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Jan. 7, 2014 - Rush Limbaugh Program
34:58
January 7, 2014, Tuesday, Hour #3
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Time Text
No, I didn't forget it.
I got it right here.
Snerdley just gave me a gentle reminder.
And I was going to talk about a New York Times story from yesterday about how upward mobility can harm you.
Success is bad.
It could hurt your health.
I got it right here.
I'm going to get to it and the immigration stuff, and then it'll be done.
We go home.
Greetings and welcome back.
El Rushbo at the EIB Network, Excellence in Broadcasting, a network named after my talents and performance.
Telephone numbers 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program.
And without any further ado, Grand Bloc, Michigan, this is Melissa, who's on the phone with her seven-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
I'd like to welcome both of you to the program, and thank you both for holding on.
Hi, Rush.
Hi, Rush.
This is so cute.
I just melted.
How are you doing, Elizabeth?
I'm doing good.
Very good.
You're seven years old.
Is that right?
Yep, seven.
Seven years old.
Yep.
Well, welcome to my program.
It's great to have you here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
What's up?
Well, she wanted to let you know that we listened to your Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrim story on the car ride home for Christmas vacation.
On your audio book.
On the audiobook.
Right.
And I assume you liked it.
Yep.
She thought it was really, really good.
Yeah.
Well, I'm not surprised, but I'm glad to hear it.
That's supposed to be funny, Elizabeth.
You can laugh at that.
Anyway.
She had a funny part that she wanted to tell you.
Oh, okay.
I'd like to hear that.
The funny part was when I found out that Liberty was potty trained.
You found out Liberty was potty trained.
Yeah.
Yeah, that was funny.
See, folks, this is why it takes real talent to be a children's author.
To understand what it is that's going to make children laugh, what it is they're going to find humorous.
So the idea that a horse would be potty trained is funny.
I admit it is funny.
Who would ever think of that?
Say, not me.
Not me.
So Liberty is your favorite character?
Yep.
Who's your next favorite character?
Who's your next favorite?
Rush.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, Rush.
Rush Revere.
Rash for the eye.
Rush Revere, yeah.
You know, he's jealous because Liberty's getting most of the fan mail.
You have a lot of company in liking Liberty.
Well, Elizabeth, I'd like to do something for you.
You're so nice, and I really do appreciate that you and your mom have been on hold for so long.
We have this thing in our store at the 2FIT website, which is where the adventures of Rush Revere and Liberty and all can be found at our website.
We've got this little bear called Ted T. Bear, Teddy Bear.
Oh, it's a cutest little bear.
It's white.
It's dressed as a founding fathers of colonial times with a tricorn hat, and it's just the cutest thing.
And I want to send you one.
Thank you.
More than one.
I want to send you one since you're so nice and you've been so complimentary about the book.
And people like you have made this a roaring success.
And I can't thank you all enough.
I really, I can't tell you how pleasing it is to know that you really liked it.
Yeah, we thought it was interesting that there could be more stories in the future.
Well, it's a fascinating thing.
American history is limitless.
As deep as you want to go, you can go.
And once you have this device, I call it the horse, Liberty, who can time travel and go anywhere, then you can write about virtually any aspect of American history that you want, which we intend to do.
That's good.
She's being a little shy.
She said that was good, though.
Yeah.
Well, I understand that.
I mean, you're on the radio and there are just 20 million people listening.
And then I used to be a caller to Elizabeth before.
I've been where you are.
I know how it can be nerve-wracking out there.
But you just need to look at it as though you're just talking to me.
Yep.
Yeah.
Well, is there anything else that you'd like?
Anything else that you want to tell me about it?
Or do you have any suggestions like what we could do next?
Well, what did Rush Revere do and Liberty do for Christmas?
What did Rush Revere and Liberty do for Christmas?
Well, they got each other presents and they sat around and they talked about where they were going to go next.
And you know what?
And Liberty, Liberty, you wouldn't, this whole experience has given Liberty, the horse, an ego like you can't believe.
Liberty wants to be on TV now.
Liberty thinks, Liberty thinks that a book is just not enough.
And so they sat around and talked about, you know, maybe they could be on TV somehow.
Are you going to make it into a cartoon?
Well, Liberty wants to.
Liberty wants to be in a cartoon.
Liberty thinks that a book is cool and all that, but like Liberty's jealous of Scooby-Doo and a number of other cartoon characters.
Why can't I do this?
