RUSH: Something happened on this program yesterday that shouldn’t surprise me anymore, but it does. The story about the Highland Park High School girls basketball team not being allowed to finish up their tournament down there in Arizona, that story has been out there for a couple days, or at least it had been out there all day yesterday before we got to it. We didn’t get to it ’til the third hour yesterday. Now, we’re gonna go to the audio sound bites because the mayor of Highland Park, 
Mayor Michael Belsky, was on WLS in Chicago this morning with Don Wade and Roma. When did this story first break, yesterday morning? Yesterday morning, okay, so yesterday morning six a.m., seven a.m., eight a.m. morning drive, we didn’t get to it for six hours, maybe more, six or seven hours, and yet when the mayor of Highland Park goes on the big 89 WLS Chicago, Don Wade and Roma, his name is Michael Belsky, Roma said, ‘Have you spoken with the assistant superintendent, Sue Hebson? Because she apparently is the one who made the decision, am I correct?’
BELSKY: The school superintendent and the school board make these sorts of decisions. And, you know, one thing I want to just make clear and I think Rush Limbaugh has — has kind of released the firestorm of e-mails on me, but in Illinois the school board is separately elected from the city counsel and so this has not been a city matter at all.
RUSH: So apparently you people on this program have barraged the mayor of Highland Park, Michael Belsky. Apparently he was not getting any e-mails at all until this program yesterday afternoon. But the point is, I didn’t even mention his name. This is the first time I ever heard him is when I heard this sound bite today. We didn’t mention the mayor of Highland Park. We talked about the principal, we had a guy call yesterday or a woman call said she called the school and the school said that, ‘Well, you know, we’re just afraid essentially of an uprising of Mexicans in the neighborhood here,’ and I told her to call back and say, ‘How do you think they feel in Arizona?’ So the mayor is getting pummeled here. Mayor, I didn’t give your e-mail. I don’t even know your e-mail address. I didn’t know Highland Park had a mayor, and I certainly didn’t talk about the mayor. We talked about the school yesterday. Roma then said, ‘They have student trips to China and we’re seeing in the news last night that nine people died in a school attack in China. So I think there are lots of places where there is far more danger than Arizona, even if they competed in Chicago city itself, there are areas of Chicago that would be far more dangerous than going to an Arizona basketball tournament.’
BELSKY: You know, I mean I guess that — again, it’s their judgment and if they feel, you know, there’s — they go to areas in those countries where they are safe, and they perceive any sort of danger in Arizona, then that’s — that’s their call.
RUSH: The mayor here is essentially saying, ‘Don’t bug me, if you’re gonna e-mail anybody, e-mail the school board over there or the principal or the assistant –‘ am I hearing this right? He probably said, ‘Why am I even on this show today, why did they call me? I had nothing to do with it. I’m just the mayor here.’ Now, here is the next sound bite. Roma finally says, ‘Obviously you don’t feel you have sway over the school board or the school superintendent or the assistant superintendent.’
BELSKY: We work with the school board on a lot of good issues, but at the end of the day I wouldn’t want them telling me how to, you know, run city services, water or sewer or where — you know, things like that. I certainly take their input, but, you know, it’s a separate government. Rush Limbaugh, for being an expert on everything, ought to check his facts.
RUSH: How did I get in the mix of this? What have I gotten wrong here? (laughing) What are you people e-mailing to this poor guy? He’s obviously bedraggled. He’s got his hands full here with city services, water, sewer, things like that, and he doesn’t want to be bugged about the decision there at the high school. It’s hard work managing sewers, I know that, it’s very hard work, and I’m sure Michael Belsky is the most qualified guy in Highland Park to run the sewers just like Obama is the most qualified guy to run health care. But Rush Limbaugh for being an expert on everything ought to check his facts, what did I get wrong here? All I said was that the school’s not going down there and I think that the school people are little cowards. I didn’t bring this mayor into it. See, my friends, the power and reach of this program, even when I’m not responsible for it, everybody assumes I am.
