America's truth detector, the doctor of democracy, all combined as one harmless, lovable little fuzzball.
Brand new week of Broadcast Excellence.
Three days are here, Monday through Wednesday of this week, but Most people already on vacation.
I am here.
Speaking of vacation, in Hawaii, they are agog when they learned what Obama's vacation is going to cost.
$4 million.
And that was before Michelle Maibel decided to fly out on her own.
When President Obama and his family headed to Hawaii for a long vacation, the Hawaii reporter takes a look at the cost to taxpayers and concludes that this year's trip is more expensive than previous trips.
The advanced trip and the cost that comes with it is as much as $100,000 a day.
It adds to an already expensive vacation for the taxpayers.
Hawaii reporter research shows that total cost for the president's visit far exceeded $1.5 million in 2010, but it's even more costly this year because he extended his vacation by three days and the cost for Air Force One travel has jumped since last assessed.
In addition, the Hawaii reporter was able to obtain more specifics about the executive expenditures.
A total cost, based on what is known for the 17-day vacation round-trip vacation to Hawaii, for the president, his familia and staff has climbed more than $4 million.
A blogger has calculated that First Lady Michelle Maibel Obama's decision to leave a few days early without her husband will cost more than $100,000, a charge the White House would not address directly in Friday's daily press briefing.
$4 million.
In these times of economic struggle, this is not insignificant.
People are noticing this.
And they're not, even on Hawaii, and that's where this story is sourced, originates.
Jake Tapper, our old buddy at ABC, who occasionally, you know, in order to keep his credentials, has to go after me as a racist.
Lamely so, but nevertheless, in order to stay in favor, because sometimes I praise Jake here, and that's the worst thing can happen to a journalist, to be praised by El Rushbo.
So we understand.
He has to take a shot at me now and then.
But at about 20 minutes ago, at 1.50 Eastern Time, Jake Tapper just broke the following story.
Two-month payroll tax holiday passed by the Senate, pushed by the president, cannot be implemented properly.
Officials from the policy neutral, for those of you in Riolina, that means they don't care which side's right or wrong here.
Officials from the National Payroll Reporting Consortium Incorporated have expressed concerns to members of Congress that the two-month payroll tax holiday passed by the Senate and supported by Obama cannot be implemented properly.
Pete Isberg, president of the NPRC today, wrote to the key leaders of the relevant committees of the House and Senate telling them that insufficient lead time to implement the complicated change mandated by the legislation means the two-month payroll tax holiday could create substantial problems, confusion, and costs, affecting a significant percentage of U.S. employers and employees.
ABC News obtained a copy of the letter.
The National Payroll Reporting Consortium is a non-profit trade association that does not take positions on policy.
The group represents organizations that provide payroll processing and services to more than one and a half million employers, impacting one-third of the private sector.
Isberg said to ABC News, we're neutral and we'd be happy to do the work.
The concern is really for those who don't use a payroll service provider.
Americans will have different outcomes, causing confusion because they'll have different outcomes.
Some will have it done on time, some won't.
Some will have adjustment notices later in the year.
It's going to be a nightmare and a mess.
It cannot be implemented properly.
Isberg wrote that many payroll systems are not likely to be able to make such a substantial programming change before January or even February when the thing expires.
The system affected tends to be highly complex, normally requiring at least three months for a change of this magnitude for software testing alone, not to mention analysis design, coding, and implementation.
Part of the issue has to deal with Congress' desire to make sure the highly compensated employees not enjoy the full benefit of the 2% tax break because of bonuses or other high compensation falling into the first two months of the year.
There simply is insufficient time to implement this major change and withholding requirements.
This whole thing is bogus.
It can't be implemented as is.
It's a train wreck waiting to happen.
And when, of course, if the thing does become law and it's not implemented properly, then guess what?
Whose fault is it?
The employer.
That's what Isberg means here when he talks about compliance notices.
Especially small businesses that don't have payroll firms that have the computer software to handle all this automatically.
You know, the mom and pops that do this themselves.
AP's top stories.
According to the Associated Press, these are the top 10 stories of 2011.
But before I get to the top stories, you know what the top quote is?
This is amazing.
The top quote of the year is, we are the 99%.
The growing scrutiny of the rich dominated this year's best quotes, according to a Yale University librarian who anointed the Occupy Wall Street protester slogan, we are the 99% as the year's best.
Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale.
I know it's that I'm just pronouncing for it to reel into people.
Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School, has released his sixth annual list of the most notable quotations of the year.
Mr. Shapiro noted the conservative Tea Party movement was prominent in last year's quotes.
So to balance it out, I guess, we have to give the Occupy Wall Street crowd their due.
We are the 99% is the top quote of the year.
Now, AP has its top stories of the year.
The top 10 stories of 2011.
You want to know what they are?
Number one, the death of bin Laden.
Number two, the Japan earthquake.
Number three, the Arab Spring.
Number four, the EU fiscal crisis.
Number five, the U.S. economy.
Number six, the Penn State sex scandal.
Number seven, Gaddafi killed.
Number eight, fiscal showdowns in Congress.
Number nine, Occupy Wall Street protests.
And number ten, Gabrielle Gifford's shooting.
Now, if that doesn't show you how out of touch the news media is, I don't know what does.
You know what my top 10 list would be?
Top 10 stories of this year?
The economy, the economy, that's two.
The economy number three, the economy number four, the economy number five, the economy number six, the economy number seven, the economy number eight, the economy number nine, and Obama caused it, number ten.
How in the world do you put the economy which is destroying people's lives number five?
You go out, go to any bar, go to any restaurant, go to any place where there's a conglomeration of Americans.
What's the big story of 2011?
And I'll damn well tell you it is not going to be bin Laden's death.
That will not be number one.
Number two will not be the Japan earthquake.
Number three will not be the Arab Spring.
Number four will not be the EU crisis.
Number six would not be the Penn State scandal.
If that doesn't show you how out of touch the news media is, I don't know what does.
But of course, you remember the top story for 2010?
You know what it was?
Just a year ago.
See, this is how much this stuff is really worth.
Nobody remembers what the AP top story of 2010 was.
Snerdley's in there racking his brain now trying to remember what it was.
It was the BP oil spill.
The BP oil spill one year ago was AP's number one story of the year, which of course ended up being a non-story.
It was a non-starter.
It was a non-story.
Obamacare was the number two story of 2010.
And the midterm elections was number three.
The midterm elections, which was a landslide defeat for the Democrats all the way down the ballot to dog catcher, came in at number three.
By the way, why does Obama go to Hawaii on his vacation?
I thought the winter White House was going to be Chicago, that place next to Tony Resco's house.
He never goes there.
No, I don't really blame him, actually.
I guess he grew up in Hawaii, but Michelle didn't.
I guess they like it out there.
Does he have any living relatives in Hawaii?
Does Obama have any living relatives?
Look, he can go wherever he wants.
He never goes home to Chicago.
Are you kidding?
Invite his brother from Kenya?
That'd be airfair.
He'll send him some pictures of me.
Here, put this on the wall of the hut, bro, and tell you where I've been this past year.
Joshua in southern Oregon, welcome.
I'm glad you waited to the EIB network.
Hello, sir.
Hi, Rush.
How are you today?
Oh, I'm okay.
Pretty well.
Glad to hear it.
We have a beautiful Oregon Day here.
You know, I wanted to call Russia.
I mean virtually, I mean zero disrespect to our military in saying this comment here.
But with what's passing here with this bill suggesting that employers are going to get benefit by virtue of hiring an individual who's coming out of the war, Rush, I'm part of the long-term unemployed.
And it feels as if that this just kind of punched me right in the gut, if you will, as far as you compete with.
Yeah, I know.
This is very tough for you to say.
You're asking why in the world, why in the world does a business get a tax break or any kind of a break for hiring any specific citizen?
You know, I know you're not harping on the military here.
You're asking, it's kind of like the baby on board signs.
We're supposed to be more careful driving behind a car because there might be a baby in it.
Why is the baby more valuable than the driver?
Well, the baby is judged to be more innocent is why it tugs at your heartstrings.
In this case, Obama is simply trying to build CHOPs with the military.
It's a weakness that he has and the whole Democrat Party has.
So this is, it's not even about veterans.
It's not even about the military.
That comment, that program is aimed at votes.
He's trying to tug at the heartsprings of people, heartstrings of people who hopefully will be sorry that people were sent off to war.
Terrible sacrifice.
The least we can do is give them preference in hiring when they come home.
He's hoping that scores votes for him.
I know you don't mean to rip the military on this.
I'm not one bit rush.
No, I know.
I know.
You're just wondering, how come they can't get a break for hiring you?
You're long-term unemployed.
You're an American.
You need a job.
All is true, what you just said.
