that you were already being taxed and the money that you were already being given by your employer, being paid by your employer to fund your health insurance, and give you that in the form of a voucher.
And when you have a standard ordinary procedure, you want to get a checkup, you go to the doctor that you trust the most, that charges the least, and you pay for it.
And at the end of a year, you get to keep whatever you haven't spent on your health care.
You incentivize people to go spend as little as they can for the best they can get, which is the standard operating procedure of American capitalism.
And then when you have major catastrophic stuff, that's what the insurance ought to be for.
Oh, yeah.
I'm sorry.
Hey, household name in all four corners of the world.
That's it.
Got to go, but we'll be back tomorrow for Open Line Friday.
Can't wait.
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