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Sept. 26, 2014 - Rush Limbaugh Program
37:44
September 26, 2014, Friday, Hour #2
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Greetings my friends and welcome.
It's so great to have you back.
So great to be here.
Rush Limbo wrapping up another week of broadcast excellence.
It's Friday.
So live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida.
It's Open Line Friday.
And a telephone number if you want to be on the program 800-282-2882.
Email address, LRushbo at EIBNet.com.
Open Line Friday differs from Monday through Thursday in a significant way.
Monday through Thursday, you have to talk about something I care about or you don't get through.
But it doesn't have to be.
For example, you know, the first call today would have never happened Monday through Thursday.
The guy in his, I wanted to mention a purchase tax would have never made it through.
Not because there's anything wrong with the guy's point or any of that.
It's just that taxes haven't been on anybody's radar.
And so I would not have been, and the call would have been rejected.
And the second caller, the student from Connecticut, Ben, who just got a new iPhone 6 and want to know what I thought.
That probably wouldn't make it Monday through Thursday either, although that is something I'm profoundly interested in.
But that's a subject that the Stick to the Issues crowd goes batty on, like golf or what have you.
But anyway, that's the deal.
Friday, whatever you want to talk about, the odds are you're going to get through.
I ran across, and this is something we all know, but it just never registers, even in the midst of the subject being talked about.
What is dominating everything in the NFL today?
Aside from the media trying to force the commissioner out.
And make no mistake, that's exactly what's going on.
For those of you unaware, that is not written anywhere.
It's one of the understood resume enhancements for advancement in journalism.
If you take somebody out, if you expose a fraud or a cheat, or if you just take out somebody that you don't like who has a lot of power, if you as a journalist are instrumental in doing that, then you are considered worthy of advancement in that industry.
And it best exemplified by Watergate, Woodward and Bernstein, and getting Nixon, forcing Nixon to resign.
And since then, if you troll the halls at any journalism school, grab any first or second year J school students and say, why are you here?
You'll hear something along the lines of, I want to make a difference.
Really?
Yes.
I want to make the world a better place.
Well, that's not what journalism is.
Yes, it is.
Yes, it is.
Don't you watch 60 Minute?
Yeah.
But it's not about making the world a better place.
That's not what journalism should be.
Well, that's what I want to do.
I want to make the world a better place.
I want to strive for equality and for fairness, and I want to make a difference.
Well, then you need to run for office or work for somebody who's elected because that's what they do.
Or maybe become the owner of your own company and establish your own business culture, but journalism is not about making a difference.
Journalism isn't about making the world a better place.
In fact, journalism is about reporting what other people aren't around to see.
Well, that's no, no, I want to make the world a better place.
So If you then persist, you'll eventually hear a journalism student say, and you know what I'll say, I want to speak truth to power.
Oh, really?
What does that mean?
It means I want to hold the powerful accountable.
Why?
Because the powerful, it's just an assumption in journalism that the powerful are guilty, that they couldn't become powerful otherwise.
Not legitimately.
Now, there are exceptions, obviously.
Democrat presidents, that's perfectly fine.
That power, not only are we not going to take that power out, we're going to help that power get built.
Because journalism now is uber partisan, journalism.
But one of the base elements is taking people out, destroying people, destroying their life, like they tried to do with Mitt Romney, for example.
And so one of the things happening here in this NFL, they're trying to get Goodell.
And they will tell you, if you know how to listen, turn on any sports talk show, read any sports website, and you won't have any trouble finding commentary from any number of people who will just flat out, openly say, Goodell's got to go.
Goodell's a liar.
Goodell's lie.
Goodell's got to go.
We've got to get rid of Goodell.
And it's a fever that spreads, and these people get caught up in it.
And after a while, they even forget why.
It just becomes a way that journalists can demonstrate to themselves, everybody else, their power, and also affect the kind of change politically they want, because journalism is total politics.
Total.
So the effort here is to get Goodell.
And the reason they're trying to get Goodell, the way they're trying to get Goodell, is spouse abuse.
And so the picture has been painted that it's horrible in the NFL.
It just reprehenses.
It's bad.
I mean, these brutes, these guys, this is terrible.
And Goodell is not nearly severe enough in reading out punishment, blah, blah.