Let’s put this in perspective,because Roma asked some great questions, it’s more dangerous in Chicago, certain parts of Chicago than it is in Arizona. What’s to be afraid of in Arizona, Sheriff Arpaio? What in the world is there to be afraid of down there? What’s the danger to students in Arizona as opposed to Illinois or Chicago? Where’s the danger coming from? No, Snerdley, don’t you dare walk me down that path. I’m not gonna, no, no, no, no. (laughing) The staff is speculating in my ear — this is why they don’t have microphones — that maybe one of the female students doesn’t have her papers in order and that that’s the real reason for avoiding Arizona. Now, I don’t think that’s possibly true, but my staff might represent a certain body of thought in the country on this. Where’s the danger coming from? Are they trying to show solidarity, with who in Arizona? If what they told the gal that called us yesterday who called the school and somebody in the school said, ‘Well, we’re just afraid of, you know, upsetting the Mexicans in the neighborhood, the school’s neighborhood here,’ then obviously showing solidarity here with the illegals.
Here’s my sole mention of Highland Park yesterday: Oh, well, can you imagine living in Arizona? Can you imagine living in Arizona near the border, what would you do then, Madam Secretary of Highland Park High School? That’s what I said. Now, the mayor is off on a jihad here claiming that you people are e-mailing him with a bunch of facts that are not correct or erroneous facts because I said to. You remember, let’s go back, when Jimmy Carter in 1980 boycotted, was it the summer Olympics, or was it Ted Turner’s Goodwill Games that he boycotted? It was the Olympics. Remember all the grief he caught for using children as pawns? The media, the rest of the left were outraged that sports athletes — of course the essence of purity — were being used as pawns in a political game? ‘These poor kids have been training for this all their lives only to have their hopes dashed over some political grandstanding,’ is the statement of one member of the media.
Now, it’s funny how we aren’t hearing anything like that about the various sports boycotts being implemented against Arizona, including the Highland Park girls basketball team. They’re trying to get the All-Star Game kicked out of there next year, or is it this year? The Phoenix Suns and the Arizona Diamondbacks are being pressured with boycott threats. So the way to look at this is this: Russia’s invasion of another sovereign country back in 1980, Afghanistan, didn’t rise to the same level of criminality of a state trying to enforce federal immigration laws, to put this in proper perspective. We’re going to boycott the Olympics ’cause the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, we’re going to boycott Arizona because Arizona wants to enforce a law to keep illegals out of the state because of crime and all kinds of tumult and chaos that’s going on there.
We’re becoming a nation of cowards. Los Angeles, a city of cowards. They’re now banning anything to do with Arizona. These people on the left are just pure simple, nothing-more-complicated than cowards who think that by adhering to all this stupid political correctness that they are better than everybody else, that they are more open-minded, that they’re more tolerant. It’s the exact opposite. You know, Quin Hillyer at the American Spectator today has a fabulous piece blowing every aspect of Obama’s claim to be ‘for the little guy’ against the powerful, just out of the water.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: All right. The Highland Park girls basketball team story broke on Tuesday night at 10:08 on ChicagoBreakingNews.com. That’s 9:08 Central time on Tuesday. The mayor didn’t start getting any grief for two days not until it was mentioned on this program. Now it turns out my staff member who whispered into my ear about perhaps one of the players being illegal, it’s actually addressed in a news story here. It’s WGN Television, and it says, ‘Reveling in its first conference championship in 26 years,’ blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, ”Safety concerns partly fueled a decision, but the trip also would not be aligned with our beliefs and values,’ said District 113 assistant superintendent Suzan Hebson. That explanation, though, smacks of political protest, parents upset by the decision.’ Now, Lauren Evans is a junior on the team.
She ‘said she thought the concern was probably that one of the players could get stopped and questioned. … District 113 Superintendent George Fornero declined comment, saying it ‘wasn’t just my decision.’ … Asked if there are undocumented players on the team, or if anyone associated with the team is in the country illegally, Hebson said she did not know. Parents and players interviewed said they knew of no one who fits that description’ of an illegal immigrant on the team. What is that description? What’s the description of an illegal immigrant? See, this is what’s wrong with all of this: What’s the ‘description’ of an illegal alien? So the Arizona law is keeping illegal aliens out of Arizona. Isn’t that the idea? If they’re worried that one of the team members is an illegal alien, the Arizona law is working!
