Because mine deaths, deaths in mining accidents went down during the Bush years.
From previous years, open line Friday.
Let's go.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida.
It's open line Friday.
Which means when we go to the phones, the program is all yours.
The content anyway.
Telephone number 800 282, 2882.
Email address, Ilrushbow at EIBNet.com.
From CNN Money.com.
33 states are out of money to pay for jobless benefits.
With unemployment still at a severe high, a majority of states have drained their jobless benefit funds, forcing them to borrow billions from the federal government.
Right, right according to plan.
A total of 33 states plus the Virgin Islands have depleted their unemployment compensation funds.
They have borrowed more than 38.7 billion to provide the safety net, according to a report released yesterday by the National Employment Law Project.
Four others, for other states are on the brink of insolvency.
Debt challenged California has borrowed the most, totaling more than $8.4 billion, followed by Michigan and New York, which have loans worth more than three billion.
Nine other states have borrowed at least one billion from the federal government.
What was the stimulus for?
What was the stimulus for?
And didn't we hear that a majority of the stimulus funds that have been spent went to the states.
What did they do with it?
33 states are out of money to pay jobless benefit right on schedule.
Okay, I'm told that Obama bashed the mine owners for not doing enough.
Uh on uh on mine safety.
Uh, from the Washington Post.
Anger over health care reform spurs rise in threats against Congress members.
You go through the whole story, and you don't find one example of the bricks thrown through Republican windows.
Anger over the health care overhaul has led to a nearly three-fold increase in recent months in the number of serious threats against members of Congress, according to federal law enforcement officials.
The lawmakers reported 42 threats the first three months of the year compared with 15 in the last three months of 2009, said Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrence Gaynor, who uh had information about threats involving both chambers.
Forty-two threats a day.
No, that can't forty forty forty-two threats in the first three months.
I think I get forty-two a day.
And I've gotten death threats for twenty years.
You hear me coming out here going whining about it.
No way.
Liz Cheney destroyed Obama at the Southern Republican leadership conference last night in New Orleans.
We have four sound bites.
As we sit here today, the Obama administration is putting us on the path to decline.
Now you might hear that, and you might think that the opposite of that is true.
That if decline is a choice, then perhaps American revival and American leadership and American predominance is also a choice.
But I don't think that is quite true.
Because I think American leadership and American predominance are not just choices.
Those are moral obligations.
America has no choice about whether we lead or not.
We must lead, because there is no other nation who has the capacity that we do because of our values, our resources, and our freedom to protect the freedoms of people all around the globe.
Sounds great, Liz, but it's certainly not this administration's agenda, which she knows that's what she's talking about.
The way Dan Balls in the Washington Post wrote about this.
And he said Liz Cheney and her language made her father look like Pastel.
Now, one thing I have never understood, Dick Cheney has always been soft-spoken.
He's never been a fire and brimstone guy.
I this is a wholly manufactured image of him.
But now they're coming out, whoa, whoa, he looks pastel compared to his daughter.
Here's the second soundbite.
Iran watches as this administration answers their threats with weakness, confusion, and self-serving lectures that put down America and diminish our achievements.
Now that kind of talk, it could win you a Nobel Prize.
But it dishonors this nation and the brave men and women who have fought and died for our freedom.
Here, with America's security in the balance, Republicans and Democrats and independents should speak with one voice to this administration.
President Obama, stop apologizing for this great nation and start defending her.
Radon Radon.
She got a lot of applause here.
We've just taken that out in the interest of time.
Here she blasts the regime, the naivete on nuclear weapons and Iran.
The president's approach to nuclear disarmament, which she also unveiled this week, confirms the naivety of his views about America's enemies.
Until this week, any enemy of our country that might be contemplating a chemical, biological, or large-scale conventional attack against us, knew they might face the worst in return, a nuclear response.
We have now surrendered that powerful deterrent.
In this administration's dealings with Iran, the deadlines are meaningless, the sanctions worthless, and the speeches pointless.
And then finally, this uh was last night at the same thing, this Southern Republican leadership conference.
There is a saying in the Arab world that it is more dangerous to be America's friend than it is to be our enemy.
And I fear very much that in the age of Obama that's proving to be true.
Right on, right?