And then you learn that statistically, the incidence of crime in the NFL, like spouse abuse, drug abuse, substance abuse, whatever, is between 13 and 15% of what it is in the general population.
In other words, these incidents occur far less in the NFL.
The thing is, there are cameras on the NFL all the time.
There are cameras on all the players who play every Sunday.
There are cameras on press.
I mean, these guys are TV stars.
Football players are TV stars.
And football is a reality show, and it's part of the daily soap opera.
And so it also is in the crosshairs now because of concussions and the injuries that the game causes to people that play it.
And it's a target now.
It's just become a huge, huge target, and the people that run it have got to go.
And in light of all of that, this effort to create the image of the NFL as the absolute bastion of brutish, reprehensible, male, predatory behavior is all over the place.
And yet, I ran across some statistics.
This is, I say, something that we all know because we pay attention to the news, but it doesn't register because there aren't any pictures of it, and there hasn't been a big effort to do anything about it.
But look at this.
The NFL is currently mired in controversy surrounding issues of domestic abuse among its players, as well as how the commissioners handle the issue.
There have been five arrests for domestic violence and one arrest for child abuse since the start of 2014.
Now, that doesn't count multiple arrests for assault, drugs, DUI, and more that USA Today has tracked.
Now, is that disturbing?
Well, yeah, but, but, compare those numbers to the 325 school teachers and employees arrested for sexual misconduct with children since the beginning of the year.
The bottom line is this.
Your child is much safer in an NFL locker room than he or she is in any public school in America.
Stop and think.
How many stories do you see here and there, now and again, over a period of time about a teacher abusing a child?
And speaking of which, how many of you can recall being shocked and surprised at how many of the teachers abusing young students are women?
Now, I'm sure as you start thinking about it, your memory kicks in.
You're starting to say, yeah, yeah, that I remember that.
Here's a pull quote from this story.
If the NFL players in league office deserve wall-to-wall coverage over the past two weeks for five incidents of domestic abuse within the past year, what level of attention do our children and screw-alls deserve with 325 incidents of sexual assault by teachers or school employees within the past year?
U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, Republican Pennsylvania, and U.S. Representatives Mike Fitzpatrick, Republican Pennsylvania, Frederica Wilson, Democrat Florida, and Steve Stivers, Republican Ohio, recently attempted to bring attention to the problem in a press conference and news release announcing a bill to protect students from sexual predators in schools.
It was met with a resounding thud, as primarily only local Pennsylvania news outlets covered the announcement according to a Google search.
Yes, there are hundreds of NFL football players versus millions of school-aged children, so the representation of these instances of sexual misconduct with school is statistically smaller.
But that doesn't excuse the response and the horrible judgment by teachers and administrators.
And the point here is look at the level, the differing degrees of intensity.
The focus of evil in all this is the NFL.
It's reprehensible.
We got to get the commissioner.
We got to get those guys doing it.
Get them fired.
We're going to put them in jail.
It's horrible.
It's rotten.
Everybody's focused on it.
And now pregame shows of football games are taken up with this issue before they even get to the football aspects of the game they're carrying later.
And yet here's an issue that is literally swept under the rug every time an incident is reported.
Teachers union has a lot to do with that.
And politics has a lot to do with it too, because leftists run the education system and they circle the wagons and protect each other.
Well, I found this.
I ran into this a couple nights ago and I found it fascinating.
And, you know, just as a societal study of the way the media is able to gin up overflowing emotion and anger on certain things, and at the same time, able to suppress And hide the same conduct, oftentimes worse, in other places.
The murder rate in Chicago, for example, black on black crime in Chicago versus one incident in Ferguson, Missouri.
Look at the difference in media coverage there.
That's politics.
That's the media, and that's what's – by the way, don't misunderstand here.
I don't know.
I don't think any of you are, but for some nitpickers, this is not to defend what's happening in the NFL.
This is an exercise here in, again, understanding, comprehending journalism.
I mean, the morally outraged would have you believe that no instance of child abuse is tolerable.
It's not permissible.
We're not going to put up with it.
And yet, depending on where it happens, they don't even care.
And they don't spend much energy at all reporting it.
But let it happen in the NFL, which is now the latest target of the meeting.
