Story #1: Seligmann Testimony Nails Nifong

RUSH: I was watching Fox this morning, and they had live coverage of the trial of Mike Nifong in North Carolina. This is the hearing about Nifong being disbarred — it’s over his law license. He’s saying, “Yeah, I made some ethical mistakes,” but he’s just trying to limit the damage here. He’s trying to prevent himself from being disbarred by making some admissions to things here, like saying his comments that he made were improper and so forth. But he’s not the story today as far as I’m concerned. I watched Reade Seligmann, who’s one of the three lacrosse players who was falsely accused and harassed by students at Duke and the 88 professors and all kinds of malcontents in the courtroom when those guys had their court appearance. His testimony… When these guys had their press conference, I was blown away with their composure and their maturity.

Reade Seligmann’s testimony today was heart-wrenching. He broke down. He started crying when he started describing the phone call to his mother to tell her that he had been accused of rape — that he had been picked in a lineup. His mother had a camera on her, and she was crying, too. It was terrible, listening to this story. But even before he broke down and started crying, he was just remarkably composed and mature and truthful and said, “We volunteered DNA first thing out of the box because we knew we didn’t do this, and that’s the fastest way to prove it,” — and of course the DNA results were held back and nobody was informed them until they were leaked. They spent some time in this trial yesterday pointing out that, “Oh, there was no conspiracy here. That’s was an unfortunate mistake that happened.” But there are no coincidences, folks. This was the second time I’ve seen public speaking from these lacrosse players, and they are just profoundly impressive. They have obviously been raised very well, and they’re quality people that just exuded composure and class.

Of course, when you have the truth and passion on your side you can be a pretty good speaker. When you know your subject and when you know what you’re saying is the truth, it gets rid of a lot of the nerves and tension that some people face when they get up to speak publicly. I mean, this thing was heartwarming. At the same time, when Nifong started his testimony, they had a camera cut to the families, and I think one of the other lacrosse players — well, Seligmann and Colin Finnerty. The looks on their faces and their parents’ faces could have killed when Nifong was up speaking. I remember telling Snerdley yesterday, “You know what? I knew this trial was going to start. I think so much time has gone by, so much passion has dissolved here, and legal communities tend to stick together, I’ll bet he gets some kind of slap on the face but not much,” and I have totally changed my thinking on that now after what I saw today, with him admitting impropriety and unethical behavior and mistakes in his statements. Now he knows he could have the entire book thrown at him over this and is trying to limit that. I don’t know how long this is going to go, but if you have a chance to see some of this over the weekend or tonight, you should see Seligmann’s testimony.
Story #2: Clintons Invested in Wal-Mart, Big Oil

RUSH: During the break at the top of the hour, I went back to Snerdley’s office (as I always do, just to make sure to keep his morale up and get his mind right. Open Line Friday is tough for him.) Anyway, he had C-SPAN on, and they cut away to a Clinton speech — and who was Clinton giving a speech to? Yeah, the “Women and Families Consortium,” or some such liberal group. The sound was not up, so I don’t know what Clinton was saying, but I can guess. He’s probably talking to some liberal group that wants as much control over families and women and their, quote, unquote, issues as possible. I’m sure he’s telling them what they all want to hear, about how “We all have to work together, you know? People out there want to destroy you, but you’re doing God’s work. You’re doing the Lord’s work and you’re hanging in for people disadvantaged and so forth, the downtrodden, the hungry, and the thirsty, and you’re doing the right thing, and don’t be talked out of it,” blah, blah, blah. And I’m sitting there saying, “There’s no way this guy and Hillary would live their lives the way they are encouraging these people to tell us to live our lives.” Then I stumbled across this story from the Associated Press.

“Hoping to avoid any possible conflict of interest, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, the former president, liquidated a blind trust valued at $5 million to $25 million in April after learning that it included such investments as oil and drug companies and military contractors, her presidential campaign confirmed. ‘As a presidential candidate, Senator Clinton was required to make her assets public. As a result, she had to dissolve her blind trust,’ Howard Wolfson, a senior Clinton adviser, said late Thursday. ‘Upon its dissolution, she and the president chose to go above and beyond what was required of them and liquidate their assets in order to avoid even the hint of a conflict of interest.'” Would you like to hear what the investments were, ladies and gentlemen? Here we go: “several pharmaceutical companies,” Big Drug, “including Abbott Labs, Amgen, Genentech, Novartis, Pfizer and Wyeth, with assets in each company ranging from $100,001 to $250,000, The New York Times reported in Friday editions. Other assets included BP Amoco,” Big Oil, “Chevron Corp., ” Big Oil, ” Exxon Mobil Corp.,” Big Oil, ” Raytheon,” Big Defense contracts, “and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.”

So every industry and company that they demonize, they are invested in! (Or they were.) They have liquidated it, and I don’t believe this notion that it was in the blind trust and therefore — well, they had to know what they were invested in. “Blind trust” just means you don’t know how it’s doing, but they knew that this disclosure was coming up, and they were going to have to do this, and I don’t believe for a minute that the dissolution of the investments in these companies was for any highbrow reason of openness and sunshine and all that — it was to avoid charges of hypocrisy. I mean, here they are demonizing every one of these industries. In fact, during the health care attempt back in the early nineties, Mrs. Clinton was doing everything she could to trash these companies. I wondered back then if she was investing in pharmaceutical stocks and then selling short after driving the prices down, and I still don’t know. Who knows what’s been going on with any of that?