And that's that's a direct slap at Israel.
By the way, uh Bibi Netanyahu has uh said I'm not showing up at Obama's nuclear confab next week.
Forty-seven countries showing up, and uh and BB said I'm not showing up because they've uh there's a lot of things that they've learned, but among them uh is the fact that uh they were gonna just blame Israel for all the problems and try to pressure them to get rid of their nuclear arsenal, which which Israel has never ever confirmed or denied that they have.
And lo and behold, the Turkish prime minister, who has sharply escalated criticism of Israel since last year's war in Gaza, said that he would demand at the summit that Israel disarm as part of a nuclear-free Middle East.
Israel must disarm while nobody is stopping Iran from arming up.
And Obama's not doing anything to stop Iran.
I mean, they talk about tough sanctions, but there aren't going to be any tough sanctions.
Uh is Pakistan going to disarm, is India going to disarm.
Nobody's going to disarm.
Except maybe us.
I mean, this is how ridiculous this is.
Uh somebody advanced a theory to me today.
I'll run it by you.
I think it's a long shot.
The theory is, you know, this is uh this is why Obama is not going to stand in the way of Iran getting its nukes.
When Iran gets its nukes, then Obama's gonna go in and say, All right, enough.
Both of Iran, Israel, disarm.
Give them up.
Which is sophistry.
It would I mean, the Iranians will never do that.
The Russians will never do that.
Nobody's gonna disarm their nukes.
I don't care if they sign a piece of paper saying they're going to.
But Obama, I mean, he really is one of these water cooler idealists sitting around as an undergraduate talking with all his buddies, believing the world would be better off if there weren't any nukes, and he's promised in his campaigns a nuclear-free world.
That's one of the things he's going to work in.
And he really thinks that the world will go along if we show the way.
If if we, if we, as a leader, if we take the lead in this, uh, then the rest of the world will follow.
Now, Adolf Hitler promised a disarm back in the 1930s.
Gorbachev promised to get rid of all of his nukes.
If we met some draconian sense of condition, Reagan said, screw you.
That was at uh that was at Reykjavik.
Bart Stupak, we finally have a couple sound bites from Stupak's Nomas Nomas press conference today.
Uh, and he made it sound like health care has been his lifelong mission.
Lifelong mission.
Last month, we finally accomplished what I set out to do 18 years ago.
We passed comprehensive national health care reform.
Throughout the past year, I've worked alongside my colleagues to achieve health care reform, and I'm proud to have helped bring it across the finish line.
As a result of that work, today we're on the path to provide health insurance for 32 million more Americans, including 38,000 people living here in Northern Michigan.
All of that is I don't believe a word of this.
Has been his lifelong mission 18 years ago, finally accomplished what I set out to do.
Here was a guy threatening to vote no on it and kill it up to four hours before the vote.
And in the end, he sold out because he's a Democrat first rather than uh a pro-lifer first.
He uh uh he promised allegiance to the Democrats, and this is the soundbite where he said he wants to spend time with his wife.
Last night and early this morning, I informed Democratic leaders and key supporters that I would not seek reelection to Congress.
I'm committed to helping the Democrats retain this seat, as I believe we must continue to fight for our working families and small businesses.
Now it's time to spend a little more time with my wife Lori, who we've been married for 36 years and whose love and commitment has sustained me through the years with our son Ken and his family and my extended family and friends.
Well, that's a new one.
I've I've I want to spend more time with a family, but I've never heard anybody say I want to spend more time with the wife.
Nothing against wanting to do that.
Don't misunderstand here, folks.
I just have never heard it.
But when he says here, uh, you know, we we've got to continue to fight for our working families and small business, Mr. Stupak.
Your president and your vote are killing small business and the little guy.
You're wiping everybody out.
Back in just a second, folks.
It's open line Friday, L. Rush Ball, heading in the Master's Weekend.
Yes, I know what's happening, but I'm not gonna tell anybody because they're out there T-Voing it or DVRing it.
We were talking about these new Department of Energy uh regulations coming requiring even more energy efficient appliances.
That Stephen Chu, Secretary of Energy, become the second most powerful man in the regime.
Your house will have to be inspected for emissions and proper appliances, carbon footprint, and all that, just as your car is.
