RUSH: Now, normally in the first hour, after the initial monologue on the Cure-A-Thon, I mentioned that I never do things that I don’t ask you to do, and I always talk about donations. I didn’t want to lead with that this year. I never want to make myself the focus of this, but I want to go ahead and do it now because I do want everybody to know that it continues to be a cause that my family cares about greatly and deeply. So Kathryn and I have decided that our “kick-starter” donation, if you will, for the Cure-A-Thon this year is a half a million dollars.

We’re gonna put in 500 grand. That does not count against the totals that get announced in terms of what’s raised. We keep that separate. This goes on all weekend, by the way. When the program ends, it does not mean that the donation venues shut down. They don’t. They go all the way through the weekend. The phone number, 1-877-379-8888, is kept open during the weekend, @RushLimbaugh and @Limbaugh on Twitter are both open throughout the weekend, and Facebook.com/RushLimbaugh is available throughout the weekend as you ponder it and think about it.

Economic times are tough, everybody knows. Ninety million people left the workforce, for crying out loud. There are financial pressures on everybody. Everybody understands. That’s why it’s so profound what you all do every year. In the midst of all of that, you still set records. You dazzle everybody that’s involved here. I mean, you would think after 23 years we’d churned it, that, after 23 years, we would have extracted as much as anybody could expect to get.