| Stack of Stuff Quick Hits Page |
|
| July 27, 2007 |
|
|
 |
|
Story #1: New York Times Questions Its Own Poll
RUSH: All right, remember earlier in the week we had a story on a CBS/New York Times poll that said that support for the initial invasion of Iraq had shockingly, surprisingly, unbelievably increased. We reported this, and we couldn't believe the New York Times reported it. They, as it turns out, couldn't believe they reported it, either. There is a story today in the Times by Janet Elder entitled, "The Story Behind a Polling Mystery. -- The war in Iraq is the single most important ongoing news story right now," she writes. "Public opinion about the war is a critical part of that story. That’s why when we had a poll finding about the war that we could not explain, we went back and did another poll on the very same subject. We wanted to make sure we had gotten it right. It turns out we had gotten it right. Support for the initial invasion of Iraq, as measured by a question The New York Times/CBS News poll has asked since December 2003, increased modestly compared to two months ago."
So the Times, "We don't understand this." They did the poll, people were supportive of the initial invasion. It was a mystery to them. So they went back, and people were still supportive of the war when they did it a second time. I'm sure now the Times is worried that maybe the template's not working. Maybe the action line simply isn't working.
Story #2: Rudy "Most Electable" Republican Candidate
LINKS: Battleground Poll || Washington Post-ABC Poll
 RUSH: "Among the 2008 presidential hopefuls, the Battleground poll shows that Rudy remains the most electable candidate for Republicans, even if Fred Thompson decides to get in the race." That's from Celinda Lake, the Democrat, who does the respected Battleground Poll with the Republican, Ed Goeas. A Washington-Post-ABC News poll fond the same results, with Rudy leading in electability.
Story #3: Cynicism on Rise Amid Great Prosperity
LINKS: Washington Times || Battleground Poll
RUSH: Here's a story from the Washington Times today by Elizabeth Miller. "Cynicism about American politics has risen sharply in recent months, according to a new poll that finds..." look at all the polls that constitute news. How many stories today are poll-driven and then treated as news? "Cynicism about American politics has risen sharply in recent months, according to a new poll that finds growing numbers of voters feel the country is headed in the wrong direction and that fewer think politicians can fix the problem." Hell, that's good news! That means people are waking up. They are understanding the ineffectiveness of large government and bureaucracy. "More than two-thirds of likely voters, 71%, say that their member of Congress puts party politics ahead of them."
These are the George Washington University Battleground 2008 Poll numbers along the same lines This is Ed Goeas and Celinda Lake, again. (She's a Democrat; he's a Republican.) It's well-known, bipartisan poll. It was released yesterday. "Found that 70% of voters said the country is on the wrong track, 58% feeling strongly about it. Only 32% of voters think that their children will be better off than they are now. That's a drop of seven percentage points since January," which is actually very sad because they're wrong. Frankly, with illegal immigration running amuck, I can understand how some people might think that your children's future will not be as bright as your life, as it is today. "Cynicism may be the hot new political trend the politicians are going to have to fight against," said Brian Tringali, vice president of the group that did the poll. "People hold such a cynical view of how things are run in Washington, that they're going to have to try double hard." What is so surprising about people being cynical about what's happening in Washington, particularly after the immigration debate? What a debacle. This is great news. People have woken up. I predicted this. This is gonna be a great opportunity to illustrate to people the folly and the ineffectiveness, the unresponsiveness, the arrogance, the elitism of big government and the elites that populate it.
I think some of this is pretty positive news, but it does distress me. I understand the immigration aspect of this, but it does distress me that so many people, in the midst of the greatest prosperity the human race has ever known, think that for the first time their kids won't do as well as they have done. That is something that the cynics and the doom-and-gloomers keep hoping for, they want to be able to discredit capitalism as an unfair mechanism for distributing resources and riches and so forth. But it hasn't been the case. A simple historical examination of the economic performance of this country, the technological advances, the inventions that have improved our standards of living always gets better, and it always will. Every day in America is better than the day before. I've known this since I was ten. That's why I always wanted to be older. And I've been right. Every year's been better than the previous, for me.
