Are you tired of the hate-speak that
has been filling the radio air waves for the last twenty years?

I am.

Twenty years ago, when the laws were
changed to allow equal access to public air waves for all parties
running in political campaigns, a very smart fellow by the name of
Rush Limbaugh saw a golden opportunity to cash in on it, and today
his nationally syndicated program is broadcast for three hours a day,
Monday through Friday, on 600 radio stations across the nation.

The man pulls down an income of over
$50 million a year, and his current contract with Clear Channel
Communications runs through the end of 2016.

He has made his mark and his millions
by pandering to folks who don't want to think for themselves. This
is done to the point where his minions gleefully refer to themselves
as “Ditto-heads”. In other words, “Whatever Rush says, I agree
with! Whatever he says, I say, 'Ditto, Rush!'” No thinking
necessary. Let somebody else do your thinking for you. It's easier
that way.

To be honest with you, I never liked
the man's opinions. AND, I never liked having someone else tell me
what I should be thinking, or figure out what is GOOD for me. I
always figured that I was smart enough to do that for myself.

I always tolerated Rush because I
thought of him as entertainment for the people who didn't want to
think for themselves. He even touts himself and his show as
“entertainment” not “commentary.”

I finally decided that he was a menace
and a jerk and despicable man with no conscience when, during the
2008 elections, he decided to make fun of Michael J. Fox for
Michael's tremors. Michael did a couple of infomercials in support
of stem cell research. He is a victim of Parkinson's Disease, and, in
the television spots, he exhibited the tremors that are symptomatic
of the disease.

Rush, rather than attack the actor's
stance on conservative-despised stem cell research, decided instead
to take the low road and attack the man himself by mocking Michael's
shaking body and trembling voice. (At the time, Rush had his
'Ditto-cams” recording his radio show, and he also had his
short-lived television show for his lemmings to salivate over.)

My wife's first husband had Parkinson's
Disease. He and his family suffered with it for years until it
finally killed him. He died before he was fifty. He left a wife and
two young sons.

There really isn't anything funny
about the disease, and there really isn't anything funny about the
disease's victims shaking uncontrollably because their nervous
systems are under attack.

There was an uproar over Rush's j back
juvenile antics then, but Michael J. Fox himself asked the public to
ignore the idiot, and instead push for more stem cell research,
(which doesn't kill fetuses, as Rush and his ill-informed minions
seem to think) in order to find cures for Parkinson's and other
diseases.

Two weeks ago, Rush did the same thing.
He launched a personal attack against a woman rather than simply
disagreeing with her opinion.

The woman was a Georgetown University
student named Sandra Fluke. Sandra stood before congress and stated
that she supported Obama's health care proposal that will have
employers cover the costs of contraception. (And, if an employer
refuses to do so because of religious of philosophical reasons, the
employer's health insurance company would cover it.) Sandra stated
that she was in favor of the legislation because a friend of hers had
ovarian cysts that could be treated only with oral contraception, and
her friend's employer would not cover the cost of such drugs.

Rather than attack the woman's
opinions, Rush decided that was it was right and just to wage a
vicious personal attack against the woman, impugning her reputation
and tearing into her with a three-day character assassination that
began on a Tuesday by calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute”,
and ending that following Thursday by saying that, “since Sandra
thinks that we should all pay for her having sex, I think she should
post her sex videos so that we can all watch them!” (In other
words, the idiot missed the point of Sandra's argument entirely.)

Nice talk, huh?

(Isn't it funny how Rush and his
followers never protested against insurance companies paying for
Viagara? They do, you know. Guess that one just slipped by the
Almighty Rushbo, huh? He doesn't mind the public paying for his sex...and I would certainly never
want to see the videos of HIM doing it!!!!
At least, not right after I've eaten.)

Well, since then, there has been an
uproar. To date, over fifty sponsors have pulled their adds from The
Rush Limbaugh Show.

Rush, in an attempt to quell the
stampede of fleeing sponsors and to sooth the fears of his loyal
followers, brushed these things aside last week, saying that these
sponsor defections are of little of no consequence. He likened the
lost advertisers to loosing a few french fries out of the packet when
you get them handed to you at the drive-through.

Well, maybe not, Rush.
Maybe it's a little more serious than that.

Here is breaking news on Saturday:

BREAKING:
98 Major Advertisers Dump Rush Limbaugh, Other Right-Wing Hosts

By Judd Legum on Mar 10, 2012 at 11:31 am
Industry
website radio-info.com has
the scoop:

When it comes to advertisers avoiding controversial
shows, it’s not just Rush From today’s TRI Newsletter: Premiere
Networks is circulating a list of 98 advertisers who want to avoid
“environments likely to stir negative sentiments.” The
list includes carmakers (Ford, GM, Toyota), insurance companies
(Allstate, Geico, Prudential, State Farm) and restaurants
(McDonald’s, Subway). As you’ll see in the note below, those
“environments” go beyond the Rush Limbaugh show

“To all Traffic Managers: The information below applies
to your Premiere Radio Networks commercial inventory...They’ve
specifically asked that you schedule their commercials in dayparts or
programs free of content that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial (for example, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Leykis,
Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity).’