Anyway, according to these disclosure forms, their net worth is now approximately $50 million. They came to Washington with nothing. How does this happen? Clinton as president made 200 grand. Hillary as senator makes 60, 70, 80 — I don’t know. Clinton’s been out there doing speeches and they’ve written books and so forth, but we also know they have ties with some really strange people — like this Gupta guy — and they have ties with Dubai. In fact, Clinton was even helping Dubai lobby for the ports deal back when it happened! So this is just typical. These people, I’m telling you: everything they tell you is going to be wrong or is going to end up being in one degree or another a falsehood if you just sit around and wait. I mean, Wal-Mart, of all companies? She was acting embarrassed a while ago that she was on the Wal-Mart board! She was having to cover for that lately: “Well, that was in Arkansas a long time ago. I had to do that. I was in business down there. Wal-Mart was a big concern. But I left that board when I discovered that some practices that company was involved in were things I didn’t approve of.” How are you investing in Wal-Mart stocks, then? With some of their hard-earned cash that they have earned since the Clintons left the White House in January of 2001? There’s only one industry that they have not invested in — and that’s because they own it — and that’s Big Hypocrite.
Story #3: Judge Rules Canadian Can’t Have Girlfriend
RUSH: This is one of these headlines that really conflicts me. It was like that story on the divorce rate declining — that was a conflict for me. So here’s the story, and it’s from Peterborough, Ontario: “A judge has ruled that a 24-year-old Canadian man is not allowed to have a girlfriend for the next three years. The ruling came after Steven Cranley pleaded guilty on Tuesday to several charges stemming from an assault on a former girlfriend. Cranley, who has been diagnosed with a dependent personality disorder, attacked his girlfriend in an argument after their breakup. He tried to prevent her from phoning the police by cutting her phone cord and punched and kicked her. He finally stabbed himself with a butcher knife when police did arrive, puncturing his aorta. Doctors say Cranley has difficulty coping with rejection,” — You think? — “and runs a high risk to re-offend if he becomes involved in another intimate relationship. Justice Rhys Morgan said Cranley ‘cannot form a romantic relationship of an intimate nature with a female person’ for three years.” So no, he can’t casually date. Well, I guess he could casually date, he just “cannot form a romantic relationship of an intimate nature.” (And we know what “intimate” is a code word for.) I suppose he could go gay because it specifies female person here.

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Story #1: Correction: Oscar the Cat Is Not Dead

RUSH: I have to start off with a correction today. We had a story Tuesday about that cat Oscar in Rhode Island, who lives in a nursing home. This cat seemed to have a sense of when residents of the old folks’ home were going to cash it in; the cat would jump on the bed of the patient about to cash it in, and the patient would cash it in. They said, “Well, this is incredible! How does this cat know this?” and a lot of the patients were getting a little upset about Oscar. So there was a story yesterday that the cat had been found dead in the nursing home with a dented bedpan near the body. A very curious member of our audience, Jay Cochensparger, called the nursing home up there to confirm this, because he thought the story might have been a hoax. Not that I was making it up, of course, but he thought it was a hoax, and the lady who answered the phone up there said that Oscar is indeed alive and well.

They heard the story, too, on the program up there and were quite surprised. Apparently this show’s big in there with the staff. So Mr. Cochensparger (I hope I’m pronouncing his name right) wanted me to know that Oscar the cat is still alive. I guess the patients up there don’t care, otherwise this story would be true. So it was a well-written hoax and I should have suspected it. I let my professional guard down; I should have suspected it because there was no identifying link, source, or whatever, but it was written pretty well as a hoax. So, anyway, it was just a cat, no big deal. The cat’s still alive. The story ends well.
Story #2: Farmer from India Solving Population Problem
RUSH: Did you see this story about this guy, where does this guy live? He’s a 90-year-old guy and his[21st] child was just born. He’s a farmer in India. His name is Nanu Ram Jogi, married to his fourth wife, and boasts he doesn’t want to stop — plans to continue producing children until he’s 100. “Women love me,” he says. There’s a picture of the guy here, and the fact that woman love this guy is probably established by the next story. Anyway, I was happy to see this because this guy is making up for my unwillingness in this department. And there is a birthrate replacement problem worldwide — at least my lack of willingness in this area is being compensated for by this guy.
Story #3: Women Attracted to Caveman-Like Faces
RUSH: This next story is from LiveScience.com (they have some great stuff): “Men With ‘Cavemen’ Faces Most Attractive to Women.” This Indian farmer doesn’t exactly look like a caveman, but he’ll never be on the cover of GQ, either. “Guys with bulldog-like faces have been chick magnets throughout human evolutionary history. A recent study of the skulls of human ancestors and modern humans finds that women, and thereby evolution, selected for males with relatively short upper faces.” What’s an upper face? A forehead? “The region between the brow and the upper-lip is scrunched proportionately to the overall size of their heads. Among the men who fit the bill: Will Smith and Brad Pitt.” Now, would any of you assign caveman-like faces to either of those two guys? I guess the next time a woman calls you a Cro-Magnon, it is a compliment, apparently.
Story #4: Gaza Strip Public Employees Paid to Stay Home
RUSH: Story from the Gaza strip: “Gaza’s public employees are getting paid on one condition: Stay home. Such is the irony of life in the Gaza Strip now that Hamas militants are firmly in charge. A rival pro-Western government in the West Bank is delivering salaries to most of Gaza’s civil servants as long as they don’t work.” For those of you in Rio Linda, this is government employees. “The moderate Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas doesn’t want its money propping up Hamas, which violently seized control of Gaza in June. But neither does it want to punish Gaza’s mostly pro-Fatah 90,000 civil servants whose salaries form the backbone of the already badly bruised economy.”