For a host of reasons.
That's why I said, I don't think even now, I don't think the NFL and its owners even now realize fully who it is coming after them and why.
I hope they do, but I haven't seen enough evidence to be confident of that.
Brief timeout, then your phone calls return after that.
Your guiding light through times of trouble, confusion, murkiness, tumult, chaos, malaise, decline, all that rotten stuff.
And your guiding light through the good times as well.
Rush Limbaugh, up online Friday.
Here's Jill in St. Charles, Illinois.
Hey, great to have you, Jill.
Hi.
Hi, Rush.
Thanks for taking my call.
You bet.
I just wanted to say that I just got Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims for my son, my six-year-old, and he loves it so much that he wants to be Rush Revere for Halloween.
It's so cute.
Well, that's incredible.
It's the first I've heard of something like this.
Let me six years old.
Now, does he read well enough?
The only problem we have right now with that is my husband is ultra-liberal.
But last night, I couldn't read.
I was unavailable to read to him.
My husband was in there reading and doing all the voices and everything.
It just was amazing to hear.
Well, now that's fine because there isn't anything political in these books.
There's nothing in these books that should anger your husband, even if he's a driven liberal, like you say.
There's nothing in there that would insult him.
Exactly.
No.
And, you know, I had a hard time finding, I had to actually order online.
I went to my son's school book fair to try to find it.
And the people who were working at Book Fair never heard of it.
And I was really shocked because it is such a great book, and it is so good for.
Well, it's a worldwide bestseller.
If they haven't heard of it, it's because they don't want to hear of it.
Exactly.
What do you mean you couldn't?
Now, wait a second, Jill.
What do you mean you couldn't find it?
Where were you?
Well, I looked at, but what I meant is I couldn't find it at the school, like Bookfare.
I thought, oh, the bookstore, they'll have the best-selling book, but he didn't.
And I was the schools, here's, in many cases, I don't know specifically about your school, but in many cases, what's in the Rush Revere adventure series, Time Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans, is not taught in schools.
That's why I wrote the books.
Oh.
Because what's taught in schools is different now.
And the reason for writing the books is to teach young children like yours the truth of the founding of this country, how special it is, and how beautiful it was, and how hard it was, and how unique we are, and why there's every reason in the world to be proud of America and to be a proud American and to love the country.
And so that's why the books have been written.
So I am thrilled that you are reading it to your son.
He likes it.
Now, he wants to go out as Rush Revere for Halloween.
Your husband doesn't want him to?
I'm sorry.
Your husband doesn't want him to go out as Rush Revere?
Halloween?
I haven't asked him yet.
I don't need to ask him.
I mean, I just haven't told him yet.
Okay.
All right.
He can't possibly object to that.
I mean, that's the child just wants to go out as one of his heroes in a book now.
My husband was reading it to him last night, so that's why I think it was amazing.
That's a major achievement.
That's a major accomplishment.
And he was even doing the voices of the different characters.
Exactly.
Yep.
And our son has named our Chihuahua Liberty.
And so he's always yelling, rush, rush, rushing to history.
So he loves it.
Well, let me, do you have Rush Revere?
No.
I don't have the first book.
You don't have the First Patriots.
No.
Okay.
Okay.
What I want you to do is hang on.
And whoever answered the phone is going to pick the phone back up.
Don't hang up.
And I'm going to send you that.
I'm going to send you the second book.
And I'm going to send you the audio version of both books so that after you've read and after your husband has read the book to your child, if he wants to hear it again, you can just plug in the CD because it's every word.
None of it's abridged.
And it's an entirely different experience, Jill, when you hear me, the author, read my own book.
I must say, they're really good.
And so I'd be delighted to send those to you if you want.
Don't tell me we lost.
Oh, okay.
She's already, she left me to give her information to the call screener.
Okay, fine and dandy.
So that's all.
She's already leaving her mailing in book.
Okay, cool.
Here's Mark and Houston.
Mark, you're next on the EIB network.
Hello.
Mark, are you there?
Saying that you're the children's book author of the year because I know it's the biggest gig of all.
It hurts them when they hear that.
But I called because I believe that all these people that go to this J school or journalism school are coming out and becoming salesmen, and they should be called such.