Absolutely.
This is why liberals should be shunned.
There's no reason the government needs to be picking winners and losers.
This is all about what the private sector is all about.
This is not no different than Obama telling small business, hey, buds, you go out and hire somebody.
We'll give you a $2,500 tax credit.
Anybody.
He tried that.
That didn't work, by the way, because it's a lousy deal.
You go out and spend $50,000, $70,000 hiring somebody, and the government gives you $2,500 back, big whoop, when you don't need any work done because the economy's in bad shape.
That didn't work.
So Obama is going a step for, okay, hire a vet.
Nobody opposes the vet.
Look at you.
You're nervous here calling and even saying what you're saying about it.
So yeah, hire a vet and then get a break.
And he's trying to transfer the onus on this to small business.
And then if they don't hire anybody, and if they don't hire any vets, Obama can, if he wants to, later on say, hey, I tried, but you see why we can't leave it up to the private sector?
They don't care about veterans.
I gave them an opportunity, big tax break to hire veterans.
Did they do it?
No.
That's why we have to control this.
That's why we have to be in charge.
It's all a setup.
Government, government, no.
Government cutting no special bread.
No, don't.
Not saying that, but in a situation like this, this is picking winners and losers.
And it's been proven that that's not fair.
And I know what you're going to say, but what about home mortgage deduction interest?
Yeah.
Well, well, that's a whole difference.
The reason the Lehman Brothers went under is because they needed to make a movie about it.
And that was called Margin Call.
Have you rented that movie yet?
Well, it comes out on DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow for sale.
You can download it from iTunes, Netflix, any place that streams.
Now, Lehman Brothers, I could only guess, but my guess is nobody liked the CEO.
My guess is that Paulson and the guys hated Richard Fuld.
They thought he was a creep and SOB and needed a comeupping.
Who knows?
Who knows?
I just know I'm not saying I'm against veterans being hired.
I'm just the whole notion that the government, that a central planner can go out and dictate who gets hired for his own benefit, not theirs.
Understand, this is not to benefit the military.
This is to sound like this, to make Obama sound like he cares.
You know, all these stories about promise kept Iraq timeline.
The Bush promise was kept.
Obama didn't do diddly squat, but follow the Bush withdrawal timeline in pulling troops out of Iraq.
December 2011, way back years ago.
Original plan, Bush administration, bring the troops out of Iraq.
When you hear Obama talk about it, you hear Bush's name mentioned at all.
No, you got Obama taking credit for it.
It's all about Obama currying favor with voting blocks in an election.
Everything's about his reelection, pure and simple.
Nothing is about what it seems to be about.
Oh, does this not make total sense?
They're from the UK Daily Mail.
The uninformed are the key ingredient for a working democracy, study finds.
A well-informed, interested public is often hailed as the ideal of democracy, but a new Princeton study suggests the opposite could be the case.
And that people who have no interest at all could be vital to the working of a democrat society.
The uninformed are essential to democracy because their apathy helps to dilute the effect of powerful minority interests, for instance, highly educated elites who would otherwise dominate public life.
Now, I'm going to have to study this.
I just saw this.
I just saw this.
The researchers used animal research, mathematical models, and computer simulations.
They report that in animal groups, uninformed individuals, those with no strong feelings on a situation's outcome, tend to side simply with whichever group is the largest.
So now you people who don't know anything are being compared to animals.
How do you study an animal who doesn't know anything?
How do you study an uninformed animal for crying out loud?
How do you know?
What does the animal tell you he doesn't know anything?
The uninformed are manipulated by the elites.
As it's all, the uninformed manipulate the elites.
It's the uninformed who end up being the serfs.
Anyway, this just cleared.
I'll have to study this and form my analysis when I have the appropriate amount of time.
You know what I think?
I think they're trying to justify the Democrat base.
I think what they're trying to, they're building up.
They're taking the uninformed and saying they're key.
The uninformed, the ignorant are the key to a democracy.
But I don't know yet how.
If you want to make that assertion, would you say, well, maybe because they're uninformed, you can more easily influence them.
Since they have no core belief system, they're more easily influenced.
But since this is a media study, I, of course, obviously profoundly skeptical.
And in Philadelphia.
Hello, sir.
Great to have you on the EIB network.
Hey, Rush, Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Thank you, sir, very much.
Rush, last Friday morning, I got my order of Diet Peach Iced Tea.
Last Friday, you got it in two days.
Less than two days.