Story #4: Congratulations, State of Texas
RUSH: I want to congratulate the state of Texas here, ladies and gentlemen. For the first time in at least a decade, Texas was declared drought free yesterday. Yes. John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas climatologist, professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M, said, "We've gotten so much rain this year we pretty much made up for the past few years' drought conditions in several areas of the state.' There has been so much rain in fact that flooding has become a problem in some areas. Many farmers are struggling to salvage crops that remain under water. At least 16 deaths have been blamed on heavy rain since mid-June and property damage been widespread. The US drought monitor connected with the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration shows severe or extreme drought conditions in part of the southeast, much of the west, but Texas and most of the nation's midsection is now drought free." Hubba hubba hubba! Geat news!Thank God for global warming!Global warming comes along, causes Noah-like floods, but it ends the drought. You have to look at this as great news.
Story #5: Ethics Bill Threatens House Spouses
RUSH: I read this story. I feel so sad. "House members are complaining that their spouses could lose their jobs, their family incomes could drop and, perhaps, the entire pattern of their family lives could change if an ethics reform bill just passed by the House becomes law. The bill would bar campaigns from employing a lawmaker's spouse. Its backers argue that employing a spouse creates an implicit conflict of interest, tempting lawmakers to overpay and tipping off contributors that some of their largesse will go directly to the lawmaker's family. But what seems an obvious conflict to some is a way of life to others. Rhonda Rohrabacher has 3-year-old triplets and a work-at-home job as campaign manager to her husband, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). She made $57,000 in the 2006 election cycle, according to a recent report by the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington." Oh, CREW. Screw them.
"Under the proposed ban, Rhonda Rohrabacher would be out of a job. 'It's gonna hurt me,' Rep. Rohrabacher said. 'My family would be deprived of that income. I think it's baloney. I think it's just a way of not having to look at issues by making it a personal matter.' ... Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) paid his wife, Patricia, $110,000 in the last election cycle to do fundraising and prepare campaign finance reports." Are there any Democrats mentioned in this? I can't find any Democrats mentioned in this. I wonder why with CREW behind this. Wasn't CREW behind the Mark Foley thing? This is probably the barest tip of the iceberg. You know it is. If the American public had actual knowledge of the incestuous nature of modern politics, there would be a public hanging from every street light once a day. The system was not designed to give whole families employment for decades. Maybe don't run for office, I don't know. Solution to the problem.
Story #6: Dems Clamp Down on Clamp Down on Terrorists
RUSH: This is mind-boggling. "The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Thursday aimed at clamping down on the government's collection of telephone and financial records of people it suspects of terrorism or spying." You heard that right. The House passed legislation aimed at clamping down on the government's collection of telephone and financial records of people it suspects of terrorism or spying. "By a vote of 281-142, the House approved a law enforcement spending bill for the fiscal year starting on October 1, which the Senate has not yet debated. The White House has warned that President George W. Bush would veto the bill because its overall price tag of $53.5 billion is $2.3 billion more than he requested. ... The legislation passed by the House explicitly prohibits the FBI from initiating a national security letter in a way that skirts the law."
Think back to 9/11, and think back to the immediate aftermath, and everybody was, "Why didn't you know? Why didn't the CIA know? Why didn't the FBI know?" Well, it turns out, they knew a lot. They were able to name these 19 hijackers shortly after the incident. But everybody was, "Why didn't you know?" And now, after that happens, the same people clamoring for "why didn't you know," are trying to stop us from knowing what might be happening in advance. Mind-boggling.
Story #7: GOP Candidates To Skip Snowman Debate
RUSH: "Four days after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C., more than 400 questions directed to the GOP presidential field have been uploaded on YouTube -- targeted at Republicans scheduled to get their turn at videopopulism on Sept. 17. But so far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) have agreed to participate in the debate, co-hosted by Republican Party of Florida in St. Petersburg. 'Aside from those two candidates, we haven't heard from anyone else,' said Sam Feist of CNN, who's co-sponsoring the debate with the popular videosharing site. Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney, both with dozens of videos on their YouTube channels, have not signed up. Neither have the rest of the Republican candidates, including Rep. Tom Tancredo. ... 'We haven't committed to any of them yet,' Madden said. In an interview Wednesday with the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader, Romney said he's not a fan of the CNN/YouTube format. Referring to the video of a snowman asking the Democratic candidates about global warming, Romney quipped, 'I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman.'"
So it looks like most of the Republicans are not going to participate in the CNN YouTube debate. Guess they don't want to be questioned by snowmen.