And if you uh don't pass, you have to totally refit every appliance in your house until you're in compliance at your expense.
From the Seattle Times back on March 26th, federal investigators who submitted phony products, such as a gasoline-powered alarm clock to the government's energy efficiency certification program, found it easy to obtain approval and say the program is vulnerable to fraud and abuse.
A gasoline-powered alarm clock was approved as a new energy efficient Device.
Investigators with the government accountability office, a GAO said they obtained Energy Star approval for 15 of 20 fictitious products that they submitted for certification with fake energy saving claims.
Two were rejected, three did not receive a response.
Among the phony products that obtained Energy Star certification was a room air cleaner that in a picture prominently displayed on the website of a bogus company showed an electric space heater with a feather duster and strips of fly paper attached to it.
I'm not kidding.
Now, you know, we wait we wonder why does government do everything badly?
Yesterday I posed the question, how is it that in the private sector, most of the things government does is a crime, and people who perpetrate them are charged and sometimes convicted.
But when government does those very same things, they are lauded with virtue and compassion.
I think one of the reasons, uh, ladies and gentlemen, uh, that the government does everything poorly is they have no competition and there's no accountability.
There is no accountability, and if they don't do it right, where do you go?
There's nowhere else.
So here they are approving phony, fictitious new appliances as compliant with the new Energy Star program.
A gasoline-powered alarm clock.
That just doesn't compute with me.
How can anybody, I mean, even the most incompetent bureaucrat you've ever heard of in the Department of Energy ever think that a gasoline-powered alarm clock, I mean that's in your house.
A gasoline-powered alarm clock got approval as an energy saving device.
So this whole program is bogus, and it's it just it it proves the point here.
This is not uh about anything other than the continued transformation of the country, making us poorer and less free.
Pure and simple.
Uh audio sum by 35, Mike, we have uh we have a little bit of Obama here from uh his comments moments ago outside the White House in the Rose Garden.
We are praying for a miracle.
I want to offer my deepest condolences to the friends and the families of the fathers and the husbands and brothers, nephews and sons who were killed in this accident.
When I was in the Senate, I supported the efforts of Senator Byrd and Rockefeller to try to improve mine safety, but it's clear that more needs to be done.
And that's why I've asked uh my Secretary of Labor as well as the head of Mine Safety and Health Administration to give me a preliminary report next week on what went wrong and why it went wrong so badly, so that we can take the steps necessary to prevent such accidents in the future.
There you go.
We worked on mine safety.
Byrd, Rockefeller, we worked on mine safety in the Senate, but more needs to be done.
Well, they didn't get anything done.
Um was there no union responsibility for improving mine safety?
Where was the union here?
Where was the union?
On the union's generally holding these companies up, demanding all kinds of safety.
Why were these miners continuing to work and what apparently was an unsafe uh atmosphere?
This next story is is literally hilarious.
As you know, George Stephanopoulos asked Sarah Palin, oh, George Stephanopoulos asked President Obama what he thought of Sarah Palin's comments about his new nuclear policy.
And Stephanopoulos is catching heat from other people in government control media.
Why would you ask Sarah the president about anything Sarah Palin said?
Because apparently Obama looked petty in the way he answered it.
Well, I don't think she knows anything about uh nuclear just dismissed her.
And of course, Palin today at the Republican meeting down in New Orleans said, well, what the hell does he as a community organizer know about nuclear weapons?
So she's getting the best of this.
Stephanopoulos is catching a lot of hit from his colleagues and associates in state control media.
And now that the Stephanopoulos is defending his decision to ask Obama to respond to Sarah Palin's criticism of his nuclear non-proliferation policy.
The exchange was notable not only because of the dismissive tone of Obama, but also because the question seemed out of place for a weighty discussion on nuclear weapons policy.
This is from the Huffbow, by the way.
Why would Stephanopoulos treat Palin as some sort of policy expert?
Stephen Bennon of the Washington Monthly said Stephanopoulos can some conspicuously unintelligent right wing media personality said something stupid about a subject she knows nothing about.
Uh Mr. President, how do you respond?
And of course, would one of you people in state-run media tell me what Obama knows about it?
Because Palin's exactly right.
How do you learn about nukes as a community organizer?