Like Bob Schieffer, National Sales Director, or DeFace the Nation, or Christiane Amampur, international sales correspondent.
You know, that's got to be an insult to those people because that's really what they do, and they should be treated like slick oil salesmen.
You know, I like that.
They are advocates.
They are advocates of a point of view.
And by the way, folks, let me say something about that.
I think this idea that journalists have to be objective and unbiased is impossible.
It's impossible for an engaged human being to not care about the outcome of events.
Everybody cares.
I mean, that spends time in this business, that endeavors to become informed.
Everybody cares.
Everybody has a desired outcome.
The challenge for journalism is not total objectivity, it's honesty.
Some might say fairness.
Journalists love to say, well, yes, we might be, but we're fair.
No, they're not fair because you're not honest.
The key to journalism is honesty and the willingness to report and cover things that are going to result in an outcome you don't agree with.
That's why I love this analogy that they're actually salespeople.
They're advocates.
I think that's a great way of CNN's Christiana Monpoor, international sales rep for CNN, because that's exactly what she's doing.
It's a great point.
Amber back, Open Line Friday, Rush Limbaugh, half my brain, as always, tied behind my back.
Just because we like to make things fair here.
Here's Bob in Wheaton, Illinois, as we head back to the phones.
Great to have you, Bob.
Hi.
Hey, thanks for taking my call, Rush.
Longtime listener, first-time caller.
Great to have you here.
My question about gas prices, two part.
First part is there's a lot of advertising right now from the Democratic Party, if you will, that says that the prices are going to drop below $3 gallon in about 30 or plus states.
And I wondered if that was really your opinion on whether or not it's the upcoming midterm elections.
Now, I didn't quite follow that.
Are you saying the Democrats are running ads talking about gas prices falling?
No, I'm saying there's a lot of commercials out in newspapers, et cetera, that talk about gas prices dropping in about 30-plus states below $3 a gallon.
Oh, and you're asking me if this is to benefit Democrats in the elections.
Pardon me?
I'm trying to figure out what you're asking me.
It's my hearing.
The lowering of the gas prices that have been publicized are due to the midterm elections by the Democratic Party.
You are seeing or you think that's in the newspapers and so forth.
So that's what I was bringing to your attention and wondering what your thoughts were.
Okay, I'm still not clear here, but let me tackle it anyway.
It's my hearing, folks.
I'm having trouble.
Okay, by whom?
Who's advertising that gas prices are coming down?
Is the Democrats advertising it or is it gas companies?
I don't know.
But here's gasoline prices are coming down.
If the Democrats are trying to capitalize on it, I would totally, totally understand it.
But here's the best I have on it.
Prices at the pump, this is an AP story today, have now in much of the country dipped below $3 a gallon.
Now, it is typical that in the autumn, in the fall, gasoline prices do decline as the summer vacation driving season tapers off.
But one of the things driving a bigger drop in gasoline prices than what is statistically natural or normal is the falling of global oil prices.
And by the end of the year, up to 30 states could have an average gasoline price of less than $3 a gallon.
Now, that may be what he's seeing.
It may be what the caller is seeing.
30 states could have an average gasoline price of less than $3 a gallon.
Now, one of the reasons for this is seasonal.
When we get to autumn or fall, the refiners are allowed to switch their blends to cheaper blends of gasoline for the cooler months.
That has to do with emissions requirements and controls and pollutants and so forth.
Driving demand declines after summer vacations have ended as well.
But what is a surprise to everybody is the drop in global crude oil prices.
Despite increasing violence and turmoil, every time this happens, I have to tell you folks, on the verge of every Gulf War we've ever had, there have been stories left and right just trying to scare everybody that the gasoline price is going to go through the roof because these wars are going to interrupt the supply.
These wars are going to interrupt all of the drilling and all the production and the refining.
And you can look for $8 a gallon gasoline.
You remember every Gulf War I, Gulf War II, the Iraq War, and before this latest skirmish with ISIS, the same thing was said, and it never happens.
One of the things that is incredible is that a lot of times oil prices, global oil prices, actually end up falling despite increasing violence and turmoil in the Middle East.
It's below $97 a barrel right now.
That's close to its lowest level in more than two years.
But let me tell you what the real reason for it is.
It isn't Barack Obama policy.