I only mention this story because it portends trouble down the road. When they’re going to raise all these cigarette and tobacco taxes to fund increasing amounts of health care insurance for the little children so high that they basically tax the product out of existence, guess what? There isn’t going to be any tax revenue to pay for all of the health care insurance benefits for the little children (which, by the way, are qualified as children in this program up to age 25). It probably won’t be long — just a matter of time — before state and federal governments do the same thing that’s happening here in Gaza because when everybody stops smoking there won’t be any money to pay all these federal employees to actually work. But we’ll not stop paying them; they just won’t have to go to work because there’s nothing for them to do.
Story #5: ChiComs Sold Used Chopsticks

RUSH: A Beijing factory and used chopsticks are in the news. Some Beijing factorysold used chopsticks. They sold up to 100,000 pairs a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, “in the latest of a string of Chinese food and product safety scares.” Do you believe that? Who recycles chopsticks, for crying out loud? Environmentalists wackos, I guess. I don’t even use them; I never learned how. Seriously, why would anybody recycle a chopstick?
Story #6: First Official Holiday Doom-and-Gloom Story

RUSH: “U.S. retailers…” This is so predictable. The only thing different here is that it’s August. I have for you, ladies and gentlemen, the first official doom-and-gloom story about the holiday season. It’s from Reuters. “U.S. retailers are still sweating through the back-to-school shopping season, but an early chill has already crept into their prospects for the all-important holiday season,” as it does every year in the Drive-By Media. They always present news to us that there is a chill over the retail outlook for the holiday season. They normally don’t do it in August, but they’re doing it today. “Numerous retailers, from Wal-Mart Stores to Target, have warned that the second half of the year will be more difficult than the first as the deteriorating housing market, higher fuel and food costs, and an undulating stock market take a toll on shoppers.” Wait a second, how could that be? I thought the stock market was for people in Wall Street! I thought Main Street didn’t benefit — oh, I take it back. When the market goes up, only the rich do well. When the market goes down, only Main Street suffers. Yup.

“‘There’s caution in the air,’ said Marie Driscoll, retail analyst at Standard & Poor’s. While saying it is too early to predict how holiday sales will unfold, Driscoll said that retailers will need to stock the ‘absolutely right product’ this holiday season or expect to have to resort to cutting prices and matching competitors’ discounts to win dollars from selective shoppers this year.” Have you ever noticed that every year when you people go out and Christmas shop, you search for deals? You don’t do it any other time of the year, apparently, but you’re always out there searching for deals and it’s up to the retailers now to make sure they don’t overstock the wrong items. Well, guess what? That is a concern. It’s part of the business plan 365 days a year, not just during the holidays. What did you say, H.R.? Oh, yes: I do that, too. Not only do I try to buy the wrong stuff during holiday time, I try to find the most expensive. In fact, if somebody is having a sale, I won’t go there, because I want to help the retailers who are charging full boat because I know they’re in trouble.
Story #7: “Experts” Stumped by Low Unemployment
RUSH: Companion story to the doom-and-gloom holiday one: “Fewer people signed up for jobless benefits last week, an encouraging sign that most businesses aren’t resorting to big layoffs amid a housing slump and the painful credit crunch.” Wait a minute. I thought we just heard that the holidays are going to be awful for these exact reasons! Here’s the story: “Deteriorating housing market, higher fuel and food costs, and an undulating stock market take a toll on shoppers,” it is thought. But, “Fewer people signed up for jobless benefits last week, an encouraging sign that most businesses aren’t resorting to big layoffs amid a housing slump and the painful credit crunch.” So what are we to believe? “The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance dipped by 2,000 to 322,000 for the week ending Aug. 18. It marked the first drop in new claims in roughly a month. The showing was a bit higher than the 320,000 analysts were forecasting.” So once again the analysts, the “experts,” are stumped. Unemployment claims just didn’t come in the way they thought they were going to come in — as usual.
Story #8: Bail Them Out with Whose Money, Mr. Gross?
RUSH: Try this from CNN: “Famed bond fund manager Bill Gross…” Have you ever heard of “famed bond fund manager Bill Gross”? Have you, Brian? I’m in the bond market, and I never heard of the “famed bond fund manager Bill Gross.” Anyway, he said that “the White House should bail out the millions of American homeowners who face the dreaded prospect of foreclosure this year. ‘If we can bail out Chrysler, why can’t we support the American homeowner?’ Gross wrote in his monthly investment outlook on PIMCO’s Web site. With nearly 2 million homeowners at risk of losing their homes this year and with housing prices rapidly receding, Gross said President Bush, not the Federal Reserve, is the best hope for ‘almost homeless homeowners.’ … ‘Write some checks, bail them out, prevent a destructive housing deflation that (Fed Chairman) Ben Bernanke is unable to do. After all W”, you’re “the Decider,” aren’t you?’ Gross wrote.” Okay, famed bond fund manager, Bill Gross, a question. You want George Bush to rescue and bail out these homeowners. May I ask with whose money do you have in mind? I’d really like to know who’s going to bail them out.
Story #9: Aging Boomers Hope to Get It On in Old Age

RUSH: Here’s this story on CNN about the seasoned citizens having more sex than you think. Actually, this story does not relate to me because, I must be honest, I don’t think about seasoned citizens having sex — so I don’t know how they can be having more sex than I think that they’re having because I don’t think about it. In fact, I didn’t think about it until I saw this headline from CNN: “Seniors Having More Sex Than You Think — Many older Americans routinely engage in vaginal intercourse, [Lewinskys] and masturbation, a landmark study into a long-taboo subject reported Wednesday.”

