| Stack of Stuff Quick Hits Page |
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October 7, 2009 |
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Story #1: Homeland Security to Blame for Olympic Loss
RUSH: Want to hear something funny now? From Karachi, from the Pakistan New Agency: "The city of Chicago was denied the hosting rights of 2016 Olympic Games not because" of Obama or Michelle and their horrible presentations. No! Do you know why we didn't get it? Because "stringent security regime slapped after 9/11 in the USA" would make it next to impossible for teams and visitors from around the world to get into the United States, especially athletes from the Third World. They would be especially hard hit. Yes, it's Homeland Security's fault, folks. It's not Obama's fault. Now you know.
Story #2: How Gallup Push Polls in Favor of Obamacare
RUSH: William Tate, the American Spectator: "Gallup has unintentionally revealed how they, and other polling organizations, have been pushing the public to accept Obamacare. The revelation came in a report late last month which revealed that a significant majority of Americans believes that individuals themselves, and not the government, should be responsible for ensuring they have health insurance. According to Gallup, 61% of [people] they surveyed believe that health insurance should be left to the individual, not the nanny state. Unsurprisingly, 89% of Republicans held that view, but so did 64% of independents. Only Democrats, at 62%, wanted Big Brother to shoulder the responsibility. Even though the survey was released on September 30, not too many folks have seen these numbers.
 "As they do with most anti-Obamacare news, the Democrats' Big Media acolytes have avoided the report like it was carrying swine flu germs. Gallup's dismay at the results is palpable throughout their report on the new survey. They even gave the release a misleading title, 'Many in U.S. See Health Insurance as Personal Responsibility,' rather than the more accurate, Majority in U.S. See Health Insurance as Personal Responsibility. While they spun the title, Gallup couldn't actually spin the hard numbers, so they quickly pointed out, 'Other national polls on this topic have found a higher degree of public support..." So they dissed their own poll. They put a poll out that's horrible for Obama, and then said: Buuuut, you know, a lot of other polls different from ours. "Then Gallup disclosed that 'those (poll) question wordings do not provide a non-governmental alternative.'
"In other words, the Gallup release admits that its previous surveys about whether the government, or the [people] themselves, should be responsible for their health insurance omitted the half of the equation dealing with individual responsibility. ... How is that even possible? How can you ask someone, Which do you prefer a or b?, if you don't even mention b? Answer: It ain't easy. Let's look at the question asked in Gallup's recent survey, the one that showed Americans think folks ought to be responsible. 'Which comes closer to your view about health insurance -- [the government should be primarily responsible for making sure all Americans have health insurance (or) Americans themselves should be primarily responsible for making sure they and their families have health insurance]?' A little wordy, but given the multiple choice nature of the question, otherwise relatively plain. And, when given a clear choice, a majority of [people] chose individual responsibility.
"Now, the question which Gallup says it has asked in previous surveys: 'Do you think it is the responsibility of the federal government to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage, or is that not the responsibility of the federal government?'" That was the poll question they used to ask. When they changed the question they got far different results. "No mention of any other option, just the government one. This is the equivalent of, during last year's election, a poll asking, Who do you plan to vote for, Barack Obama ... or someone not named Barack Obama? ... The Gallup release highlights that similar polls from the New York Times/CBS and Fox News asked the same question in almost identical language. None of these surveys gave [people] an option, other than government responsibility, for health insurance. ...
"When finally given an option, in this most recent Gallup poll, most Americans side with individual responsibility over government oversight when it comes to healthcare." Now, this is a little lengthy here. It's William Tate and the American Thinker condom. But the reason here I wanted to mention this to you is because this is how pollsters are pushing people to accept Obamacare. And I have warned you people several times over the years about this. I don't care whether the poll is presidential approval or a poll on individual presidential policy. The purpose of polling today is to create and make news and to further the agenda of the network doing the polling. In this case Gallup is pro-Obama. Up until the most recent question, all the other networks that do polls asked questions designed to get the answers they want.
And then they report this as though it's somehow big news. Public opinion polls and the reports of these polls have nothing to do with reflecting public opinion. They are all about shaping it. They're all about making public opinion and shifting it. And I, frankly, pay no attention to any of it, except when some of it makes an interesting conversation piece like this. Because if you believe all these polls, you get depressed. You're ready to cash in the chips, move to New Zealand, start spending all the money you have so the Obama people can't take it from you -- and then make sure the last check you write is to the IRS and it bounces. It just... Sigh… It just depresses people when they see it because it makes the majority think that they're the minority, which is the express purpose.