It isn't some mysterious, powerful dude in a room who determines the oil price or the gasoline price.
You know, people still think that, Rachel.
People still think, Bill O'Reilly is still hunting for the guy.
People think there is one guy that determines what the gasoline price is going to be or some powerful group that determines it.
And they do it independent from market forces and in an arbitrary way.
But there's something happening in this country that is being barely reported on, that is resulting in massive discoveries of new oil.
And as we discover ways to tap it and bring it up and use it, the United States has very quietly been on the verge of becoming a worldwide oil leader in capacity and drilling and all of that.
And I'm talking about fracking.
Fracking is this new technology that allows drillers to consistently increase production.
This is what's going on in North Dakota and Texas.
It's a way of getting oil previously unobtainable.
The oil has always been there, but there was no cost-efficient way to get it.
But fracking is a new way of going in at an angle and finding reserves of oil in shale and any number of other places where heretofore it's been impossible to get.
And where fracking is occurring, economic booms are taking place, such as in North Dakota.
The unemployment rate in North Dakota is 3.5%.
North Dakota, they cannot build housing fast enough to accommodate all the people moving there working in the fracking industry.
Now, commensurate with this outbreak in fracking is the left and the global warming crowd and the environmentalist wackos attacking fracking and trying to blame fracking for earthquakes and other potential violent natural disasters because it shouldn't be done.
Going in there and getting this oil the way we're getting it, Mr. Limbaugh, is destabilizing the Earth's crust and the very foundation on which our forests sit.
And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It isn't, you know, the guy and his wife, I have a metal block on his name right now, Pegula, I think, owns the Buffalo Sabres, just bought the Buffalo Bills for $1.1 billion, whatever, fracking.
Fracking is one of his businesses.
And it's happening in many ways under the radar.
And it ought to be a focal point, something we were talking about in the first time, economic growth, tax cuts and all that.
Fracking is causing, despite Obama, despite all the liberalism that Obama has inculcated, despite the stagnation elsewhere in the economy, fracking is a boom wherever it is happening because it's oil.
And I don't care what anybody says, oil is the fuel of the engine of freedom.
There isn't a replacement for it.
There isn't a substitute for it.
They can dream all they want about using French fry grease in jet airplane engines.
They can dream all they want about solar panels and windmills and all this.
But there is nothing.
We aren't even close to having anything that substitutes or replaces oil.
And by the way, we are in no danger of running out of it.
The Earth has more oil reserves than anybody one time believed.
It was just a couple years ago, it was thought that we barely had 50, 75 years left.
Then all of a sudden that was revised to be 200 years, and now it's even more than that.
Because oil is a lot of places that heretofore have not been economical to explore.
It's cost more to get it than you could sell it for based on world prices.
So one of the factors that is increasing production from fracking is the decline in world oil prices.
It makes it far more attractive to go get it.
And in fact, the going and getting it is contributing to the plummeting oil price, which again here is below $97 a barrel for the first time in two years.
So long way of explaining this is not a Democrat plot.
There's not somebody in a room lowering gasoline prices to benefit incumbents and particularly Democrats.
This is the result of natural market forces taking place.
And one thing I love is every time that there is hostility, declared hostilities in the Middle East, we get the media does predictable things.
And one of the predictable things is to warn everybody of the possible and likely interruption in oil supplies and shipments.
And therefore, the supply will be drastically cut back, and therefore the price of gasoline and every refined product will go through the roof.
It doesn't happen.
It's amazing how it doesn't happen.
The opposite does.
And it's something that Keynesian economics can't explain because they ignore market forces, particularly free market forces.
So this is a phenomenon, but if I had to say, if I pigeonhole what explains it, market forces are always largely going to dictate prices.
Now, in oil, there are various regulations that raise the price, the various blends for different parts of the country based on pollution and smog and so forth, transportation costs and so forth, but it's still supply-demand business.
Fracking is increasing the overall supply.
And by the way, there's another thing.
Oil use is down.
There are a lot of people not working in this country.
There are a lot of people not driving to work anymore.
Young people, millennials, they're getting their jollies off by bragging about how they don't even want to have a car.
Yeah, they're content to ride their bicycles and keep a record of it on their health app.