So, you know, with all, Elizabeth, as you'll learn, with all performers, all performers have egos, and they all think that they're just more important and bigger, and they start making demands on you.
And you have to do what you can to keep them happy once they become popular.
So, Liberty, yeah, wants to be in a cartoon or wants to be on TV somehow.
That'd be neat.
And of course, Elizabeth, here's the problem with Rush Revere isn't sure about, because Rush Revere knows that a human being on TV with an animal can't win.
People always like the animal more.
That's true.
That's true.
It's very true.
So Rush Revere is, you know, he's guarded about it, but he also is excited about the possibilities, too.
So you never know.
And with Liberty making these demands, and as big as Liberty has become, you have to listen.
See, we would definitely watch it.
He would definitely watch it.
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Well, we'll see.
You never know.
You never know.
But with the horse now demanding to be on TV and talent, dealing with talent, Elizabeth, I mean, it's a different breed of person.
Talent is just like actors and actresses and so forth.
I mean, they're just, you got to, they're very sensitive.
They are very egocentric.
And if they don't get their way, they pout.
So we have to take what Liberty wants into consideration, and who knows?
It may happen.
Yep, it may.
Well, now you hang on because I want to put Mr. Snerdley back on the phone with you if you can get your address so we can send you Ted T. Bear.
Okay.
Okay.
Thank you.
All right.
And also, you know what?
I'm going to send an autographed copy of the book so that to you.
Can Liberty sign it?
Can Liberty say, this is exactly what I meant.
You can't win.
Yeah.
Well, Liberty, Liberty has its own signature.
It kind of just stamps the horse hoof on the page.
We'll figure out a way for Liberty to find it.
That's perfect.
Okay.
So hang on.
Don't go away.
We will.
Hang on.
Thanks, Rush.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'm ecstatic that you liked it.
You made my day.
And we'll take a brief time out here, folks.
Be back and continue right after this.
Don't go away.
I'm going to stick with the phones here, folks, and we'll get to the immigration stuff and how success is bad for your health.
That's in the New York Times yesterday.
Here, just a second.
But this is Ty in Moline, Illinois.
Great to have you here.
Hello.
Hi, Rush.
I'm here with my 15-year-old daughter, Emma.
Can she say hi first?
Sure.
Go ahead.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you?
I'm good.
Good.
I hope you're staying warm.
Yeah.
How cold is it in Moline today?
Seven degrees.
Seven degrees.
Oh, you sound tough.
You sound like you can deal with that without a problem.
She's usually much more talkative than that.
Rush?
Yeah.
I was calling about this theory that Obama has about a tax break for hiring in poverty zones.
Did you see that this morning?
Well, that's basically the country.
Yeah, I did.
Yeah.
Poverty zones.
I mean, you know, here's the thing.
This guy's been president for five years and gets away with talking about poverty zones as though he's got nothing to do with it.
They're his.
He created them.
But if that tax break's good for that area, how come it's not good for the entire country?
And why does he have to stop just at those areas?
It should be for almost all hiring, what do you think?
Well, now that's an interesting question, and I think to understand Obama or any Democrat, any liberal Democrat, but particularly Obama, you've got to be able to – you have to be a cynic in a way.
Now, you and I know, you and I know that Obama opposes and hates tax cuts.
Exactly.
Hates them, despises them.
But he also knows that people like them.
And if he can be seen as supporting a tax cut here, a tax cut there, then it could go a long way toward disabusing people of the notion that he's a socialist or a big government guy.
I think proposing a tax cut in this circumstance is simply a head fake that's designed to camouflage because he still wants to do and needs to camouflage for some people who he is and what he wants to do.
So this one's very specific.
If I understand it, what he wants to do is give tax breaks to people who hire people who live in poverty zones.
Right.
Now he gets to define the poverty zone.
He gets to define it just like he gets to define the trickle-up theory that he's going to give money to certain people so that they can spend it his way.
Right.
But here's the thing.
Do you really believe he wants everybody to turn up the thermostat for global warming?
Exactly.
He doesn't want any, he doesn't like utility companies.
See, this is why you have to be a cynic.
Because, see, you've got it.
Okay, so because Obama is essentially admitting here that tax cuts can grow the economy.
Yes.
But that's not what he wants people to take from this.
What he wants people to take from this is that he personally is making it possible for people to be hired, that the federal government is making sure that people will be hired, taking the credit away from whoever actually will be doing the hiring.
But the problem with this is that nothing really has to happen.