Here it is.
This is Stephanopoulos.
Uh let's see.
No, this is uh Yeah.
First up is Hannity.
Wednesday night on the Fox News channel, Hannity is talking to Palin.
She said the president is saying if there's a biological chemical attack against the country, any type of major cyber attack, if it's a country that's part of the non-proliferation treaty, that America has taken nuclear weapons off the table.
What's your reaction to that?
Unbelievable, unbelievable.
No administration in America's history would, I think, ever have considered such a step that uh we just found out that President Obama is supporting today.
Um, you know, that's kind of like uh getting out there on the playground, a bunch of kids ready to fight, and and one of the kids saying, Go ahead, punch me in the face and I'm not gonna retaliate.
Go ahead and do what you want to with me.
No, it's unacceptable.
Stephanopoulos to uh Obama, leader of the regime uh on ABC's world news tonight.
She said it's unbelievable.
No other administration would do it.
And then she likened it to kids on a playground, like a kid who says, Punch me in the face and I'm not gonna retaliate uh retaliate.
What's your response?
I really have no response to that.
The last I checked Sarah Palin's not much of an expert on uh nuclear uh issues.
But the strain of criticism has been out there among other Republicans as well.
They think you're restricting use of nuclear weapons too much.
And what I would say to them is is that if the Secretary of Defense uh and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably gonna take my advice from them and not uh from Sarah Palin.
You can just he just he's so ticked off that she had the audacity, he had the audacity to bring up Palin.
Who is she?
I don't know if she knows nuclear.
Uh maybe Obama was taking his cue from Jane Fonda.
Monday night, Larry King barely alive on CNN.
You betcha.
I think she sh could have a television show, maybe.
She got one.
But she should she should not be a politician, in my opinion.
What do you make of the story?
Sad.
Sad.
Well, I think it's sad when someone says I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna run for office and they can't answer basic questions, you know, about the world, about what they read, about history, things like that.
I mean, I think we should take our our political world life members who aspire to be elected officials more seriously.
You know, they have to be grounded in some kind of reality.
And he counts for her popularity.
I don't know.
It worries me, frankly.
I don't know.
Worries her popularity worries me, frankly.
Uh Jane Fonda, the height of her activism was out there saying it nobody helped them in their revolution.
The Jane Fonda that we all know sat on the anti-aircraft weapon over in uh in Hanoi, or wherever she was.
Uh everything she said here, you know, members who aspire to be elected officials uh take things more.
Where in the world do these people think Obama got his qualifications?
What are they?
It's clearly nothing more than his education.
Went to Harvard.
Went to Harvard.
That that that alone qualifies.
All right, to the phones to Ringwood, New Jersey.
Gary, welcome to the EIB network, sir.
Hello.
Thank you.
It's a uh honor speaking with you.
Thank you, sir.
I want to speak about Syria.
It seems that all the attention has been on Iran.
And this has been going on, I'd say, for the last three, four years.
And I have watched I watched the History Channel, I watch AE.
Uh I saw a program about three, four years ago about an underground tunnel where they actually believed those weapons of mass destruction could have gone into Syria from Iraq.
Um and then in two thousand and eight it actually was founded Syria was building a reactor and Israeli jet fighters took that reactor out.
Um so I'm kinda like a little confused why all this attentions on Iran.
I know Iran's a serious threat.
But Syria is a very quiet country.
We don't know too much about that regime at all.
It's closed off.
And I think that we should start exposing them.
Well I think that they have some severe hatred toward Israel.
More so than Iran.
One of the uh one of the Syria is said to be one of Iran's puppets.
Uh and of course you've got Muck Mahmoud Ahmadini Zad verbalizing his threats.
I mean he's out there promising to wipe Israel off the map.
He's uh and and and and rid the world of the United States of America.
Bashar Al Sad, as you point out, not saying anything, not doing anything uh and I you know the uh I don't know what the regime's relationship diplomatic relationship is with uh with Syria.
Uh I've heard the stories too about the weapons of mass destruction headed into Syria but I don't know anymore.
Uh the apparently the story is that Saddam was lying about it making it up just to try to scare the Ind the uh the Iranians uh from attacking him and and thinking we would never do anything about it, never take it seriously.