Story #3: State-Run AP Poll Claims Even Split on Health Care
RUSH: Now, here's another example of polling, and this is from the AP today, and this is straight kiss butt polling. This is pure polling designed to shape and move public opinion toward Obamacare. Hell, look at this headline: "Health Care Overhaul Has a Pulse." AP is excited. Health care overhaul has a pulse! First paragraph: "The fever has broken. The patient is out of intensive care. But if you're President Barack Obama, you can't stop pacing the waiting room. Health care overhaul is still in guarded condition." And the results of their poll? A 40-40 split for and against health care legislation. And it's so obviously bogus, they only sampled adults, not voters, not registered voters, just adults. Some Harvard guy is quoted to support their BS template that everything is turning around for Obama on health care. "It's very significant that there's an upturn in support for the plans because after August there was a sense that the whole effort was beginning to decline and would not come back in terms of public support," said Robert Blendon, a Harvard professor who tracks public opinion on health care.
This is all fascist propaganda. It ain't 40-40 in anybody's poll except this one. The patient has a pulse; health care has a pulse; Obama pacing in the waiting room. They don't even tell us that the deal stinks. They don't tell us that everything Obama said about it is a lie. It is going to raise everybody's taxes. It's gotta cut Medicare. It is going to raise the deficit. He said he's not going to sign anything that adds a dime to it. It's going to do everything he said it won't do. Do we get that from AP? Hell's bells, no way. We get cheerleading, fascist propaganda, Stalinist State-Controlled Media propaganda from the AP.
Story #4: Geithner: Americans Must Save More (Save What?)
RUSH: Get this from Reuters: "Americans will have to save more in the future, transforming the global economy, and Europeans and Japanese must work to boost domestic demand, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was quoted as saying on Wednesday." He's in Berlin. "Everyone is going to have to come to terms --" what are we going to save? Just what are we supposed to save? Does he not realize the real unemployment rate is 16% and climbing. There's no end in sight. There aren't very many people getting wage increases. What in the hell are we supposed to save? And then this paragraph: "Everyone is going to have to come to terms with the fact that we are going to save more in the United States." Who do you mean by "we," little Tim? Just who is this "we"? You mean you, the governor? Because the only people I see engaging in profligate waste are you and Obama and Reid and Pelosi. We're $12 trillion in debt, and you tell us we have to start saving. Save what? Why don't you get your buddies in the room and say that to them, instead of preaching to us, and especially doing it from Berlin.
We gotta save more? I could find you two stories a week from a month, two months ago that said we're saving too much, we're not putting money in the economy. We're saving too much. People are hoarding their cash, they're putting it under the mattress or they're leaving it in the bank but they're not spending it and we need people to spend for the economic recovery to take off. We need spending. We were ripped for saving too much. I can get the stories. We reported them. Now and little Geithner is over there in Germany saying you've got to save more money. Speak for yourself, little man, speak for yourself. These geek heads are ticking me off today, folks!
Story #5: We Spend More on Overdraft Fees Than Vegetables
RUSH: Get this news from the BusinessInsider.com: "Americans Spend More on Overdraft Fees Than They Spend on Fresh Vegetables -- Overdraft fees have been getting tons of attention lately, including Congressional scrutiny -- and some banks, like JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) are cutting back. That's great. Still, The American Banking Association defends the practice this way: 'Clearly, consumers who pay overdraft fees are the minority, and that number is shrinking. More importantly, most consumers want banks to pay their overdrafts so they can avoid the inconvenience, embarrassment and potential costs of having a payment or transaction rejected,' said Nessa Feddis, ABA senior" blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. "But a new report underscores just how much financial institutions are profiting from the fees and how much they hurt average Americans."
Oh, I remember the good old days when it was ATM fees. Now it's overdraft fees. "Center for Responsible Lending: Banks and credit unions collected nearly $24 billion in overdraft fees last year, an increase of 35 percent from just two years earlier ... The explosion in overdraft charges has drained the wallet of as many as 51 million Americans whose accounts become overdrawn annually," and it goes on to point out that Americans spend more on overdraft fees than they spend on fresh vegetables. They also spend more on overdraft fees than they spend on cars. Fresh vegetables? The point is: Save what? They're overdrawn because they don't have any money. They're being taxed through the roof -- other than 47% of the country, which are showing up in Detroit to pick up stimulus checks.