All he has to do is say it, and he gets credit for it.
If it never happens, nobody will know.
Say it, and it must be true.
Well, exactly.
But there have been a couple of other instances in his administration where he's done something similar.
There was a give me time to think about this.
There was a theory that's not coming to me.
But there's been a couple of occasions in the past where he has said something like this, but it was what he proposed was actually a total misunderstanding of how, oh, it was something about tax cuts were going to cause people to hire people.
And the point was that businesses only hire when the economy is growing.
People do not hire for tax cuts.
They don't hire for tax breaks.
That's exactly what it was.
It was early on, first term, and he was suggesting that he could give some tax cuts to small business if they would go hire people.
And I made the point that the tax credit they were going to get would not even offset the expense of hiring whoever it is they're going to hire.
And this won't either.
I'm not going to get credit for saying it.
Well, whatever tax break he's going to get, he's going to give or offer is nowhere near what it's going to cost to hire these people.
So they're really not going to do it.
My point was that this is not how businesses operate.
Businesses don't wait around for tax cuts in order to hire people.
They hire people when there's new work to be done.
And there isn't any work to be done here.
And until that happens, you're not going to have any real hiring going on.
So this is just for show.
And he doesn't even really see, this is where the Republicans ought to be saying exactly what you're saying.
Well, Mr. President, if a tax cut will cause somebody to be hired in a poverty zone, why not cut taxes in the middle class?
Why not cut taxes everywhere if it results in hiring?
He won't do that.
No way.
But the bottom line is the tax cut, credit, whatever he's going to do, won't come anywhere near offsetting the cost of hiring somebody.
That's the bottom line here.
Which is fine with him.
All he wants is for it to be reported that he's offering tax cuts to get people in poverty zones hired.
Oh, he really cares.
Oh, and then if businesses don't do it, see, if this is the ending of the equation, if nobody gets hired, then whose fault is it?
It's those mean business people.
He tried.
He really tried.
He tried to give them incentives.
He tried, but they just won't do it.
And so he gets it at the end of the day.
If nobody gets hired in this program, blame business for it.
No compassion.
They don't care.
The point is, it's not a good deal for a business.
He's not offering a tax break anywhere near large enough that would offset the cost of hiring somebody.
And there has to be the money to hire somebody, which means there has to be enough work to be done.
There has to be enough productivity the business needs in order to hire somebody.
They don't just hire people because they get a tax break.
It's not how it works.
So this is all for show.
It's all designed for the consumption of words, not the substance of policy.
And by the way, Ty, people are speechless around me all the time.
He said his daughter's normally more talkative.
But a lot of people freeze on the phones here.
They're just in such awe.
It's quite natural.
Don't sweat it.
North, Fort Myers, Florida, Sandy.
Hi.
You're next on the EIB network.
Hello.
Hi.
It's an honor to talk to you.
Thank you very much.
I was telling, I guess, Mr. Sterdley that last night on the public television network here in Fort Myers area, there was a show on for an hour,
but it was on from midnight to one o'clock about economic freedom in action changing lives, where a gentleman traveled the globe and went to formerly communist countries like Czechoslovakia and how they finally rebelled against communism and split off and how they have improved their economy by free enterprise.
And he interviewed people showing that they did their own thing and now their economies are thriving.
And then he went on to Chile and talked about the revolution there where the military took over and the military wanted the main general to take over the economy too.
But he got smart and he brought in some men from Chicago who worked with the Milton Friedman theory and provided free enterprise and they showed many small business people how they are thriving with their ability to feed theirselves.
Right.
What you're saying, you couldn't believe it because it was on PBS?
Yes.
Well, look, they did air at midnight to one.
Nobody in Fort Myers saw it other than you.
But then it's supposedly on this morning and at 8 and then 1 and then 4 this afternoon.
But why couldn't they put it on it at 8 o'clock at night where people really would watch it?
Well, because that's I remember when I first started in radio, 1967, at the time you had to devote a certain percentage of your program to local so-called community issues in order to keep your license.
And so every Sunday morning from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m., we put on the absolute worst, most boring sewage issues in the community, how to bake a carrot cake for the holiday,
all that garbage that nobody wants to listen to that the government made the stations broadcast at a time nobody heard it so we could satisfy the requirement and while that no longer exists per se the same theory PBS did it Okay, cool, but they aired it when nobody saw it.
So they probably had a contract to air the show with whoever produced it, and they got it out of the way when nobody saw it.