Story #8: Reefer Madness Can Be Real
RUSH: Look at this. It looks like reefer madness is real, or it can be. "Pot Smoking Linked to Psychotic Disorders -- Among all cannabis users, including sporadic experimenters and habitual users, the lifetime risk of psychotic illness increased by 40%, according to a study published yesterday. 'It's not as if you smoke a joint and you're going to go crazy,' said Richard Rawson," UCLA. He "was not involved in the study," by the way. "But he cautioned: 'It's definitely not a good idea to use heavy amounts of marijuana.' The researchers found that the risk for psychotic illnesses did appear to increase with dose, suggesting that stopping marijuana use would decrease risk, said coauthor Dr. Stanley Zammit, a psychiatrist at Cardiff University and the University of Bristol in Britain. Psychotic illnesses," for those of you in Rio Linda, "include schizophrenia and disorders with such symptoms as hallucinations or delusions." In other words, normal for you.
It doesn't say anything about munchies or obesity. But of course if you hang around fat people, you're going to get fat. There's a study about that. If you hang around fat people you'll get fat, because it can make you comfortable to be fat. You see other fat people. In fact, even if you have a fat friend that lives across the country just knowing the fat friend's 2500 miles away and is fat, makes you comfortable being fat. But they say don't throw your friends overboard. Well, why not? If fat friends lead to obesity, why not get rid of your fat friends? If you smoke pot, you won't care. But if your friends smoke pot, are you going to smoke pot? All these things are socially contagious out there now. We don't have a chance, folks. We're just doomed.
Story #9: Bush Tells Congress to Pass Budget
RUSH: This is hilarious. This is absolutely hilarious: "President Bush said Thursday the Democratic-run Congress shouldn't leave Washington for its August recess without at least finishing a spending bill covering the Defense Department. 'In a time of war, one spending bill ought to take precedence over all the rest,' he said." This is a speech he gave. "Congress is due to begin a monthlong recess in about two weeks, and Bush said lawmakers must finish work on that defense bill even if they don't get to 11 other government spending bills by then."
Story #10: Iraq Gov't Futility Matches Other Countries
RUSH: In a companion story to Bush yelling at Congress: "Missing from Thursday's session of the Iraqi parliament were about half of the members, including the speaker. Also missing: a sense of urgency. Despite the high stakes here," this is an LA Times story, "the Iraqi parliament appears to be deliberating at a pace to rival plodding legislative bodies around the world." Do tell! Are they mired in endless investigations, too? What's the Iraqi parliament doing? They can't come to an agreement of the distribution of their oil profits, and our congressmen here are giving these guys all kinds of grief here for going on vacation in August because it's hot over there, and they're going to do the same thing. What a way to phrase it: "At a pace to rival plodding legislative bodies around the world..." The dirty little secret is that our brilliant Founding Fathers set up this system to deliberately so it would be plodding. They distrusted government power. They set it up so that it would take all kinds of time to get anything done.
Story #11: High-Tech Sex Toys Turning Japanese
RUSH: All right, this is one of those times where if your young children are listening with you, and if you yourself are offended by discussions of an intimate nature, I'm going to count down from five. When I get to one, I'm going to do the story. If you're still listening when I get to one, and you are offended and you complain, nobody's going to listen to your complaint because you have been warned. Five...four...three...two...one.
"Japanese love technology so much that now even sex toys are on the cutting edge. The 'gPod'..." Have you heard about this, Mr. Snerdley? "The 'gPod', a phallic-shaped vibrator, is designed to respond automatically to sounds picked up by an accompanying handset, which can plug into anything from a telephone to a music player to a television. The gPod, referred to as an 'iVibrator,' takes its name and description from" iPhone, iPod, but Apple has no affiliation with it. The gPod retails for $243 and "was one of a number of toys that went on public view today at Japan's first-ever sex toy expo in suburban Tokyo. 'You can use it in many ways, for example hooking it up to your mobile phone,' said Ichiro Kameda, the machine's inventor. 'The dildo vibrates through the same waves as a voice. 'So one of the ideas is that you can use it here in Tokyo when your boyfriend in New York is talking to you on the phone.'" I knew you were wondering, some of you people, "What would you want to hook up to an audio source for?" I was waiting for the end of the story to tell you. Wow! Snerdley, you're looking jazzed in there. He's batting his eyes around. He's very excited.
We want to get hold of some of those iVibrators, folks, and give them away here on the air like we did the iPhones. Can you imagine hooking up one of my podcasts to your iVibrator? We could blow your mind!
|
|
|
|
|
| *Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time. |
|
|