Story #6: Million in Homeland Security Funds Given to ACORN
RUSH: Washington Times. I wasn't making it up. "Nearly $1 million in Homeland Security funding typically earmarked for fire departments has been awarded to ACORN, despite a clear signal from Congress that it intends to cut off federal funding to [ACORN]. The grant to ACORN's Louisiana office became public [five days ago], less than three weeks after the House and Senate voted to cut off ACORN funding after employees were caught on video advising a fake prostitute and pimp on scams."
Story #7: Irish Kids Told to Bring Own Toilet Paper to School
RUSH: I remember when I was sent off to the first grade. I didn't want to go. I knew it was going to be prison. I knew I wasn't going to like it. I had no choice, I had to go. Parents wanted me out of the house, couldn't blame 'em. My brother was still rapping around. He is two years younger than I am so they still had to deal with one rug rat. They happily shipped me off. And I remember first, second, third grade I either took a lunch box or a quarter, which bought lunch. A quarter. And I had to take a notebook and a pencil. Everything else, the school provided. Well, in Dublin, Ireland: "Irish parents struggling to buy schoolbooks and uniforms in the face of a deep recession may now have to worry about sending their children to school with a toilet roll as well as a packed lunch. Pupils at a primary school in the southern county of Cork are being asked to bring their own toilet paper to school to help save money, one of the starkest examples yet of the death of Ireland's 'Celtic Tiger' economy." One teacher said, "I've done a quick tour of the classrooms this morning and I'd say at least half the pupils have brought them (toilet rolls) in." Jeez.
Story #8: Global Warming Where? Early Skiing, Snow Days
RUSH: The Loveland ski area opened Wednesday, Arapahoe Basin on Friday, "boasting its earliest opening day in 40 years." Loveland officials today announced the area will open for skiing today. Other ski resorts are opening, too, and some Idaho school kids enjoyed an early snow day. Better get that cap and trade passed fast, Bamster! It's getting cold out there!
Story #9: AP: Higher Taxes in Health Care Bill (Obama Lied?)
RUSH: Hey, here's a headline we can't believe from State-Controlled AP: "Higher Taxes in Health Care Bill." No, that can't be because Obama said there won't be. "Congressional tax experts say Senate health care legislation would impose $29 billion more in taxes on health care industries than originally thought." Ha, ha! And this is news! "The Joint Committee on Taxation says drug companies, medical device manufacturers and insurers would pay $121 billion over 10 years as a result of taxes in the Senate Finance Committee bill. That's compared with $92 billion originally calculated. The tax experts said the reason for the change is that the companies won't be able to deduct the fees from their corporate income taxes." I don't know. Look, all this stuff is making me laugh today and at the same time it's making me furious.
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Story #10: Three Heritage Reports on Bam's Tax Burdens
RUSH: The Heritage Foundation. Look at the stuff they've got here today. "The 'Tax and Spend' Left are Back with a Vengeance." This is a report that shows that shows the tax burden on families will be $8,000 a year higher per household than under George W. Bush. That's what is in our future. They've done all the work; they've analyzed it; they have figured it out.
 With everything Bam's proposing an $8,000 a year higher tax burden per household, and then there's another report here from a page on their website that they call The Foundry: "When gas prices surpassed $4 per gallon last summer, it forced families to cancel their vacations. Not only was the day-to-day driving eating up families’ budgets, but it made the cost of traveling somewhere for vacation all that more expensive. Purchasing airline tickets was out of the question for many. If cap and trade becomes law, news could only get worse for the air travelers and the airline industry. From CQ Politics (which Heritage quotes): 'The most recent draft of the Senate bill by John Kerry, D-Mass., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., includes aircraft and aircraft engines in its emissions-trading plan. The language tracks with provisions in a climate change bill the House passed in June.'"