Yes, it’s sort of a convoluted way to look at it. But the other way to look at it is, Ms. Hebson: Unless your team happens to get caught for speeding or robbing a Kwik Shop, nobody is going to have any way to find out whether one of your players is an illegal immigrant because they can’t just profile you based on the way your team members look and then decide, ‘Hey, you know what? We’re going to demand papers from the kid.’ This is what’s silly about all this, and for somebody running a school to have this kind of misunderstanding of the law, this law’s only 21 pages. This law will fit on your web browser. You do not need to hire a lawyer to read the law. It’s perfectly understandable. The media has made no effort to read it. The Obama administration made no effort to read the law. They don’t want to know what’s in the law.
They want their characterization of it to be what is the perceived notion of what is in the law. It’s very simple. They’ve even made some revisions in it to accommodate these wacko accusations that it’s nothing more than racial profiling. Now, I would think that if the team went to Arizona they would fly, ’cause it’s a pretty long way. Maybe they’re worried that one of the students has phony ID and might not pass TSA muster. This is all ridiculous. Then Michael Evans, who is the father of Lauren Evans, the junior on the team said, ”’The school has sent children to China, they’ve sent children to South America, they’ve sent children to the Czech Republic, but somehow Arizona is more unsafe for them than those places,’ he said. ‘The beliefs and values of China are apparently aligned, since they approved that trip,’ he added.’
The school’s trying to say, ‘It’s not political. We’re not doing anything political here. We’re just worried about safety.’ Okay, well, who are you afraid of? The sheriff? Anyway, it’s very interesting out there, folks, because this is cowardice disguised as arrogance and conceit and superiority. ‘We’re smarter, we’re better.’ I’ve got a story here in the stack. A school — I think it’s a high school, maybe a junior high. It’s buried down there. I’ll have to find it. A school in St. Louis is taking the kids on a field trip to the oil spill down in the Gulf of Mexico. They’re going to be on lookout for a dead dolphin. Now, this is how… Where are they getting the money to take these kids on a field trip to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? I mean, I had field trips to the local slaughterhouse which is about ten minutes away from the school.
We never searched out environmental disasters. This is how these indoctrinators were disguised as educators pump propaganda into these young skulls full of mush. Okay, so you take ’em down there and say, ‘This is what oil does! This is the eeeeeeevil of oil. This is what lack of government regulation. We need more government power to make sure that evil oil companies, these corporations do not continue to pollute the planet and destroy Flipper here and eventually destroy your world so that you will die.’ This is the kind of garbage that is being taught to kids, I don’t know specifically that that’s the message in the field trip to the oil spill, but what’s going on in the class…
This is one area, education. Academia and the media are the two fundamental areas the left controls. Even though they are a minority by virtue of head count, they’re a minority by virtue of the way of thinking, but they still control these two institutions and they make themselves appear to be the majority by virtue of the mainstream media being so large that it has such an impact. It’s all minority thought, but this is how they’re inculcating young skulls full of mush so that when they end up getting to Harvard or Princeton or Yale, they hate the country — and then they get hired by others who have graduated from Harvard and Yale and Princeton who are already in the government. Eventually they infest the bureaucracy, then they run for office they get elected, they might end up on the Supreme Court.
You end up with a bunch of people who are born and raised to hate the very country that made it possible to be who there. It’s a vicious cycle. This is why there is more and more homeschooling going on. This is why there’s a continued effort on as many people’s part as possible to get their kids into private schools and away from the National Education Association, teachers union, public schools, and this kind of thing. I wonder. When they sent the kids to China from the Highland Park High School, how did they get in and out of the country? Were there any illegal aliens in China on basketball team there? These kids in the field trip from the St. Louis junior high or high school, they gonna take ’em out there to the oil rig and show ’em what the SWAT teams are doing? Or are they just gonna keep on the lookout for the oil slick and maybe find a dead bird here and there or dead dolphin? So the teachers can say, ‘See! See! This is what capitalism does. This is is what oil does.’