I ordered it Wednesday afternoon during the show, and I got it Friday morning at 10.30.
You know, we heard about this.
We got a lot of people.
Pardon me for a moment here, but we had a lot of people sending it.
We got saying they got it that quickly.
And I had to call a fulfillment company.
Are you people sending this stuff out express?
You know, I had to make sure to protect their profit.
And I found out they weren't.
No.
Yeah, we're just going normal standard shipping, and it got delivered.
That's fabulous.
I'm glad to hear that.
Rush, it's outstanding like everything else that you are affiliated with.
I told Mr. Snardley, I just wanted to inform your audience and you.
I have my significant other, who's coincidentally his name is also Catherine, suffers from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Oh.
And last year after the radio-thon, a couple of weeks after when I received my swag in the mail, she happened to be at my house, and she was told that very day, as a matter of fact, that the hospital was going to cut off her treatment because she hasn't been able to keep up with her payment for her co-pays and stuff like that.
So I said to her, why don't you just contact the Leukemia Lymphoma Society?
Well, Rush, to make a long story short, she did that, and inside of seven working days, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society sent a check for $5,000 to the hospital, which covered 85% of the money that she owed.
Isn't that great?
And she was able to continue treatment.
That is fabulous.
And that was not using anybody's name or anything like that, just the idea that you would just fill out some forms, facts to, you know, from doctor to the LLS, and she was able to continue her treatments with a little added money.
I'll tell you, they're a great, great, great bunch of people.
They've all personally, everybody in that organization, at least the ones I know and work with, have all been personally touched by leukemia, lymphoma, to one degree or another.
And that's why they do what they do.
So, you know, it's a great story.
I'm not surprised at all.
No, I wasn't either because, but I've got to get into the speed.
Try getting the government to do that under Obamacare.
See where you would be.
Please.
You don't even want to think about it, do you?
Well, I know what would have happened to her if we were under Obamacare already.
I don't want to think about it.
No, I do not.
Well, I'll tell you what, it's a fabulous story, and I'm glad you got through able to share that with us, particularly at this time of year.
That's why I called, because I don't hear that much about it beyond the radio-thon, which is a great thing in and of itself, because my mother, 30 years ago, passed away from acute myelogenous leukemia.
And they have come so far in treatments and advancements and stuff like that that it just astounds me.
You know what's amazing, if I may observe, if I may observe, what's amazing is that $5,000 was able to continue the treatment and that for some reason you were shut out over that amount.
I thought it required a lot more non-payment before you got shut out.
It was $7,200 or something like that.
The LLS, that's their maximum donation that they can, you know, so they can help the most amount of people.
They send $5,000.
And I covered the rest.
Oh, God bless you.
City of Brotherly Love, though.
You're from Philadelphia.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Nick's roast beef dittos.
Nick's roast beef.
Oh.
Oh.
I love it.
No, it's not with Swiss cheese.
No, no, no, no, no.
John Kerry might order Swiss cheese there, but no, it's not Swiss cheese.
Ed, thanks so much.
And Merry Christmas to you.
Congratulations.
That's a fabulous story.
Ed, are you still there?
Yes.
Okay.
Now, Ed, you know, it's Christmas time, and I've got this incredible prize closet here.
And I want to send you a Rush engraved iPad.
Oh, Rush.
Yeah, I do.
Rush.
That's really awesome.
I do.
Your ships come in, and you were not at the airport.
Well, I want to tell you something at the dock.
I want to tell you something about the Rush logo.
When you started your Facebook page, I refused to join Facebook, but my children begged me to do it.
And when you were giving away iPads with the EIB logo, I joined Facebook.
Well, and you didn't get one, obviously.
Otherwise, you would have told me.
I did not get one.
Well, you got one now.
So hang on.
You know, I didn't join Facebook until I joined either.
There you go.
So I didn't join Facebook until I joined.
At any rate, you sit tight.
Snerdley will get the address we need to send you to Rush EIB signature engraved iPad.
Here's Ron in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Hi, and welcome to the EIB Network.
Hello.
Rush, it's an honor.
Thank you, sir.
I've been listening to you for as long as I can remember.
I started listening to you with my dad.
He's 80 now and probably listening as we speak.
And I'd watch him nod to the radio in agreement.
And sometimes he'd just laugh hysterically.
And I remember thinking, who is this guy on the radio that makes my dad react this way?
Because he's a man of few words.
He's not too impressed by too many people.
