RUSH: All right, folks, you want to hear something funny? This is from The Hill, the Capitol Hill newspaper. Headline of the story: ‘Conyers: ‘I’m Getting Tired of Saving Obama’s Can.” Greetings, my friends, and how are you? How is that hope and change working for you? Have you been reduced to eating vending machine cheese and crackers? Welcome to Obama’s America. 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program. E-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com. (laughing)
‘President Barack Obama is ‘bowing down’ to Republicans and corporate interests on health reform, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said Thursday. … ‘I’m getting tired of saving Obama’s can in the White House. He only won by five votes in the House, and this bill wasn’t even anything to write home about. The only way he could have got it through was that progressives held their nose.’ … he castigated Obama for trying to reach out to conservatives and other adversaries on health reform, accusing the president of doing a ‘disservice’ to what he’d once stood for. ‘Holding hands out and beer on Friday nights in the White House and bowing down to every nutty, right-wing proposal about healthcare and saying on occasion the public option isn’t all that important is doing a disservice to the Barack Obama that I first met, who was an ardent single-payer enthusiast himself.”
Is Obama bowing down to us? What have I missed? He’s probably talking about the Stupak amendment on abortion. He doesn’t understand Obama. Obama is out there lying, Mr. Conyers. He’s simply saying, (imitating Obama) ‘Oh, single-payer, uh, government-run health option, uh, not that important to me.’ He’s just saying that because he knows nobody is in favor of this. He’s a little smarter than you are, Congressman Conyers. He knows that if he’s dead set honest about what he wants to do it doesn’t have a prayer. Anyway, I detect trouble in paradise with Congressman Conyers there.
All right, last night on The CBS Evening News, the perky Katie Couric interviewed the Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Couric said, ‘Republicans are already out there saying, ‘Let the rationing begin, this is what happens when bureaucrats make your health care decisions.” This is about the mammogram decision. ‘What is your response to that?’
SEBELIUS: Well, it’s unfortunate that once again the attempt is to, first of all, skew the data and, secondly, to make this a very partisan political debate. This is a panel, actually, appointed by President George Bush, folks who have been on this group for a long time who were given the job of looking at a variety of services and making recommendations based on the science. That’s just what they’ve done. They don’t make policy. They won’t make policy.
RUSH: Did you hear that last line? They don’t make policy. They won’t make policy. So she will not explain here why the government would not embrace recommendations made by the government. She’s basically saying that the government will not embrace the recommendations made by this task force, which she’s laying off on the Bush administration. Now, she says the recommendations are based on science but the government’s not going to accept them, don’t worry about it, this mammogram, 50, that’s partisan reporting. Do you know that there’s not one radiologist or oncologist on this task force? I don’t care who impaneled it, it’s still a government bureaucracy, there’s not one cancer doctor or radiologist on the commission that recommends delaying breast cancer screenings to age 50.
We live in the United States of America, for crying out loud. If you are a woman and you want to get screened, you want to get a mammography at age 30, you go get one. Get an insurance company to pay for it or pay for it out of your pocket. If you want one you should get it. Why is it anybody’s business in government to tell you you can’t? So then the perky Katie Couric followed up, ‘Well, how do you stop insurance companies from using the panel’s recommendation that there’s no blanket recommendation for women starting at age 40 to get a baseline mammogram? Why would you think that private insurers won’t take advantage of that and stop covering them?’
SEBELIUS: Well, at least the statement issued today by the health plans indicated that if there was a doctor recommendation that a woman have a mammogram they were likely to follow it. So I’m taking them at their word. I hope that’s the case.
RUSH: Uhhh, all of a sudden she’s going to take a statement by health plans, she’s going to take insurance companies at their word? That’s not like this administration. They’re out there demonizing these insurance plans. Let’s not forget, ladies and gentlemen, President Obama at his joint speech to Congress September 9th of this year: ‘And insurance companies will be required to cover with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care like mammograms and colonoscopies because there’s no reason we shouldn’t be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. It makes sense; it saves money; it saves lives.’ And his own government recommends delaying, a few short months later, mammogram screenings, breast cancer screenings to age 50. And now she’s out there denying it, Kathleen Sebelius.