So that's gonna make air travel more expensive, jet fuel more expensive, and that's gonna add, they figure, $1700 a year, minimum, per household, in taxes, if this plan ever sees the light of day. Then this from the Heritage Foundation, also from The Foundry, it's all at AskHeritage.org: "According to AMA’s National Health Insurance Report Card, Medicare denies 6.85 percent of its claims." Medicare, in other words, denies more of its claims than any private insurer. Aetna was second. They denied 6.8 percent of its claims, and Medicare's denial rate, 6.85 percent is more than double any private insurer average.
And yet here's Obama running around saying we've gotta squeeze the insurance companies, we need competition, the insurance companies need the competition of a government public option. And then we find out that we already have a government public option in the form of Medicare, and they deny more claims than any private insurance company does already. And yet there wasn't going to be any Medicare cuts. If you've got Medicare you're going to get treated. It's all a sham, and AskHeritage.org has all of this. Twenty-five bucks is all it costs to become a member and their membership is growing, and it's just one of the most worthwhile expenditures that you could make. AskHeritage.org, you go and take a look at it.
Story #11: Beware of the MOP: Is the US Preparing to Bomb Iran?
RUSH: "Is the US Preparing to Bomb Iran?" That's the headline on a story here from Jonathan Karl at ABC News: "Is the U.S. stepping up preparations for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities? The Pentagon is always making plans, but based on a little-noticed funding request recently sent to Congress, the answer to that question appears to be yes. First, some background: Back in October 2007, ABC News reported that the Pentagon had asked Congress for $88 million in the emergency Iraq/Afghanistan war funding request to develop a gargantuan bunker-busting bomb called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). It's a 30,000-pound bomb designed to hit targets buried 200 feet below ground. Back then, the Pentagon cited an 'urgent operational need' for the new weapon. Now the Pentagon is shifting spending from other programs to fast forward the development and procurement of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator."
A little aside here, why does the government have to come up with these screwball names? This thing, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, sounds like something you'd see in a porn movie. And then the acronym, MOP, we got a bomb and we're calling it a mop! It's a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, and it obliterates things 200 feet below ground, and we're calling it a mop! "The Pentagon comptroller sent a request to shift the funds to the House and Senate Appropriations and Armed Services Committees over the summer." There is an urgent operational need for this. "The request was quietly approved. On Friday, McDonnell Douglas was awarded a $51.9 million contract to provide 'Massive Penetrator Ordnance Integration' on B-2 aircraft." So we're going to put the MOP on the B-2. "This is not the kind of weapon that would be particularly useful in Iraq or Afghanistan, but it is ideally suited to hit deeply buried nuclear facilities such as Natanz or Qom in Iran." The Massive Ordnance Penetrator and Massive Ordnance Penetrator Integration, MOP integration, on the B-2 stealth bomber. Now, that, folks, is big. And this is ABC Jonathan Karl strategizing here, trying to connect the dots out there, but it still is happening.
Story #12: New "Dangerous Foods" List Includes Salads!
RUSH: My friends, do you recall me discussing a group of people called the Center for Science in the Public Interest? Rachel, you may not remember because it has been awhile since I spoke about them. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is two anorexic people. They are skeletal. They have a fax machine. They have a logo. They are food Nazis. They have approval from the Drive-By Media, because they're good liberals, and they're an official organization and they're trying to prevent death. And they send out these faxes warning everybody of this food or that food, and then they embark on a campaign to ban those foods -- and it is why you cannot buy popcorn popped in coconut oil anymore in a movie theater because they said that coconut oil is the biggest artery clogger out there. We've now learned that coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils.
I myself flip off these two skeletal nerds at Center for Science in the Public Interest. Every time I pop popcorn now for my guests, I use coconut oil. I search the globe far and wide to find it. Screw these people! They also have suggested that no more Chinese food be sold. They haven't succeeded in banning that. But they're anti-meat. These people... What's this guy's name? Michael something or other. I can't remember his last name, but they're back. Let me see if his name is in the story. No, name is not in the story. Center for Science in the Public Interest "Urges Senate to Pass Food Safety Modernization Act." This is two people with a fax machine, two busybodies. They're probably wacko vegetarians. You know, a conservative vegetarian is a conservative vegetarian. A liberal vegetarian is a vegetarian that demands you be one, too. They're militant these people.