Look, folks, I have a question here about tax cuts for poverty zones.
I mean, what the hell?
Because we just heard today that unemployment benefits create jobs.
The president did a 45-minute event at the White House.
If you're just joining us, for those of you who have been listening the whole show, forgive me, I'm going to bring people up to speed.
There was a 45-minute event at the White House where the president said that unemployment benefits grow the economy.
He said that unemployment benefits create jobs.
And he cited a woman named Kathy.
And he said that if she gets unemployment benefits, it might create a job, maybe even for her.
He said that with her unemployment check, she can turn her thermostat up and stay warmer.
And that will benefit the utility company.
And they might hire a worker.
And then he said that if Kathy gets her unemployment check, she might go to the grocery store and buy an additional dozen eggs or loaf of bread or something.
And that might make the grocery store hire a worker, maybe even her.
So 45 minutes, the president was surrounded by people who were applauding this lunacy.
He said, Pelosi said it, Dick Durbin said it on the Senate floor.
Unemployment benefits create jobs.
The White House on their website today says that unemployment benefits, the emergency extension, three more months of unemployment benefits will create, well, they didn't say that.
They said if we don't do it, we could lose 240,000 jobs.
What the president said was that if we continue to pay people not to work, that we will create jobs.
And that if we do not pay people not to work, that we will lose jobs.
And he described it exactly as I told you.
This woman, Kathy, goes to the store, turns her thermostat up, and the utility company, grocery store hire new workers.
So, given that, what is this fall to roll rigmarole about tax breaks for people who hire the unemployed?
Why do they have to be hired?
I thought unemployment benefits create jobs.
So if unemployment insurance creates jobs and the concentration of unemployed is in poverty zones or poor areas, then why would Obama propose tax cuts for these areas to create jobs?
Why not just expand unemployment insurance in these areas?
Because he said today that that creates jobs and that would fix the problem.
We all always does, right?
Unemployment benefits create jobs.
So why is he proposing tax breaks for businesses to hire people in poverty zones?
Why?
If extending unemployment benefits creates jobs, then what is this tax cuts to hire people?
We don't need to hire anybody.
The unemployment benefits creates jobs.
That's what he said.
Folks, do you realize how seriously insane all of this is?
How insultingly stupid all of this is.
Unemployment benefits create jobs.
If we don't extend them, we could lose 200.
Paying people not to work will create jobs.
I don't know about you, but I. That's just.
The man needs to be laughed out of town.
Okay, back to the phones.
Rochester, New Hampshire.
This is Sue.
Sue, welcome to the program.
Great to have you here.
Hello.
Hello, Rush.
It's great to speak with you.
Thank you so much, Mr. Snerkly, for putting my call through.
Rush, I've been spending a lot of time in prayer and concern and disbelief over everybody's been in awe and concerned over the weather pattern and all of the deep freeze and record-breaking weather that we're having.
And in Rochester, New Hampshire, I have been witnessing the chemtrails, the chemical planes that fly above this, all in our airspace doing what's called chemtrails.
Chemtrails, yeah.
I've been doing a lot of research, and I've been reaching out to Senator Kelly Ayot, Senator Gene Shaheen, Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter, trying to get answers for these hazardous blends of barium-salt mixture that are altering our weather.
It's very hard to believe.
What are they telling you?
Oh, Kelly Ayot sent me a letter that looked like it was addressed to a no-mind by telling me that it was contrails.
You mean they're denying it?
Oh, she said they're contrails, you know, condensation.
She explained in the middle of the day.
They're denying the chemtrails.
They are denying that they are putting chemicals and other stuff in these trails?
Absolutely.
And they're denying that?
I had to go down.
After my third visit to Carol Shea Porter's office, I had to fill out an authorization supposedly, well, under the Privacy Act, I had to authorize her to inquire on my behalf to the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, and the CIA.
The CIA.
That's the departments I was told to put in this authorization.
The CIA can't do this domestically.
Now, chemical trails.
Well, it was actually written in the United Nations under an agreement that we can do it to our own country, just not unto others.
They've got a lot of behind-the-scenes, well, it's all part of this big secretive military programs that are supposedly to reverse the effects of global warming.
They're manipulating.
Well, I'd say it's working quite well, if you ask me.
I mean, if they're trying to stop global warming, they may have overdone it with the chemtrails.
Do you ever think of that?
It's very disturbing because I never wanted to know this.