And all they're waiting for is their Apple Watch so they can get an accurate record of how healthy they are riding their bicycles and blowing their kazoos or whatever.
But the bottom line is they're taking great pride in not having cars.
They think mass transit, they think that's advanced.
Mass transit, yes, that's forward-thinking.
That's elite.
But the bottom line is there are fewer people working, fewer people driving to work, the economy's down, fewer people going on vacation, fewer people drive.
And it all adds up to supply and demand being the reason why gasoline prices are on the way down.
By the way, folks, it's worth pointing out, it's worth reminding you how the Associated Press and the rest of the drive-by media used to mock the whole idea that increasing oil production in the U.S. could ever lower global oil prices.
They mocked it.
They made fun of the idea that raising domestic production could result in oil independence in the Middle East.
Oh, you don't remember that?
Well, you remember a woman named Sarah Palin and drill, baby, drill.
Drill here, drill now.
Do you remember all that?
You do, right?
Well, you remember how they mocked that.
Remember how they mocked her?
Remember how they made fun of the whole premise?
And even when people agreed with her, they made fun of it.
Oh, come on, don't be serious.
That's so short-sighted.
Drill, baby, drill, right?
Is that really your answer?
Yep, it's kind of like just say no.
All right, that really is serious.
Just say no, that's really going to work.
Well, it happens to work every time you try it.
Yeah, but it's so simplistic.
You need a lot more nuance.
You just can't say drill, baby, drill and hand up more oil.
Yes, you can.
Yeah, that's, in fact, exactly what you do.
The point is, it's happening with fracking.
There's another thing going on, by the way, folks.
This you might find fascinating.
You know, ISIS, this bunch that we're trying to wipe out, ISIS, we're bombing oil installations over there because ISIS has gained control.
ISIS is selling oil at $25 a barrel in the black market instead of the $97, $95, $100 a barrel price that's out there.
Now, I'm slightly kidding, but they are undercutting the world price with black market sales because they don't care about the oil market.
They just want money.
Like everybody else just wants money.
Especially the people who say they don't care about money because of their ideology or because of their social concern or because of their social devotions or because of their religions, whatever.
When they say they don't care about the money, it's all about the money.
And ISIS is trying to make a quick grab on as much as they can.
Here's Tony, Edmonds, Washington.
Hi, Tony.
You're next on Open Line Friday.
Hi.
Hi, Rush.
Thanks for having me on.
Say.
Yes, sir.
How can we light a fire under the Republicans?
Here we've got, what, five, six weeks before the election, and these guys have not established a mandate to govern in 2015 if they take the Congress.
And, you know, I asked John Campbell, who is a retiring congressman from California, a great guy.
At his point, I said, why can't we do what we did in 94 with the Contract for America?
And he says, well, we're already the majority, and a majority doesn't need to have a contract, which just baffled me.
I don't understand these guys.
Well, there is an active posture now to not do exactly what you want.
What's animating or informing the Republican philosophy at the moment is the belief that the Democrats are committing suicide.
And that when that happens, just get out of the way and just let it.
If your opponent is destroying himself, then don't help.
Just sit there and let it happen.
But I agree with you.
I don't think we've ever had a greater opportunity to contrast who we are with what is happening.
We don't even have to talk about how theoretically bad it's going to be if Democrats win.
We're living it.
And a contrast is made to order right now.
And not just for the mandate that would accompany a victory, but for public education as well, which we sadly are short on.
We need to be educating the American people from a leadership point of view, politically, what the opposite of Obamaism and the Democrat Party is and what it can mean to people individually and their families.
But the Republicans are afraid to do it.
There's a whole bunch of reasons why, John.
One is the belief that if your enemy is destroying themselves, just shut up and let it happen.
B, they really believe if there's any criticism of Obama because of race, that they're just going to get hammered.
And they've been made to believe the American people, even though Obama's 38, 39% approval, they still don't want Obama criticized because he's a nice man and don't want any criticism.
So they're listening to their consultants, they're advising them to go slow.
And some people, John, are actually beginning to ask if the Republicans actually want to win.
It's easier to be in the minority.
You don't have to do anything.
Do you think it's strange the Republicans have no positions, no mandate?
Jeb Bush thinks Republicans should pass amnesty if they win back the Senate.
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