Now — heh, heh — how many of you want to think about this now? “‘From a societal perspective, I would say that old people are young people later in life,’ said Dr. Stacy Tesler Lindau, lead author of the federally funded study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Sexual activity reported among the 3,005 men and women who participated in the survey did decrease with age, particularly among the oldest participants — from 73% among those 57 to 64 years of age to 53% among those 65 to 74 years of age to 26% among those 75 to 85 years of age… Among the survey’s many discoveries was that about half of those 57 to 75 years of age who remained sexually active reported engaging in [Lewinskys]… The figure on masturbation ‘reflects a level of sexual need, even among men at very advanced ages, and speaks to the fact that sexuality is a lifelong proposition,’ said Edward O. Laumann, a study co-author and a sociologist at the University of Chicago.”

Now, what is it do you think that prompted this? These things just don’t just happen. These scientists, these researchers, don’t just pop out of the jack-in-the-box one day and say, “You know, I wonder if old folks out there are getting it on?” I’ll tell you what the reason is why CNN is reporting this stuff — it’s because all of these Baby Boomers are about “me, me, me, me, me,” and wondering what it’s going to be like when they’re that old! They want to know if they can still go out and do the Lewinskys and all these other things so they decided to do a survey to find out what’s ahead of them… so to speak. I guess I could have said “in front of them,” but that would be worse.
Story #10: Walter Williams Column He’ll Discuss Tomorrow

RUSH: Okay, folks: I have the roster here of guest hosts for tomorrow and next week. We have Walter Williams on Friday. He has a great column today, too, and I didn’t get a chance to get to it. Tell Dr. Williams to share the theory in his column with the audience tomorrow.

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Story #1:Reverse Status Symbol: Ripped Off by Madoff

RUSH: I’m not going anywhere. The Madoff thing. I’m staying here. You know, it’s bad out there. This actually has become a status symbol. We were talking about public relations and the rich, and the phoniness with which they operate and so forth. It has now become a status symbol among the rich to say that you got ripped off by Bernie Madoff, because everybody is losing money in the market, everybody is, but it makes you special and unique if you lost money because of Madoff. These people don’t think it makes ’em look stupid. It continues to elevate their status, they think. So there are people actually saying, “No, I won’t be coming down to Palm, maybe a couple weekends this year but, you know, the Madoff thing, we’re not going to be able to be quite as active.” I’ve had people tell me that who heretofore I didn’t know they were involved in the Madoff thing, (laughing) it’s amazing.
Story #2: Seattle Environmentalists Halt Snow Removal

RUSH: Get this. This is just classic. It’s not record snow in Seattle; it’s close to it. They had a big snowstorm on Saturday night, Sunday morning in Seattle and then again Sunday afternoon. It was so bad that the New York Jets, who went out and promptly lost to one of the worst teams in the league, needing to win the game to further their playoff hopes –although that loss did set up a quite-interesting showdown at 4:15 Eastern Time Sunday afternoon as the Dolphins arrive in Giants Stadium to play the Jets. Nevertheless it was like a one o’clock game out in the Left Coast. It’s a game that ended actually a little early, I think at quarter ’til four. Because I’m a student of the game I happen to know that visiting teams try to be packed up, everything, and out the door an hour after the game.

Sometimes they’re not able to do it depending on how long the coach and the players have to spend with the media, but at least the equipment truck is gone. They just pack everything up. It’s a massive project to move an NFL team around but they get it done in about an hour, then they have to head to the airport. You can generally figure… It’s rule of thumb if you care about such things, and I’m a big logistics person so these things interest me. When you gotta move that number of people around and do it efficiently, it’s always fascinating to me how you do it. But an NFL team is generally at the airport, on the plane, and ready to leave two hours after a game. So local time, this would have been six p.m. in Seattle. The Jets’ plane did not lift off until around 11 p.m. local.

They were on the tarmac and the runway four or five hours because of snow, huge, unexpected — well, not unexpected. The forecast had it right, but they were not prepared for this kind of snow in Seattle. They have lots of rain, right, Snerdley? Snerdley used to live there. It was one of the most disappointing, miserable times in his life, he often recounts for us. So the Jets didn’t get back ’til like 6:30 on Monday morning. So I saw this story about the snowfall out there and how it’s backlogged the city. This is from the Seattle Times. Did you know this, Snerdley? “Seattle Refuses to Use Salt.” It’s not just that. They refuse to use salt. The Roads are “‘Snow-Packed by Design.”

It’s not just that they want to save their precious roadways. They’re worried about the salt runoff hitting Puget Sound. Look, fine. It’s an admirable goal — typical liberal bureaucratic idiocy, but admirable. Again, wonderful intentions, lousy results. Listen to this: “The city’s approach [of no salt and snow-packed roads] means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains… The icy streets are the result of Seattle’s refusal to use salt…” In other words, folks, the people who run the streets in Seattle in snowstorms want them icy; and the only cars that can pass the roads after Seattle has “cleared” them are the cars liberals are trying to take outta your garage: SUVs, four-wheel drives, front-wheel drive, chains.