Now, this mammogram issue, if I may pontificate, and I may because it’s my microphone, I paid for it and it’s my show, and Katie is not on the phone to stop me. The mammogram issue, in my estimation, highlights the conflict between the human spirit and organized efforts to suppress that human spirit, which is what this administration’s objective is. To deny mammograms by force of law is like passing a law to prevent home security systems and door locks for homes. They may be expensive. They may be more than what some might think necessary given the burglary rates in an area. But home security systems and fancy door locks bring peace of mind to those living in good neighborhoods and not-so-good neighborhoods. It’s universal, proactive self-defense, an attempt to protect ourselves and our property. Some people may not want any locks. Some may spend a fortune on their security system. It should be an individual decision which yields peace of mind.
Now, medical tests were meant to be individual in nature because we all have unique health issues. Some of us have genetic familial tendencies for certain cancers, some people heart disease, some people diabetes. Sometimes there’s no explanation, sometimes there’s no clues, people who get lung cancer who have never smoked before. Every human being is unique and doctors will be the first to verify that fact. They don’t treat people in groups of 20. It’s one patient at a time for a reason and as a result, folks, there are no good collective answers for individual problems. That is a profundity and I shall repeat it. There are no good collective answers for individual problems. To limit our options regarding medical care is an assault. It is an attack and people are going to defend themselves against this. Anybody who wants to interfere with the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness can screw off as far as I’m concerned. They have a fight on their hands. This is a matter of self-defense. We’re all playing defense now against our own government, against our own president.
That’s why we got a Constitution, by the way, to protect those of us who will not accept budget restrictions as reasons it give up even just a little bit our pursuit of life, liberty, and our pursuit of happiness, especially when we’re all paying for it! For the good of the country? That’s not in the contract. We’re supposed to give up life, liberty, pursuit of happiness for the good of the country, for the good of Obama? That’s not in the deal! It’s our God-given individual right, guaranteed by our Constitution. It isn’t repealable because Congress wants to treat us as budget items when operating with limited resources. And that’s what we’re all going to be, under any health care reform currently being considered. Budget items. We all are genetically programmed, we are created with a will to live. Ted Kennedy comes to mind. As far as I’m concerned, that was the meaning of the end of his life. Ted Kennedy wasn’t told what tests or what treatment he could have.
Kennedy fought to live until his last breath because he’s human, and everybody applauded his struggle. They were hoping that his struggle would prove worthwhile, and it probably did give him a few extra months that he otherwise would not have had, at the age of 77. No one should have the right to come between anyone, their doctor and treatments. No sane person is going to go down on this with mammograms or whatever without a fight. Self-defense and the will to live came with the package of being born in this country. They weren’t optional. God made ’em standard equipment. The will to live and the yearning spirit to be free. Ever since we won the Revolutionary War, Americans have always felt like we were born in the right place, at the right time, and the reason is because we were given the opportunity and the right to be personally in charge of our lives and our destiny.
No king, no tyrant, no despot, no central planning bureaucrat can take that for any reason. The will to live is God-given, it is constitutionally guaranteed. Anybody who wants to limit that gift is asking for a fight. If our government is going to tell some of us our time is up simply because they’ve decided to, they have no idea the fight they’re going to have on their hands. That’s why there is outrage over an attempt by the government to control mammograms. The outrage that you see is a manifestation of the part of the human spirit called self-defense, a subset of the will to live. It’s just sad that we now are in self-defense mode as we protect ourselves from our public servants. That’s where we are.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Jan in the Bay Area. Nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: General Limbaugh, you are a true patriot. And I run to you for cover three hours a day in my fight against the battle of liberalism. Please lead on.
RUSH: Thank you very much. Boy, you are in the bowels of it, too.
CALLER: Hey. Well, you know, I’m just sitting here thinking, ‘I think a Revolutionary War was fought for less tyranny than what this government’s imposing on us right now.’
RUSH: Well, you may have a point once it’s fully implemented.
CALLER: Yeah. So, I have two points I called about, and I’m hoping you can indulge me as much as Katie and we can get through them here. I think I won’t disappoint you. I was one of those people that got a loan modification in the great state of California out here.
RUSH: Would this be a mortgage modification?
CALLER: Yes. On my second.
RUSH: On your second mortgage. This to avoid foreclosure and sending you out in the street in front of city hall with the homeless and the seagulls.