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to grab a couple of phone calls on this whole incident here with the Highland Park High School in Chicago. This is Jim in Brownsville, Texas. Great to have you. You’re up first.
CALLER: Yeah. Great to talk to you, Rush. I’ve been a long-term listener. Yeah, it’s all about the kids. It’s really kind of sad because, you know, the kids just want to play baseball (sic). They don’t care about the politics of what’s gone on in Arizona. In reality, the school is taking away an opportunity of a lifetime for these kids.
RUSH: There’s nothing going on in Arizona except a bunch of illegals terrorizing the place. The law has not even been implemented yet. The law doesn’t get implemented ’til next month. Nothing is going on in Arizona except the people who live there being terrorized.
CALLER: That’s true. These kids they just want to go out and play basketball. They don’t care about the law or what’s going on. They’re going to be fairly well chaperoned. They’re going to be going from the gymnasium to the hotel and back and forth. They’re taking away an opportunity of a lifetime for these kids.
RUSH: All because —
CALLER: It’s really very sad.
RUSH: Exactly right. It’s all because of the superiority complex the ‘we’re smarter and better,’ the elitist attitudes of the people that run this school, and who it is they’re trying to impress.
CALLER: I don’t know. Because truthfully, I thought schools were supposed to be about all about the kids, and in their case —
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: — they’re teaching them something totally different.
RUSH: I thought liberalism was supposed to be all about the kids.
CALLER: That’s true, too.
RUSH: We do everything else ‘for the children’ and they’re probably saying, ‘Yeah, we’re doing this for the children, too, Mr. Limbaugh! We need to protect the children from people in Arizona, Mr. Limbaugh. That’s what we’re doing.’ From who in Arizona? The sheriff? Joe Arpaio? Who you gonna protect the kids from? Now, I got an idea. A St. Louis school is going to take some kids on a field trip to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. How about this for Highland Park High School in Illinois? Maybe they can take their kids to the border with Mexico so they can actually see what’s going on there. See the crime! See the coyote smuggling of human beings and drugs. Maybe can see the violence. That would be a trip worth taking.
Then they can better understand why Arizona’s doing what it’s doing. If the school’s really about education and Arizona’s a problem, teach the kids what the problem is — and it ain’t Joe Arpaio and it’s not the mayor of any city, and it’s not the governor. Is it too dangerous on the border to take kids there on a trip, field trip? Yeah, that’s probably it. Now, why? I wonder, why can’t you take a bunch of kids on a field trip to the Arizona-Mexican border? Why, they might get killed! Or they might be traumatized by what they see. Nothing may happen to them, but they might be traumatized by what they see. Yeah, isn’t that amazing? You can take kids on a field trip to the oil spill (if you can find it; it hasn’t come ashore yet) but you can’t take them to the US border.
You wouldn’t dare take ’em to the US border, and you won’t even take them to a US border state. Just amazing. Maybe the school it take the kids to Tijuana. They play basketball in Tijuana. They also have bullfights in Tijuana. That would be a nice cultural exchange. No, that would violate the animal rights sentiments I’m sure of the school administration. Take ’em to Tijuana, see what decapitation looks like. Human heads posted on light poles. Have you seen that? That’s in Tijuana. (sigh) I think actually our government has issued warnings that college students not go to Tijuana during spring break. Didn’t they do that? (interruption) Can’t, can’t go to Mexico, can’t go to border, you can go to the oil spill, wouldn’t dare set foot on the border. Isn’t it amazing that you couldn’t take a field trip to the Arizona-Mexican border because it is too dangerous.
Here’s Mick in Champaign, Illinois. It’s great to have you on the program hello.