You think chains might do more damage to a roadway than salt would? “If we were using salt, you’d see patches of bare road because salt is very effective,” said Wiggins, the Department of Transportation chief of staff out there, Alex Wiggins. “We decided not to utilize salt because it’s not a healthy addition to Puget Sound.” Now, what is this? The only cars that can safely get around in Seattle after such snowstorms are the same cars these same liberals want to take away from everybody. (interruption) Puget Sound is made of saltwater, but it’s a delicate balance. It’s a very delicate balance. You know, man can destroy Puget Sound, Mr. Snerdley, with salt runoff from snow removal, the three or four times a decade they have to do it. These are very sensitive people. I’m surprised you’re questioning their actions.
Story #3:Market Falls as Putin Beats Obama in Drudge Poll
RUSH: When you get to your computer and you go to the Drudge page and you’ll be able to see the online poll between who is the hunkiest authoritarian socialist leader — by the way, Drudge is not presenting it that way. That’s the way I’m characterizing it. You’ve got Putin and the KGB and you got Obama. And right now, the vote is 52,000 plus have voted, it’s 33,000 to 19,000 for Putin.

The stock market is now down 60 points, after I reported the news Obama is losing the beefcake poll on the Drudge Report to Vladimir Putin for hunkiest socialist authoritarian leader. Putin is miles ahead of Obama, stock market down 60 points. Ladies and gentlemen, the purge has begun. And also, after a conversation with Snerdley here at the top of the hour break, I am stunned at his lack of understanding on certain things. Yes, a 60-point collapse in the stock market today after the Drudge Report ran a poll, still running the online poll, on who is the hunkiest authoritarian socialist leader, Putin or Obama. By the way, I mean, folks, both these guys, if you look at these pictures on Drudge, they’ve been body shaved. There was no way either of these pictures are accidental. Well, I mean, look at it.

When you look at the two pictures that Drudge has up there you’ll note that both Putin and Obama have body shaved their chests. They are hairless and looking for the sheen, you know. But what you’ll find is that Putin looks like a fully developed man as you would expect somebody in the KGB to look. Obama looks boyish. He looks beanpole-ish while he does have some definition. I think that’s why Obama’s losing this big time.

Story #4:Purge Begins: Madoff Fund Operator Found Dead

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, the purge has begun. Mere moments ago the body of a Madoff fund operator was found in his New York apartment. The name, de La Villehuchet. De La Villehuchet found dead in his apartment today, a Madoff fund operator. Of course, the active question here is was it murder or was it suicide? And this brings to mind that I miss Tom Lantos, a great immigrant to this country, Hungarian-Jewish, became a member of Congress, very elegant, erudite, refined and dignified. He was from Northern California, and I will never forget during the Craig Livingstone FBI file controversy in the White House that nobody could remember who hired Craig Livingstone. Craig Livingstone had custody of the 500 FBI files of Clinton enemies, but nobody could recall for the longest time who hired him. After a while it became very embarrassing for both the Clinton administration and the Democrat Party in general that Livingstone was out there cutting such a wide public swath. So they had him up to hearings about, oh, three weeks after a famous Navy admiral had committed suicide after it had been learned that he had falsified information to get medals that he had not deserved.

I will never forget Tom Lantos interrogating Craig Livingstone, who looked like he was in shell shock anyway. I mean, he was just obviously some flunky that was given custody of these things, and he was the fall guy. He was always intended to be the fall guy. So they threw him up to the wolves, and Lantos actually said to Craig Livingstone, (doing Lantos impression) “At least Admiral Boorda had the decency to commit suicide,” and Livingstone just looked like, “What the hell is this guy telling me? Boorda was a better guy ’cause at least he committed suicide?” Admiral Boorda committed suicide while Livingstone was continuing to walk free. So now we wonder if de La Villehuchet, the fund operator for the Madoff fund, found dead in his New York apartment today, was suicide or was it foul play? Regardless, ladies and gentlemen, the purge has begun.

I guess it could be safely said that de La Villehuchet simply wasn’t enjoying the new high status of being involved with Bernie Madoff. If you missed the first hour, folks, it is true, the rich that were involved with this guy are now using it as another status symbol in reverse. “Hey, are you going to be down in Palm Beach this season?” “Ah, not so much, you know, the Madoff thing,” implying that they’ve suffered some financial losses. A lot of Madoff people don’t want it known because they might have been involved, but those who had no involvement, they’re proud to now tell people because it was such an exclusive club, so they’re proud to admit their stupidity because everybody is losing in the market, it’s no big deal to lose, but it’s a status symbol to say you lost with Madoff — (laughing) — what a sick bunch.
Story #5:Three Drive-By Stories on Teens and the Economy

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, you remember, not long ago we chronicled the most amazing story. I was totally incredulous. There was a story from AP, and I shoulda known that it was only the beginning, it was not just a standalone story. The story was the dilemma that modern day parents have over how to approach their children during the holiday season in the midst of a recession. The story sought to advise parents on the various ways they could go. The two primary options were to not tell the children of how tough financial times are, just spend like it was last year. Don’t upset the fragile little beasts, they can’t handle it.

Or, confront them and tell them you’re not going to get as much this year, we’re going to cut back our spending.

(crumb-cruncher impression) “Why? Why?”

“Well, because there’s a recession and we just don’t have as much money.”

“Well, get some more.”

“No, it’s not that easy.”