Now, how many of you people think that eating salad is a healthful thing and do it quite often? A lot of people do. A lot of people love salads. Lettuce, greens, vegetables chopped up in there, try to have a responsible salad dressing like Flavorless Watercress Vinaigrette or whatever gunk people put on them. But they love salads. "Leafy greens, eggs, and tuna are on the top of a list of the 10 riskiest foods regulated by the Food and Drug Administration," according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "Those and seven other foods account for nearly 40 percent of all food-borne outbreaks linked to FDA-regulated food. That's no reason to forgo the occasional salad, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which authored the report, nor need one pass up tomatoes, sprouts, and berries, even though those foods are also on the list.
"But the nonprofit watchdog group says the presence of so many healthy foods on such a list is exactly why the United States Senate should follow the House and pass legislation that reforms our fossilized food safety laws." Life expectancy is rising. We are not having food poisoning in this country! It's not happening. These are a bunch of busybody people who will not mind their own business. They want to make their business yours. These are the kind of people that just irritate the hell out of me. They're no different than Sebelius: You must take this vaccine! I have wanted to grab a vat of coconut oil and throw it at the window of their little office where they have their fax machine. (sigh) "'Outbreaks give the best evidence of where and when the food safety system is failing to protect the public,' said CSPI staff attorney Sarah Klein, the lead author of the report." Well, they may have three people there now. I'm reading from their press release.
"The FDA is responsible for regulating produce, seafood, egg and dairy products, as well as typical packaged foods such as cookie dough and peanut butter -- nearly 80 percent of the food supply. More than 1,500 separate, definable outbreaks were associated with the top 10 riskiest FDA-regulated foods, causing nearly 50,000 reported illnesses. Since most food-borne illnesses are never reported, these outbreaks are only the tip of a large, hulking iceberg." Lettuce! I remember the day... I guess we're just going to have to admit it, folks: Someday we're all going to die. Hard as that is to believe, difficult as it may be to deal with, we are all going to die, despite the efforts of these two food Nazis at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The riskiest foods, and number one the riskiest food regulated by the FDA: Leafy greens. Sigh… It's no different than Algore trying to tell you that the polar bears are dying because the ice caps melting. It's all a bunch of lies from some genuine lunatics.
Story #13: Alcohol Abstainers at Greater Risk for Depression
RUSH: Now from TIME Magazine: "Alcohol Abstainers..." which this does not apply to you in Rio Linda. "Alcohol Abstainers at Higher Risk of Depression." Now, get this. Alcohol is a depressant. "Alcohol has a peculiar relationship to happiness. We drink to celebrate, but because alcohol works as a depressant, it ends up deadening feelings. Not surprisingly, there's an observable correlation between alcoholism and depression, and even though it's not always clear which leads to which, everyone knows you can't drink like a Sterling Cooper employee" That's the TV show Mad Men. They drink all the time when they're in the office. You can't drink like those people "for too long before becoming a perpetual sad sack. But if alcohol can lead to depression, does that mean [not drinking] will make you happier? A new study suggests that the opposite actually tends to be true.
"In fact, those who never drink are at significantly higher risk for not only depression but also anxiety disorders, compared with those who consume alcohol regularly. The study, which was published recently in the journal Addiction, looked at more than 38,000 people in Norway." Of course they're no longer there because Oprah ate Norway last week. "Researchers, led by Jens Christoffer Skogen of the University of Bergen in Norway," which, of course, is also no longer there "asked the participants how much they had drunk in the previous two weeks; the research team also asked them various questions to measure their levels of anxiety and depression," like: What do you feel when you see Oprah outside your house? "People in the top fifth percentile of drinkers had the highest odds for anxiety.
"But it was abstainers who were at the highest risk for depression -- higher even than the heaviest of drinkers. Why? One reason is that the abstainers in the study sample were more likely to have illnesses such as osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, and people with chronic illnesses are more prone to melancholy." What are we to do? And get this: "[A]bstainers have fewer close friends than drinkers, even though they tend to participate more often in organized social activities. Abstainers seem to have a harder time making strong friendship bonds, perhaps because they don't have alcohol to lubricate their social interactions. After all, it's easier to reveal your worst fears and greatest hopes to a potential friend after" an adult beverage or two. This is total crap. Total crap. But it is in TIME Magazine. And it's a study from Norway. You know... Where they should have done this survey is in Russia. My God, that's all they do there. If you lived there that's all you would do. It gets dark at three in the afternoon, the high temperature for the day is minus-20, there's no food in the stores, and Vladimir Putin's got the KGB back spying on you.
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