CALLER: Thanks for having me, Rush, I have two brief points one of which you alluded to and that is what exactly are these students going to be doing that the school district is worried that they would be pulled over or stopped, and need to provide identification. If they actually expect these students to be doing something illegal and the other is that the press release yesterday from the school district said that the tryouts that the team that would be traveling to would be traveling to Arizona isn’t even picked yet. They won’t be picked ’til November of this year, so it’s interesting that they would call off the trip before the team is even picked, before they even had tryouts. So I’m curious how they can rationalize canceling a trip for the safety when the team isn’t even set.
RUSH: Why don’t you take a stab at answering your own question because obviously you and I are correct. Even if there were — and we’re not saying that there is. Even if there were an illegal immigrant on the team, unless that illegal immigrant robs a convenience store or commits some sort of battery or ends up driving a car too fast, nobody’s going to ever know.
CALLER: Exactly. It’s ridiculous to think that a bunch of high school students would be even be in a situation especially from Highland Park. We’re not talking about an inner city school or anything like that. We’re talking about a decent suburb of Chicago.
RUSH: So the bottom line, Michael Jordan was in Highland Park.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: Yeah. Now, you have, therefore, almost an inescapable conclusion, and that is you have a political statement being made by the people that run the school.
CALLER: I think it’s interesting also that these students seem to have better insight, saying that the choice should be personal. One of the students said that if they shouldn’t go, it should be on a individual basis. The students, I think, are even more in tune to the ridiculousness of the school district.
RUSH: Yeah, and their parents, too. Good point. Thanks, Mick. It’s great to have you out there. Richard in Houston, you’re next to the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.
CALLER: Hey. Hi, Rush. God bless. I think you hit the nail on the head. What I was thinking is this mayor of Highland Park, his comment about traveling to the Arizona border would be unsafe for the kids, actually betrays them because it would be unsafe because (just like that you said) also this violence and kidnapping spilling over from where? From Mexico.
RUSH: Yeah, let’s go back and listen to the mayor because the mayor’s comment is traveling through Arizona borders unsafe. Is that what you heard him say?
CALLER: Well, whenever I tuned in and you started talking, that’s kind of what you said, that there was a — that they came to a decision partly because they were looking out for the safety of the kids and also because they feel like this is what they should be doing then, you know, blah, blah, blah, that’s what they’re going to do.
RUSH: Right. Let’s go back. Let’s go back and listen. I listened to this on the fly and I listened to it live for the first time with you. So here’s audio sound bite number one. This is the mayor, Michael Belsky, WLS radio this morning, Don Wade and Roma, ‘Have you spoken with the assistant superintendent, Sue Hebson? She apparently is the one who made the decision.’
BELSKY: The school superintendent and the school board make these sorts of decisions. And, you know, one thing I want to just make clear and I think Rush Limbaugh has — has kind of released the firestorm of e-mails on me, but in Illinois the school board is separately elected from the city counsel and so this has not been a city matter at all.
RUSH: Okay, so the mayor doesn’t want to be associated with this, mayor is washing his hands of it, and, Mayor, once again, I never heard of you ’til today, so I did not tell anybody to send you e-mails. Next question. ‘Well, they have student trips to China. It was seen in the news last night, nine people died in a school attack in China so I think there are lots of places far more dangerous than Arizona. Even if they competed in Chicago city itself, areas of Chicago would be far more dangerous than going to an Arizona basketball tournament. ‘
BELSKY: You know, I mean I guess that — again, it’s their judgment and if they feel, you know, there’s — they go to areas in those countries where they are safe, and they perceive any sort of danger in Arizona, then that’s — that’s their call.
RUSH: Right. Arizona. Yeah, there it is. What are the fears? Fears of who? And then the final question: ‘Obviously you don’t feel you have sway over the school board or the school superintendent.’
BELSKY: We work with the school board on a lot of good issues, but at the end of the day I wouldn’t want them telling me how to, you know, run city services, water or sewer or where — you know, things like that. I certainly take their input, but, you know, it’s a separate government. Rush Limbaugh, for being an expert on everything, ought to check his facts.