How did you come across this?
I've been witnessing it.
And in New Hampshire, you've been witnessing.
They're in the sky constantly.
I've been taking pictures and videos.
You mean you're looking up in the sky and you're seeing streaks of white.
Absolutely.
Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth all day long.
Sort of like a tic-tac-toe board, but not quite.
Well, they've made X's in our sky.
We can see it coming straight, looks like from the ground up from North.
Why would they do this in a way that you could notice it?
Most people don't even notice.
I talk to people and they've never even heard it.
Well, they're not looking up like you are.
Exactly.
And I've been doing everything.
I think, you know, I've been praying about this for so long because I've been trying to not, you know, burden people with it because it is very burdensome.
However, I want to wake people up so that they'll, you know, join me and demanding answers from our government.
I mean, the week of the shutdown, those jets were above in our sky nonstop for days, you know, and it's extremely, not to mention.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
Did you tell me that during the shutdown?
They were doing the, those chemtrails were being done all during the shutdown.
How can that be?
The government was shut down.
Well, that's a good question.
I was down to...
Did you ask Senator Ayotte's office about that?
Senator Ayot won't even answer me.
That must be you're onto them then.
Unfortunately, well, not unfortunately.
I will give praise.
Carol Shea Porter's, and she's a Democrat, and she's the only one that's even given.
So the Democrat has confirmed the chemtrails.
They haven't said anything about confirming or denying, but they made me sign this waiver, this Privacy Act authorization for her to further investigate because I, you know, I'm using my health issues.
I was diagnosed eight years ago, nine years ago, with multiple sclerosis.
Wow, well, I've been trying to, you know, find out how I could get this disease.
And, you know, it's not in my family history.
So it's the chemtrails, you think.
Something's gone wrong.
Well, the research that I've done, there's proof that it causes Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis.
People suffer with severe headaches.
People may not know this.
Right.
So that the chemtrails can cause all of these things.
And autism?
You're right, Ryan.
It's not just vaccines that have gone wrong.
You're right.
And it's, I think, I mean, I'm so glad that I got through because, you know, I've been a listener of yours forever and ever.
And to be able to get through today, where this week I've been getting back on fire with, you know, making phone calls and posting pictures and videos and just trying to really wake people up.
And I just don't think it's accidental that I cut through on your line today.
It was.
I actually sent you a letter this summer.
It was meant to happen.
I believe it was meant to happen.
Well, Sue, I hope you keep working on Senator Ayat.
Yeah, she doesn't.
I don't, I think she listens to very, very, very selective.
You know, the Republicans.
They don't believe half of what the Democrats can be doing to people.
Well, and you know what?
Gene Shaheen's representative was supposed to be having their environmental person call me, and I have not heard a word.
I got extremely emotional because, you know, when I tell them not just for the love of my country.
Well, I don't know.
Sue, I have to, I've got to go here because of time.
I don't mean to be rude, but they may be trying to call you.
And, you know, the NSA, the CIA may be redirecting the calls.
You just never know.
But I hope that you get to the bottom of it.
The chemtrails that are causing all this that you see flying above you.
You've seen them, folks, streaks, usually behind airplanes.
That's why they're called chemtrails.
Contrails.
You think they're contrails, but they're actually very insidious things.
Chemtrails.
Okay.
Sue, thank you very much.
I have to take a brief time out, folks.
We'll be back here.
I don't know.
You know, the whole immigration thing just pales next to this.
I don't know what it is.
Now, I checked some email during the break, and some of you people are really skeptics out there.
Let me just ask you a question.
What's stranger?
The story about chemtrails this woman told us are Obama's explanation of economics.
Paying people not to work creates jobs.
Not paying people not to work will lose jobs.
Paying people not to work helps utility companies.
I think actually, folks, she might be very careful.
What she thought were chemtrails might have actually just been the polar vortex breaking off.
It could be.
And maybe they are the same thing.
We might never know.
And yeah, I'm going to have to.
It's sad, folks, but I'm not going.
I did not plan it this way.
I'm not going to be able to get to the immigration thing.
I promise, you know what?
I don't care what happens short of nuclear war.
I'm going to, because the immigration thing really is, I'm not going to do it the first thing tomorrow.
And the same thing with the story in the New York Times Success Bad for Your Health.
My friends, I was not lying when I said I was going to get to the immigration story today.
I was just lousy time management.
Just call me Andy Reed.
I really did not mean to not get to it.
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