There have been a couple follow-up stories, and today there are three more. From AP-Obama, first one headlined thus: “Teens Learning About the Economy First-Hand — Many say they have lowered their expectations for the holiday season.” It’s from Des Moines, Iowa. “Teenagers have never been known for their restraint, but perhaps these times are different. Tuned in to worries of a deepening recession, many teens say that they’ve been smart shoppers and have lowered their expectations for receiving gifts this holiday season. ‘I plan to spend less this year,’ said Shakara Walker, 18, a senior at Benjamin Banneker High School in Atlanta. ‘Since I’ve gotten older, it’s got to the point now where gifts aren’t everything.'” This kid made it to her senior year in high school and she says, “It’s got to the point.” She’s a senior in high school. At least her expectations have been tempered. Teenagers learning about the economy firsthand. How the hell else would they learn about it? Gee whiz.

Here’s the next story, and this could be any media outlet. This could be your local paper, could be a network. It happens to be AP-Obama, but could be anything. You parents are incompetent and unqualified. You do not know how to talk to your kids about money, and so, from the AP, I’m holding it right here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers: “Five Tips for Talking with Teenagers About Money,” offered by our Drive-By Media parents. “Number one: Understand the difference between needs and wants. Many kids may consider movies and designer jeans needs, but they need to understand that needs are the true essentials — such as food, clothing and shelter. Wants can make life easier, but kids need to learn that they must address and pay for their needs before they can spend money on their wants.”

Now, I must take AP to task here because none of this is relevant, especially if these people voted for Obama because he’s gonna handle it all, he’s going to handle wants and needs. Seriously, is this not shocking? This is what passes for journalism? Hey, parents, we know you’re at wits’ end over how to deal with your kids about money and how scarce it is. Here are five tips. Tell them the difference between what they want and what they need. Can you imagine being such a low-life human being that you have to have the media tell you how to be a parent? If you are a parent and you see this story in your local paper, if you still have one, and you read this and it turns on lightbulbs for you, “Oh, yeah, I never thought of that,” you are sick, you are in bad shape and you need to go look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself why you had kids in the first place. Good grief almighty. Tell you your kids the difference between wants and needs. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

“Number two. Set financial goals and budget accordingly. One of the best ways for young people to learn about managing money is for them to set and achieve a simple financial goal,” like owning their first house of 5,000 square feet at age 21, with zero financing, brought to you by Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Freddie Mae, Fannie Mac, whatever. Set and achieve a simple financial goal? “Younger teens can benefit from opening a savings account and choosing something to save for.” By the way, I want to say something about this, ladies and gentlemen, because point number five here, “Start saving early.” Really? Really? Brian, you just had a little baby not too many months ago. Are you going to advise your little kid to start saving early? You are? You’ve started an account for him? You’ve got a passbook savings account in the local bank? You trust the bank?

You see, ladies and gentlemen, this is dangerous and risky. Two groups of people, let’s call them kids. One group had very strict, responsible parents who made them save as much as they could, and the parents were doing likewise. Another group of kids had parents that were just laissez-faire, go do what you want, and those kids saved nothing and they went out and bought a lot of stuff. Those kids still have their stuff. The other kids who saved have been wiped out. [snip] And the final Associated Press-Obama story on teenagers and money is headlined this way: “Your Teenager’s First Recession: Learning to Cut Back.”
Story #6: Dutch Company Punches Holes in Font to Save Ink
RUSH:Try this for stupidity, a little comedy. This is a story from the Associated Press from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The headline really says it all: “Dutch Company Punches Holes in Font to Save Ink — A Dutch company looking for ways to reduce the environmental costs of printing has developed a new font that it says cuts ink usage by about 15 percent. In essence, the ‘Ecofont’ has little holes in the letters. … [C]ompany co-founder Gerjon Zomer … concedes the font isn’t beautiful, but says it could be adequate for personal use or for internal use at a company.” Holes in your font. Now, for you Obama voters, a font, think of it as typeset; like ABC on a typewriter or keyboard; and they put holes in every letter; an A with holes in it, holes in the B. There are even holes in the O even though the O already has its own hole.

This makes about as much sense as back during the Seventies when I was living in Kansas City. TWA had a huge maintenance center at Kansas City International Airport and they ran a test because jet fuel was skyrocketing, gasoline was skyrocketing. So what they did is they stripped all the paint off of two of their airliners because they figured the paint added weight. You paint an airplane and there’s a lot of weight there, and they flew these unpainted planes — other than the federal markings required for identification, the N number. But they flew these around with no paint on them, just the aluminum, to see if they could calculate any savings on jet fuel.

And, of course, there’s no way to know because no two flights are identical, with winds and such. (sigh) It was silly. And even if they had said, “You know what? We’re saving 1% here. Okay, the next time you fly to LaGuardia and they put you in a 45-minute hold before you land, you’re still burning up all that fuel you otherwise might have saved by having the plane not painted.” It’s the same thing with the stupid idiocy of putting holes in your font, all to save 15% on ink. I told you, folks, these leftists, they are hilarious. If you have the right frame of mind following these people around, you can enjoy yourself frequently.
Story #7:Far Out: Stoners Think Obama May Decriminalize Pot

RUSH: Hey, the stoner community is very happy out there. Esquire magazine with a report saying Obama really might decriminalize marijuana. This comes from sources on the transition team. [snip] Obama really might decriminalize marijuana, Esquire magazine. “The stoner community is clamoring to say it: ‘Yes we cannabis!’ Turns out, with several drug-war veterans close to the president-elect’s ear, insiders think reform could come in Obama’s second term — or sooner.” Apparently there are some transition team people that are telling the press, Esquire, that Obama wants to decriminalize marijuana.