RUSH: Yeah, right. I still don’t know how I got involved with the mayor’s side of this. (laughing) I don’t know what I said about his job and his role in this. Well, I didn’t say anything about his job or his role.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This is Julie Ann in Chicago. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Very well, thank you.
CALLER: Just so you know my mom was born in Cape Girardeau a few months after you. But we live in Chicago and it’s not just Highland Park, it’s the entire state of Illinois has just gone completely to hell, to coin a phrase from Ronald Reagan. I have a seventh grader in school and the school he’s in in Chicago refused to let him take the Constitution test. And they felt that it was better that they did a project that was overseen by their liberal vice principal and they felt that that was better than them reading it and memorizing it, it would do them much better to do a project on it, and we were disgusted. So my son asked if he could take it and he was told no, don’t bring it up again.
RUSH: Unbelievable.
CALLER: Obama’s Illinois.
RUSH: They refused to let him take the Constitution test?
CALLER: They refused. And at my request, too, I said, ‘Could he please take the Constitution test,’ because I have two Rush Babies, and nope, no way.
RUSH: Why?
CALLER: They just felt that, you know, they feel that after years and years and years and years of doing it one way, they feel that by a child doing a project overseen by a liberal lady, a Pelosi wannabe, that he would learn more if he just did the project instead of reading and knowing what the law says, instead of reading the Constitution, and I feel like it’s his right —
RUSH: So it was a liberal interpretation of the Constitution class, or project, and the real Constitution was off-limits?
CALLER: Yep. And he was told specifically, because they know me and they know my kids, that he could not give his political opinion in his project.
RUSH: Well, it doesn’t surprise me. I mean you nailed it, what we’re looking at here is the liberal infestation of the American education system just like we’re looking at the liberal social infestation of Europe. And I think it’s on display now, it’s out there for everybody to see now. The libs can sit there in Illinois, ‘We are standing on principle.’ What is the principle? (impersonating libs) ‘The principle, Mr. Limbaugh, is that this has been a racist nation for way too long, and no more is this nation going to be racist except for people like you and on your side, Mr. Limbaugh. That’s a principle worth standing on. We are not going to Arizona because it’s a racist state and we’re not going to support racism.’ That’s the principle, folks, that’s what they’re thinking. Arizona is full of a bunch of racists and bigots. Okay, for those of you who think that, let’s not have any borders. Isn’t it racist to have borders, period? Let’s not have any. Anybody that wants to come in here can come in here and the minute they get here they can vote Democrat. Isn’t that the objective? Let’s just get rid of the border. Get rid of the border crossing; get rid of the Border Patrol. I mean, that’s the culmination, that’s where this ends up if the left prevails. You gotta see it for what it is.
Who’s next? Dennis in Kalida, Ohio. Nice to have you here.
CALLER: Yes, Rush. Thank you very much for having me.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: In light of all of the boycotting in Arizona, what if this plays in reverse and (unintelligible) with political philosophies in New York City where several senior class trips are taken?
RUSH: What do you mean, boycott those?
CALLER: Yeah, let’s don’t go to New York City because we disagree with some political position taken by the governor or the mayor of —
RUSH: That would be easy. I’m not gonna go to New York because I don’t like the tax rate there. I’m not going to go to New York because I want to eat trans fats. I’m not going to go to New York because I don’t want the salt police all over me. Yeah, you’re right, any number of things. Bill O’Reilly is the boycott expert, and we need to get him on the case here. He once brought France to its knees. So I’m sure he’ll hear about it.
CALLER: Right. My point is, you know, where does all this boycotting stop? All of a sudden we’re going to take one political decision that’s the best thing for the state of Arizona and make it into a political issue where we’re going to have all kind of boycotting going on left and right, you know, we just need to respect the rights of the people in Arizona and let them do their thing.
RUSH: Well, but they’re a bunch of racists you see, this is what this is all boiled down to. The United Nations says that it’s a human right to cross the border into the United States. That’s how they have weighed in on this Arizona controversy. It’s a human right to cross the United States border. You could boycott New York for being a sanctuary city.