CALLER: Hey, well, I want you to know, even though this is a slush fund, it’s our slush fund. That’s taxpayer money in that slush fund.
RUSH: I know, I know. That’s one way of looking at it: it’s your money.
CALLER: Okay, all right? And this is tied to health care, and it’s tied to the economy. It is the economy, stupid, Nancy Pelosi. It’s not health care. Nancy and Harry are fiddling while America burns and it’s really frying me. Okay, I got a loan modification on my second. As you know in California, the price of houses are so high, most people get a conforming rate on the first part of their loan, and then they get whatever better rate they can get on a second, and then you’re not paying this high rate on the whole loan.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, I knew that.
CALLER: Yes. Okay. So my first is with my credit union. They don’t have any bailout money, so they can’t help me permanently. But my second was with CitiMortgage, and they got lots of bailout money. But, you know, they want you to miss a payment before they even do anything for you. I tried for six months because I —
RUSH: Wait a minute. You’re serious?
CALLER: I’m serious.
RUSH: They want — they want you to miss a payment?
CALLER: They do. They do. And I tried for six months to do this without missing a payment. I have pristine credit, and my husband and I — and we checked our credit record after this and the only thing we have on our credit is one late payment on our first and our second, and it was only because we plain ran out of money, it wasn’t because we wanted to.
RUSH: Right. Let me ask you a question.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Not that I’m bored, because I’m fascinated by the story. How much more is there? Because I’ve only got ten seconds.
CALLER: Can you hold me through the bottom of the hour?
RUSH: Gladly.
CALLER: Oh, thank you!
RUSH: Well, I’ll put you on hold.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: I’m a word literalist. If I could hold you, I would, but you’re a continent away.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: And we are back, and we now rejoin Jan in the Bay Area. You were talking about your credit rating, you had to miss a payment before they’d let you in the program.
CALLER: Right, and not because I wanted to. But I worked with them, we tried to work with them for six months, and, you know, I was telling Bo, I borrowed from my 401(k) to try and stay afloat because I believe in making my own way in life. But, you know, they helped us out there, that they say, very difficult to get and I was very naive to think that if I was going to, you know, go into foreclosure, I could borrow from my 401(k), and I do read all paperwork before I sign it, Rush. But you have to be in, you know, the depths like six months into foreclosure before you can borrow from your 401(k), and I didn’t want to be there. So the big key word for anybody looking for a house is loss of income. My husband is an insurance agent, and he sells homeowners and he sells auto insurance. Nobody is buying new homes in California and except for the little blip on the radar screen of Cash for Clunkers, nobody’s buying new cars. Our income is off 40% from when we bought our house five years ago. And you can’t weather that kind of storm, and we’ve put $500 a month away in our 401(k) because there was a match from his company. So it’s not like I’m an idiot out here not saving money, but I was deceived as to the access to that money in my 401(k). I knew I would have penalties —
RUSH: So what is your conclusion, then?
CALLER: What is my conclusion? I’m mad at these politicians because I beat myself up for months, Rush, laying in bed every night trying to figure out how I was going to pay my bills. You know, I called you before. I have four girls that I homeschool, and we did that Rush worship live? Do you remember that?
RUSH: I do.
CALLER: On Jay Leno. They have something they want to say to you right now.
KIDS: We salute you, General Limbaugh!
CALLER: They love you. They’re running around the house trying to figure out how they can talk to you again.
RUSH: Tell ’em I heard ’em.
CALLER: Okay, good, they said ‘We salute you, General Limbaugh.’ But, you know, I’m not a slouch. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I am trying to weather the storm. I mean I borrowed from the 401(k). We’re trying to do anything to make it out, but I see double-dip recession, I see inflation kicking in, I see the cost of my food, my power, they raise my power, now my water company, there’s a water shortage, we all conserve so well, guess what, we’re raising your rates because no one’s using any water.
RUSH: I know.
CALLER: I can’t do it. I can’t do it. And health care is going to raise my taxes. Can’t you people see it, okay? It’s going to put me under. I’m not going to be able to pay my property taxes, and they want to take away my Prop 13 out here in California. I can’t do any more taxes. I’m just hanging on by a thread hoping things will turn around. My husband’s a hard worker, but I’m a stay-at-home mom.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: We value the homeschooling more than we value me getting a job, but don’t worry, I’ve been looking for a job but I’ve been out of the market 15 years and still I’m trying.