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Story #1: Heritage Finds Climate Change Garbage in Porkulus

RUSH: My friends, my other friends at the Heritage Foundation had found something else in the Porkulus bill. Listen to this. This is from www.Heritage.org: “President Barack Obama’s trillion dollar stimulus plan,” the Porkulus plan, “has morphed into an appropriations bill devoid of debate. The process forgoes any pretense of targeting unemployed people and resources. For instance, the [Porkulus] bill reads ‘Provided further, that not less than $140,000,000 shall be available for climate data modeling.’ This raises the question of how many unemployed climate modelers are out there pounding the pavement. When presented with that question, last Friday, Pat Michaels, former president of the American Association of State Climatologists stated ‘I don’t know one unemployed modeler.’

“Whether or not another $140,000,000 for climate data modeling is a good idea, it is hard to see an immediate, economy-stimulating impact from this item.” I’ll tell you something else that’s going on with this. This establishes that if you’re a climate modeler, you get money from the federal government. This government is the Obama government. They want to propagate this manmade global warming hoax. You take money from them for your climate computer models, when you don’t even need it? What, do I wonder, are your results going to show? Exactly what Obama wants. Where did I find this? Heritage Foundation. AskHeritage.org. It’s all I did.

Go to the website, AskHeritage.org, special reports on the stimulus, the Porkulus, any number of things. Become a member, and you will have an encyclopedia open. I’ve been using the Heritage Foundation. It’s one of the most crucial educational elements throughout the last 20 years of this radio program. I’ve used them the first moment I discovered them, when I learned that they were heavy architects of Reagan administration policy. They’re quality, class people. They’re us. They’re us people. They’re scholars, but they’re not eggheads. They’re scholars and they’re brilliant geniuses but they are not elitists. If you’re just looking for how to understand, explain ideological conservatism as applied to current-day events, that’s a pretty good place to go. That and my website, the Essential Stack of Stuff.
Story #2: Is the Senate Gang of 14 Poised to Strike Again?

RUSH: Okay. Try this. Fox News. The headline: “The Senate’s Gang of 14 may be poised to strike again over the stimulus bill. The Gang of 14 compromise in 2006 displeased many conservatives. Now with Democrats in power, a similar compromise may be brewing for Obama’s [Porkulus] economic bill.” This is all about Ben Nelson, Democrat, Nebraska, “who gathered Republicans and Democrats and the Gang of 14 to avert the nuclear option over judges.” My friends, I don’t want to appear overly confident here. I just want to tell you: Don’t worry about this. They may try for their Gang of 14, but I have a gang of 20 million, and our gang of 20 million will overwhelm their Gang of 14. Of course Democrat Ben Nelson is going to try to get our moderates to repeat their folly, after the House Republican unity of the day before yesterday. So Democrats, you have to ask yourself over and over: Why do they care? They don’t need our votes. They don’t need Republican votes to pass this. Why do they want them? It’s not just the bipartisan thing. I’m being repetitive here, and I don’t want to say the same thing over and over again, but it’s important.
Story #3: How Did World War II End the Great Depression?
RUSH: We had one lingering caller who wanted to know: How did World War II end the Depression? Very simple. It got the economy going. We took unemployment from 23% down to 2%. We had to build airplanes. We had to make bombs. Rosie the Riveter — everybody was working to build material to win the war. The government wasn’t spending money with a stimulus; people were working.

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Story #1:State-Run Media Can’t Disguise Bad Economic News

RUSH: Now, this is truly amazing. “New requests for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week, the first decline in a month and a hopeful sign after a raft of negative economic reports.” That’s AP. But there’s another AP story that says, regardless of numbers, it feels like a recession. So it’s getting harder and harder and harder for the partisan political operatives disguised as journalists to even carry the water here, so we go down to 473,000 instead of 500,000, and, yeah, yeah, okay, fine, but still we’re in trouble. It’s gotta be depressing to be at AP today.

So here’s their other story: “Regardless of Numbers, it Feels Like a Recession.” The Associated Press finally has to admit what we have known all along. There is no recovery and there never was. They tried to make it exciting: Only 473,000 jobless claims this week, as opposed to 500,000 last week. They tried to make it sound positive, but they’re not even buying their own line of BS at the AP anymore. “Businesses are ordering fewer goods. Home sales are the slowest in decades. Jobs are scarce, and unemployment claims are rising. Perhaps most worrisome, manufacturing activity, which had been one of the economy’s few bright spots, is faltering.” How many people believe that? That manufacturing had been one of the few bright spots? Most people believe that we’ve lost manufacturing; that it’s all gone elsewhere because of NAFTA.

“‘The odds of a double-dip are rising and uncomfortably high,’ said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, referring to the possibility that the nation will tip back into recession. ‘Nothing else can go wrong. There is no cushion left.’ On Wednesday, the government offered the latest dose of grim news about the economic recovery: Companies cut back last month on their investments in equipment and machines. And Americans bought new homes at the weakest pace in nearly half a century. Earlier this week came news that sales of previously occupied homes fell last month to the lowest level in 15 years.” Why buy one when you can just move in? Squatters and so forth, why buy one?

“The economy has grown for a full year now, and many experts believe the recession technically ended in July 2009. But the pace of expansion has slowed significantly in the past six months.” There hasn’t been any expansion. You see, this is another example. They can write this. They can have their slaves report it. The average American knows there is no recovery and there is no expansion. And the American people are not surprised when any of this economic news is released. The only people surprised are the experts. “Economists are predicting the government will announce Friday that the economy grew from April to June even more slowly than previously thought, at an annual rate below 2 percent…” whatever they report is going to be revised down after everybody’s forgotten the original number. “Of course, for most Americans, the numbers are strictly academic.” Well! AP is finally getting to the nub of it.