This helps explain why, on Rush Limbaugh’s flagship station
WABC, almost of the commercial breaks were filled
with unpaid pubic service announcements. You can check out the
list of the 50 advertisers who were known to have dropped Limbaugh
before this report here.
But it’s not just Limbaugh that these advertisers want to
disassociate with, but other big names in right-wing radio too. As
the Daily Beast’s John Avalon notes, this is unprecedented in the
20-plus years that Limbaugh and his imitators have been on the air
and could
spell real trouble for an industry that’s already suffering
demographically. Women ages 24–55 are the prize advertising
demographic, but Limbaugh and other conservative hosts have steadily
alienated these listeners over the years, so the sexist attacks on
Sandra Fluke were “a perfect storm.”
The advertising flight is reminiscent of Glenn Beck’s Fox News
program. After major companies refused
to advertise on Beck’s show in light of racially insensitive
comments, he was left with just fringe
businesses like survival seed banks and gold sellers. Not long
thereafter, he left Fox, reportedly under pressure.
***

Don't believe me? Read it yourself at
the link below:

http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/10/442048/breaking-98-major-advertisers-dump-rush-limbaugh/

Also, this past Thursday, there were 86
commercial spots on Rush's show. 77 of those were free public service
announcements distributed by The Ad Council. Of the remaining 9
spots, 7 of those were from sponsors who are in the process of
pulling all of their ads from his show. So, only The Rush Limbaugh
Show had only two paid commercials in
three hours of broadcast time!

That leaves two french fries left in
the pack, Rush. Better start scooping them up off the floor, doncha
think?

See for yourself:

Rush Limbaugh's Show Filled With Free Ads;
Sponsor Exodus Continues

The Huffington Post  |  By Rebecca Shapiro  | 
Posted: 03/ 9/2012 11:00 am Updated: 03/ 9/2012 11:13 am

Media watchdogs have been paying close attention to the
commercials aired during Rush Limbaugh's radio show, as nearly 50
advertisers
have pulled their content from the program in wake of the
controversy surrounding Georgetown University law student Sandra
Fluke.
Think Progress has kept daily tabs on Limbaugh's fleeing
advertisers and those sticking with him. AOL—the parent company of
The Huffington Post—announced last week that the company pulled its
ads from Limbaugh's show.
Reports
about Limbaugh's Thursday program showed that 77 of the 86 spots
that aired were "free public service announcements donated by
the Ad Council." Additionally, seven ads were from companies "in
the process of pulling their spots." This apparently left only
two paid advertisements.
Advertisers began distancing themselves from Limbaugh after the
conservative radio host made
a series of incendiary comments about Fluke, who advocated for
insurance covered contraception. Limbaugh called her a "slut,"
and "prostitute" who should upload videos of her having sex
online so people may watch. His comments caused a public outcry, with
even President Obama personally calling Fluke to offer his
sympathies. Limbaugh issued
a rare, public apology, which later Fluke
dismissed during an appearance on "The View."
Despite Limbaugh's apology, advertisers continued to pull their
commercials from his program. Two radio stations also dropped
his show.
Limbaugh has spent considerable time this week defending himself,
his apology, and his program. Limbaugh said that his show is doing
well despite advertisers pulling their content, and will announce new
sponsors in the coming days. Although his comments about Sandra Fluke
outraged many, Limbaugh has continued to attack women on his program.
He called journalist
Tracie McMillan another white, single, overeducated woman for a
book she authored about food and the way Americans eat. "Overeducated
does not mean intelligent," Limbaugh said of McMillan.



***



At one point last week, Mr. Limbaugh said on his show that no
major advertisers had bailed out on him, only local ones. Well,once
again, the truth has never stopped Rush from stating what he wants
his audience to hear. As of Saturday, the list of advertisers who
have pulled their ads from his show are as follows:
Sleep
Number, The
Sleep Train, Quicken Loans, Legal Zoom, Citrix, Carbonite,
ProFlowers, Tax Resolution, AOL,
Bonobos,
Sears, Allstate
Insurance, Sensa, Bare Escentuals, Vitacost, Hadeed
Carpet, Thompson Creek Windows, PolyCom, Service Magic, AccuQuote
Life Insurance, Geico,
John Deere, Stamps.com, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Bethesda
Sedation Dentistry, Cascades Dental, Philadelphia Orchestra, Goodwill
Industries, Heart & Body Extract, Netflix,
Downeast Energy, Capitol
One, JCPenney,
Matrix Direct, Reputation Rhino, Consolidated Credit, Constant
Contact, RSVP
Discount Beverage, Cunningham Security, Regal
Assets, Freedom Debt Relief, Norway Savings Bank, Portland
Ovations, The Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington,
O’Reilly
Auto Parts, Aetna, TurboTax, New York Lottery, American Heart
Association and the Aquarium of the Pacific have pulled ads from the
program.
I don't know about you, but I think folks like Geico, AOL, Quicken
Loans, John Deere, Netflix, Capitol One, JCPenney, ProFlowers,
Allstate Insurance and Sears are a little more than local businesses.
If you want to read the whole article, here's the link:
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/02/436852/rush-limbaugh-advertisers/



Now, just to add a little more to the what is possibly the longest
article I've ever posted: if you'd like to add your name to the list
of others who are supporting Sandra Fluke's Constitutional right (and
the right of ALL us) to speak her opinions openly and freely, go to
the link below and sign the petition. Then, pass the link on to
everybody you know.

.http://thinkprogress.org/stand-with-sandra-fluke-b/

Stand
with Sandra Fluke

thinkprogress.org

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