So but as as far as Syria goes, look they're a bad actor and everybody knows it.
And what they really want to do Syria wants to be the main player over there in whatever final peace agreement is reached and they work behind the scenes uh agitating and and stirring things up.
Back when the uh the king of Jordan was alive, not the current king, uh he wanted to play the fundamental role.
He wanted to be involved of course he's you know Jordan is a uh peaceful mostly an ally of the United States mostly we film all of our Iraq movies there.
Uh we film many of our Middle Eastern movies in the deserts of Jordan.
Oh yeah.
Absolutely true.
Mike in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania open line Friday your turn.
Hi Rush, I uh wanted to talk to you about uh healthcare sharing organizations.
Not sure if you've heard of them before healthcare sharing or uh it sounds like I bet I have I just never heard that name.
Tell me what they do.
Okay.
Uh basically uh as a member it's not an insurance plan per se, but as a member you pay a premium to the organization and uh you become a self-payer with your doctor and when you get a bill from the hospital for a uh you know CAT scan or or something like that or an ambulance trip or any guard visit whatever it may be um you submit that to the organization and it then gets paid to you basically get reimbursed for paying out of pocket is
how it works essentially.
Um and uh it's it there's a premium every month.
Um though I was looking into a particular one that uh was about two hundred and eighty dollars a month for a a family no matter what size um and I think ninety dollars for an individual um and anything over three hundred dollars for this particular one was uh uh it was considered a submittable expense um and one thing that I found out 'cause I signed up for a newsletter from them um to get more information about it 'cause I was interested in for for my family.
Um they were saying that they were after the health care bill had passed they were saying that they were exempt from all of the restrictions and um legislation that was imposed on insurance companies.
They were exempt from all of that.
And it just kinda piqued my interest and I wasn't sure I d I don't know really too much about them other than this one particular organization I was looking into and a couple of other people uh that I respect in in different organizations have talked about these organ these uh healthcare sharing things and um uh i it just did piqued my interest and and it would seem to be a a well mostly a major medical for things over three hundred dollars to the doctors visit not even that much um but uh I was wondering if if you had heard of them or wanted to look into them.
It just really picked my interest considering that they weren't uh uh under any of the uh restrictions imposed by the new I haven't heard that I this uh the this is the first I've heard of this and I still don't understand how it works after you described it.
Who are are are the members of the health sharing organization doctors or patients?
No, no it's it's just regular people.
I mean just uh a patient, a person.
Regular people I right isn't it's made up of a group of people in this organization.
Are you in one did you say?
Are you thinking about no no I was looking into one from my family.
Uh the one you're looking into how many members are in it?
Because I'm trying to understand the math of how you you you only pay 90 bucks or three hundred bucks on how this all works out.
I don't under and then you who who from what pile of money do you get reimbursed?
From the pile of all the premiums that are being paid into the organization by all the members.
And they they have additional additional uh plans you can sign up for and it's just the one that there's a basic one you can sign up for that's like this basic major medical for anything over three hundred dollars up to a certain dollar amount.
Okay.
And then you can sign up for another plan that covers things over $50,000, which would be, you know, for heart transplants or other, you know, major surgeries like that.
And it's all for people who don't want to buy insurance but want health coverage.
Well, you're using the word premium.
Somebody's buying insurance.
No, no, no, no.
You're paying like a membership due.
I guess I shouldn't use the word premium.
You're paying a membership due to the, I guess you could call it, to the organization of this.
You know what this is?
But what they do is each month they take...
tell you where to send your payment to they don't actually touch the money they don't distribute the money you send your payment to a person who's filing a claim you send your money to somebody who's they tell you every month so you're sending your money to a fellow member of the club well I I guess so I mean I don't want to misrepresent them because I'm going off of what I read in the you know a 30 page PDF of their website.
Yeah um but I mean that's why I'm just saying it really piqued my interest as far as taking a load off of me because I mean my health insurance is about three hundred and fifty a month from my employer plus you know all the deductibles and copays and whatever else I have to pay.
Well, I can see why it piques your interest.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And, you know, like I said, it's not insurance.
You become a self-payer.
There's no deductible per se when you, you know, have a medical expense.
Well, you say you become a self-payer, but and you get fully reimbursed?