“For Tim Reardon, a sales executive at a small Massachusetts company that installs kitchen counters and floors, August is shaping up to be the worst month of business in 11 years. His company cut a third of its staff and is placing factory orders a job at a time. ‘You definitely watch the pennies a little closer — everything from advertising to tools,’ he said. ‘This is feeling like another recession.’ For the average household, whether the economy is growing slightly or not at all may not matter much.” This truth from AP. “Two gauges that matter more are the unemployment rate, which is stuck at 9.5 percent, and home values, which are down about 30 percent from their 2006 peak. William Dunkelberg, an economics professor at Temple University’s School of Business and Management and chief economist of the National Federation of Independent Business…” these people have more words in their titles than dollars that they make. “William Dunkelberg, an economics professor at Temple University’s School of Business and Management and chief economist of the National Federation of Independent Business, ‘Who cares if it’s a second recession or a double-dip? Either way, things are not going well.'” He’s right, Dunkelberg’s right, don’t misunderstand. “Housing has never fully recovered from the recession. Builders have been forced to compete with foreclosed properties offered at sharply lower prices.”

So it’s a truth that they at least today can’t ignore; maybe there’s some bad moods and next week they’ll hop back on the positive gravy train. But you can see how economists can be confused. Recovery and recession both start with the letter R. Well, you have to give ’em credit. Housing prices peaked — did you hear that? Housing prices peaked four years ago. Now, what else happened four years ago? Four years ago is about when the Democrats began to talk down the economy so they could win in November of 2006. Four years ago is when the Democrat Party started launching into this assault on an economy where 4.7% was the unemployment number, where economic growth was still happening, and they were hell-bent on creating in people’s minds a depression if they could, not just a recession. And, lo and behold, housing prices peaked at that time.

Story #2:Trapped Chilean Miners Get Advice from NASA

RUSH: Look at this on Fox: “Trapped Miners in Chile to Get Advice from NASA.” I didn’t know that the trapped miners were Muslims! I am continually surprised each and every day on this program.

Story #3:72 Slain Migrant Workers Found on Mexican Border
RUSH: “The discovery of 72 slain Central and South American migrants on a ranch just south of the U.S. border provides a horrific reminder of the brutality of human trafficking in a country dominated by drug cartels.” That would be Mexico. “Migrants running the gauntlet up Mexico to reach the United States have long faced extortion, violence and theft. But reports have grown of mass kidnappings of migrants, who are forced to give the telephone numbers of relatives in the United States or back home who are then required to transfer ransom payments to the abductors. … In an April report, Amnesty International called the plight of tens of thousands of mainly Central American migrants crossing Mexico for the U.S. a major human rights crisis. The report called their journey ‘one of the most dangerous in the world’ and said every year an untold number of migrants disappear without a trace.”

Well, maybe, just maybe the leftists at Amnesty International will call on the US to do more to close its border, and maybe now Amnesty International will express its support for Arizona’s new legislation as well. I’m just kidding. We all know that the leftist group Amnesty International will do nothing to try to address the root of the problem. See, if we close the border the migrant traffic would stop, their kidnappings and killing would stop, if we would close the border. Where’s the outrage? Do the lives of illegal aliens only matter when they finally get into the United States? Is that the only time the Democrats are going to care about them? Illegal immigrants or migrants can be mass murdered before they get here and, ho-hum, no big deal. But when they get here it’s a whole different matter. I don’t know. It’s just another societal breakdown happening left and right, and the outrage misplaced over all of these kinds of incidents.

Story #4:Fox’s Major Garrett Doesn’t Need to be on Television

RUSH: Major Garrett has announced he’s leaving the Fox News Channel. He’s going back to print. He’s gonna work for the National Journal. The National Journal publishes The Hotline, a couple of other things. And everybody in Washington is stunned. He just got the primo chair in the White House briefing room because Fox News just got it. That’s the Helen Thomas chair. He’s leaving. He used to be at AP, Major Garrett did, then he quit that and went to Fox. I think before Fox he was at CNN. Somewhere there, maybe MSNBC, whatever, he ends up at Fox. Now he wants to go to the print publication, and they’re stunned. “I don’t want to be a reporter who goes on cable to talk about anything that I haven’t reported on specifically … If I reported something, written something, and Fox or CNN or MSNBC or BBC deems it important and wants to talk about it, I’m happy to talk about it, but that’s it. I have no interest in being on television simply to be on television.”

Do you know how rare that is? That is abnormally rare. (interruption) Fox did not get Helen’s chair? They just got moved to the front row? Okay, I thought they got Helen’s chair. It’s probably safer for Fox that they didn’t get Helen’s chair. This is rare for somebody to say you don’t want to be on TV just to be on TV. Everybody wants to be on TV just to be on TV. Major Garrett wants to go back to print.

Story #5: US Tax Money Go to Refurbishing Mosques Worldwide

RUSH: It happens to be true that we’re pouring money into mosques worldwide. For example, it was reported in the Washington Times in April that our ambassador to Tanzania participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the refurbishment of a 12th century mosque in Tanzania. The United States taxpayer provided funds to help the project all along, and it was not just that one — they provided financial assistance to save another mosque in Cairo. This mosque was named after a Muslim conqueror who defeated Christians in Egypt. So, yes, this is where our money is going.