RUSH: On top of all this there’s an Eggo shortage.
CALLER: Hey, I make my own waffles, Rush.
RUSH: Well, you’re not going to be impacted by that at least.
CALLER: I want you to know that and you know what else I want you to know? You did a story a while back on women that take the birth control pill. I don’t because of the high risk of breast cancer in my family and now they want to take away my mammogram, but I want you to know what kind of woman I am, I like a manly man, I’ve never taken the pill in my life. Do you remember that story?
RUSH: The last time you called?
CALLER: No, no, no. The news story.
RUSH: Not only birth control, but there are studies that say abortions increase the chances of breast cancer as well.
CALLER: Right. And I have such a high incidence, my mom, both of her sisters died of breast cancer, four out of six of my great aunts had breast cancer, and a couple of my cousins have had it. Fortunately my mom and my sister and I have been spared, but I just can’t believe the overreaching this government is doing —
RUSH: See, after you laid out the specifics of — you’re very honest in doing so — of your situation, you look at the purposeful destruction of the private sector where the recovery for you and your family lurks has gotta make you even angrier because every policy they have implemented is further doing you in.
CALLER: Hey, and it’s not just me. I can name countless people, and, you know, people are saying, ‘Be happy you have a job.’ I have so many friends and family out here that have taken big, drastic pay cuts, and we are happy we have a job. Don’t get us wrong. But it doesn’t pay the bills. My brother, he works two jobs. He works for a — you know what? I want to tell you this, too. Those cheese and crackers in the vending machines, they’re pretty steep. My brother stocks those things. And you know who can still buy ’em? The people in Oakland, his business is good there because they get their paycheck no matter what from the government.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: I know that sounds racist. I’m sorry.
RUSH: Well, what’s racist about it?
CALLER: Because they get a paycheck when everyone else doesn’t.
RUSH: Well, they’re not the only ones. Look, we’re at the point now where 50% of the American people get some kind of a check from the government, 50%, and it’s increasing, and that also is by design. Well, Jan, God bless you. She held on here for an hour-and-a-half, which is why I gave her a little time here. I understand the plight that you’re in. So many people are in it, too. I think people like you are not being reported on, you’re not being represented in any polling data, but there are far more people in your circumstance and have the same emotion you have about it than anybody in the news media is reporting about it, and that anybody in Washington cares about. That’s what’s just infuriating to me because none of this is necessary. We could have been on our way out of this months ago. We need not even have been in it this deep. It has been made worse by this administration and its policies. Best of luck to you, and I’m glad you called. Nice to talk to you.
This is Craig in Texarkana, Arkansas. You’re next. It’s great to have you here. Hello.
CALLER: Yeah, Rush, good to talk to you. The reason I called is I was just wanting to let everybody know out there that I’ve been hearing a lot on the radio and the news about the unions all supporting, you know, the health care bill and things, and there’s a lot of us union members out here that are conservative who work in plants that are union plants, and we are definitely, and in this area a majority of the our union people are definitely against this health care bill. And I just would like to — all others, there’s other union plants across the states, you know, they need to call in to the senators and our congressman. Pryor is planning on voting to let this thing go on further. And if they would call in and let ’em know, ‘Yeah, I’m a union member and we don’t approve of this and we are going to affect your vote next time you run if –‘
RUSH: Here’s the thing. I know you’re right. I am sure there are a lot of rank-and-file union people who are appalled at what’s going on, but you’re powerless. I mean the members of the Service Employees International Union headed up by Andy Stern, Andy Stern the most frequent visitor to the White House, he and Obama are practically blood brothers, they are both of the same political ideology and mind-set, and that is the destruction of the private sector, the expansion of the public sector where all union employment they hope to be someday, and even if there are members of the SEIU, the working people of that union who oppose what Andy Stern’s doing, they can’t stop it. Andy Stern raised $60 million for Obama, one guy, and his union put together $60 million for Obama during the campaign, $60 million. Money talks and that came from union dues and who knows where else. But it’s the union leadership that’s in bed with the Democrat Party, and you guys, of your mind-set in the union, you’re just having your dues stolen from you or taken from you and used in ways that you wouldn’t otherwise use the money.