My parents were Reagan Democrats, and due to his presidency and you, they never look back.
I've got two daughters.
They're 9 and 12.
And they listen to me and watch me while I listen to you.
And it's kind of keeping the family tradition.
Oh, geez.
That's great.
Thank you for your insight and your wisdom.
They're learning to question what they're being told and taught in school and seek the truth.
You know, I worry about their future like any parent would.
But I think they're going to be okay in the end if they keep learning the truth from guys like you and others out there.
Keep the faith.
That's exactly what's going to bring it about.
You know, I don't want them to grow up angry libs like you had in a previous caller.
But listen, Rush, this is really why I called.
I was sitting here wrapping up some last-minute gifts, and I heard you on the radio.
It's kind of like an old friend when you come on, you know, comes over to visit.
I thought you'd be on vacation this week.
Right.
But I'm glad you're out here.
And I just wanted to tell you something, man.
I mean this.
I want to thank you for everything you've done for guys like me and all of us out here.
I don't think you hear it enough.
And what you've done for your country, what you do for our troops, and countless others we never hear about, you know, it means a lot to us.
And I wanted to wish you Merry Christmas to you, your family, and your staff.
And we love you out here.
We really do.
We're grateful for what you do.
And that's really all I wanted to tell you.
I appreciate that.
I really want to thank you, Rush.
I love all of you out there, too, more than you can ever know, more than I can ever express.
I really appreciate that.
That's nice of you to say.
And I can't tell you how moved I am.
It sort of still embarrasses me to hear this because I'm not just a guy on the radio here.
But I truly do appreciate it, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
No, I'm just a guy on the radio.
But I appreciate it.
I really do.
Anyway, anyway, Ron, thanks so much.
I appreciate it.
Best of luck to you.
I haven't thought about that.
I haven't thought about it.
Snirdly's doing a wonderful life trip on me here.
What the country would be like if I weren't on the radio.
But I am on the radio.
And I'm not, you know, there's no clearance up there.
It needs to save me from that thought.
At any rate, Ron, I can't thank you enough.
I really appreciate it.
As I say, more than I have the ability to express.
Be back after this.
You know, I don't need to wait a little tomorrow to analyze this bogus piece of BS from the UK Daily Mail that the uninformed are the key to a successful democracy.
Yeah, from the standpoint of the Democrat Party, isn't it due?
So I was going to wait a little tomorrow and I read the whole thing to analyze it for you.
But I don't need to wait a little tomorrow.
Isn't it due to ignorant and uninformed voters that we got Obama?
Aren't the Democrats trying to dumb down everybody in our schools?
For what purpose?
Brainwashing them.
No question in my mind.
There's no other reason or way to explain what they've done to our education system.
And so now we dutifully get a story in the UK Daily Mail where they've compared the average Obama voter to a bunch of animals in a study.
By that, I mean the uninformed.
There's nobody who is informed properly on capitalism and America who would vote for Obama unless they personally benefit from it and don't care what happens to the country in the process.
And that's half of Wall Street, at least, and all of the welfare recipient class.
Oh, damn straight, snorkel.
I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
I know damn people on Wall Street will put themselves before the country because they think the country is always going to be there.
Damn straight.
If they can make a cozy corporate deal, crony corporate deal with Obama that enriches their corporation or themselves, sure, they'll do that overdoing what's right for the country because they think the country is always going to be there.
This is their one golden opportunity.
Of course, Obama plays off it.
There's no question.
But somebody who genuinely cares about the country and is informed would not vote for Obama.
The uninformed voter is a Democrat target audience.
The uninformed voter, the stupid, ignorant voter, is the victim in American society.
And that's who the Democrats go after.
I want to go back to this Jake Tapper scoop on why this two-month implementation thing won't work because it can't be implemented.
The two-month extension on the payroll tax.
Listen to the last paragraph.
Part of the issue has to deal with Congress's desire to make sure, quote, that highly compensated employees not enjoy the full benefit of the 2% tax break because of bonuses or other high compensation falling in the first two months of the year, Isberg wrote.
Can I translate that for you?
This can in no way, this Democrat speaking, can't have this benefit the rich.
Cannot have this 2% payroll extension benefit the rich.
People that are going to get bonused or raised in the first two months, and it might not be accountable to deduct properly from, can't implement it against the rich.
That's why it won't work.
All right, Steelers and Fortuners tonight.
Steelers win.
They own the inside track to the number one seed in the AFC.