From the doctor's perspective, from the doctor's.
Yeah, you go to the doctor, you get a CAT scan.
The CAT scan costs just whatever, $150.
and fifty bucks and then you then somebody in the club sends you a hundred and fifty bucks well what you do is you then take the bill from the doctor I'm not sure if you pay it first I don't I don't know how all that works, but I know you take the bill from your doctor you submit it to the organization and then you receive whatever the the amount was of the bill in the mail well this is magic.
You know what this reminds me of this this reminds me of these uh uh and I I've always thought they were scams I'm not saying this is well this this is a Christian organization so I don't I don't think it is and it was it's you know it's being promoted by a very trustworthy Christian organization.
I once got I once got ripped off by a thousand dollars by an auto mechanic had a plastic Jesus on the cash register.
Well a little bit different Ross well I understand but what what this reminds me of is that's a true story, Snardly Guy told me I car needed a part that he invented a word disgruntator.
800 bucks car wouldn't drive without it he said plastic Jesus on a cash or cash register.
All these buying clubs you know you pay a membership fee and you and you alone all the other members have access to the store where supposedly you are getting wholesale prices.
But you still got to pay the membership fee.
And you know when you when you if you'd get an an invitation in the mail and if you had a wife you were dead certain to go.
So you went and they wouldn't let you out of there.
They wouldn't let you out of there you signed on the dotted line.
I barely got out of there with my checkbook intact.
This is when I live in Kansas City.
I don't know that that's what this is.
I am not trying.
I don't have enough information, even after hearing you describe it, to uh to be critical of this.
But don't worry.
Because our research team, I will.
I'm gonna find out about these now.
Uh and I want you to know how lucky you are here.
Because most hosts would have been totally afraid to tell you they never heard of it and didn't know anything about it, and they would have lied and made it sound like they knew everything about it, and you'd run out of there more confused than ever.
I, El Rushbo am confident enough in who I am to tell you.
If I don't know it, I don't know it because it doesn't happen much.
Just weeks ago, folks, the Heritage Foundation recruited its 600,000th member.
Today, membership of the Heritage Foundation is 633,000 strong.
Gee, I wonder why.
You want to know why people are joining Heritage?
I'll tell you, at the fastest clip in its history, it is because they are doing an incredible job of researching and sharing the terrible truths of a White House administration spending with abandon and compromising our nation's future in more ways than you can imagine.
Plus, they make very wise advertising decisions.
What I wouldn't be me, folks.
Uh, what are you waiting for?
You need to get yourself involved with heritage.
It may be one of the smartest things you ever do.
Membership start at just 25 bucks.
It's online.
Askheritage.org is the website, gives you all the information on the real goings on in Washington as well as uh supports really smart research people that get into the uh heads of lawmakers and so forth, their staffs battling to reduce the size of government, actually stimulating our economy uh in ways proven to succeed.
They're at the forefront, they're in Washington, they don't cave.
Ask heritage.org.
Here's Sarah Palin, by the way, this afternoon in New Orleans, Southern Republican leadership conference.
Uh, she just keeps on bashing Obama.
Now, the president, with all the vast nuclear experience that he acquired as a community organizer, and as a part-time senator, and as a full-time candidate, all that experience, still no accomplishment to date with North Korea and Iran.
Meanwhile, this administration alienates our friends.
They treated the Afghan president Karzai poorly, and then they feigned surprise when he reacted in kind.
They escalated a minor zoning decision into a major breach with Israel, our friend, our closest ally in the Middle East.
Let's remind our presidents.
That's right, Jerusalem is their capital.
Now, I mean, say what you want about Sarah Palin.
Sounds to me like she knows what she's talking about there, and I guarantee you that the regime does not take to this well at all.
San Francisco has called for meatless Mondays.
This is actually from the Board of Supervisors to tie diet to climate change.
Meatless Mondays.
But before you freak out, I remember growing up, the Catholic church, no meat on Friday.
Back after this.
So I told you that government-run media reporter uh called me or emailed me, asked me for a transcript the first hour of the program when uh when I bashed Romney Care.
So I wrote him back.
I said, Yeah, uh I'll have a rough for you, just a couple of minutes so you can go bash Mitt.