Rush Limbaugh and his band of bullies

The name Rush Limbaugh evokes a lot of emotions and feelings in people, but in the current state of our nation, i.e. Tea-Party-Fanaticism-Gone-Wild, he seems to have earned a certain cachet he most decidedly does not deserve. “Well, gosh darn it there, if Rush said it, it MUST be true. So I’m just going to repeat it as fact until someone points out that it’s a bald-faced lie, and I have to back down and look stupid. Then I’ll just repeat it as fact to the people who won’t argue with me and defriend all the others.”

Yeah.

I understand why Rush is popular, because I myself find Bill Maher quite amusing, and while I would not want to marry him or even spend two weeks on a vacation with him (I”m sure the feeling would be mutual), I still watch him and smile. That crazy Bill. That crazy Rush.

But recently, Rush thought it would be okay to COMPLETELY twist and turn someone’s personal statement into a mess, that resembles nothing of what it started out to be. There’s a song by He is We called “A Mess It Grows.” This mess just keeps growing.

Here’s what happened, as far as I can interpret it correctly. (Heh. You have to be a Mormon to get that reference. Look it up.)

1. Providing birth control for women, paid for by insurance, became an issue with Congress and Obama, who are usually poking sticks at each other while the teacher isn’t looking and then pointing fingers when she turns back around and tries to figure out who started it.

2. Congress had a hearing, about birth control for women, provided by INSURANCE COMPANIES, and no women were there to testify.

3. This was not a problem for the religious right and the Tea Party, who like their women barefoot and pregnant, and serving them up a cold lemonade on a hot day, thank-you-very-much.

4. This went on DESPITE the fact that women have had the right to vote umpteen years now, and everybody has pretty much figured out that if you don’t treat mother with respect, you probably aren’t going to like your dinner for the next two years.

5. When people became OUTRAGED at the antics of our mostly-male Congress, fingers started pointed in all directions so fast it’s a wonder anyone in Washington was left with an eye that did not get poked out.

6. Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown student who was SUPPOSED to testify at the hearing, was allowed to make her statement.

7. She made the statement, and was immediately attacked. Rush Limbaugh and his misogynistic band of bullies promptly attacked her, turned everything around, and claimed she wanted to have as much sex as she wanted, and as much birth control as she wanted, and she expect US TO PAY FOR IT.

8. It went from that to “OBAMA IS ATTACKING RELIGION (because you know he’s secretly a Muslim and was born in a test tube, on a top secret island called Hawaii, where the men wear skirts) and is going to force ALL THE CHURCHES TO PROVIDE BIRTH CONTROL.” Even the Catholic Church, which has never provided birth control for anyone, and doesn’t really care to do so. They feel that sex is for ONE PURPOSE. Procreation. Any other spillage of sperm is against God’s plan. Thus, there should be no birth control. (I made the test tube part up. I think it’s best to get that out there right now.)

9. From there, Sandra Fluke, the “prostitute” and “slut,” became the target of some pretty far-fetched yarns, and many words she did not even come CLOSE to saying were attributed to her. People said, “Oh, yeah, did you listen to it, Natalie, because I heard it and that’s what she said. She wants us to pay for her birth control, and as much of it as she wants, and she is having a lot of sex because she needs a lot of birth control.”

Now, at this point, I must point out that the birth control Sandra Fluke would like provided to her is a once a day pill. You could take a lot of it every time you had sex, and it would probably give you cancer, so nobody is doing that. Once a day, three weeks out of the month is all it takes. We certainly hope that no one is taking hordes of it in the hopes they can HAVE tons of sex which probably won’t happen anyway. At least we hope they aren’t. Buying HORDES of birth control so you can have TONS of sex isn’t really a problem in our country. Nobody is jacking pharmacies and screaming “Hand over the pill and no one will get hurt.” They save that for Oxycontin. Despite all of this, which is just common sense, Rush Limbaugh and his misogynistic band of bullies attacked Sandra Fluke, and suddenly this ridiculous scenario was being repeated as FACT on FB, message boards, in newspapers, radio shows, etc. etc….

And why? Because a woman believes that she should have the right to make the choices she needs for her body and her health. Viagra and Cialis are covered by insurance. These erectile dysfunction drugs are given to men, so apparently that is not an issue. A friend of mine said that it has been proven that lack of ejaculation can cause prostate cancer, so these medications SHOULD be provided. But the Catholic Church stance on birth control is one that is FIRM on the purpose of sex. It is for PROCREATION ONLY. If you are not having babies, you are not to have sex. Period. Cancer? Too bad. So why do insurance companies regularly pay for these medications, and NOT birth control? Complications of pregnancy can include some really nasty little things like pre-eclampsia, stroke, diabetes, placenta previa, death…. Some women need to use monthly birth control just to control extremely painful periods and rampaging endometriosis, that can permanently scar a woman. No matter. None of this weighs in, because OBAMA WANTS TO MAKE THE CHURCHES PROVIDE BIRTH CONTROL TO EVERYONE ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET. In fact, I heard that he is trying to mandate that the Catholic Church hand out pills to every person on the planet, just so he can giggle behind their backs as the priests say “sex.” Kinda like in junior high.

And the sad fact is that none of this is true. Sandra Fluke did not tell the world she wanted Georgetown and the Catholic Church and the American public to pay for her birth control, tons of it, thousands of dollars of it, so she could have sex 42 times a day and not get pregnant.

Here is what she actually said.

Go read it. Please. And then explain to me why Rush Limbaugh and the BoB should not lose all sponsorships and money in their pocket, and be forced to live their days panhandling on the side of freeway exists, with a sign that says, “I lied on my radio show and lost my job. Will do no work for food, and will spread misinformation and lies, and you better just hand over the dough anyway.”

Now, one of the weirdest parts of all of this was the “look over there” portion of these events. Instead of admitting that they were wrong about what Sandra Fluke said, people said, “Well, Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a very nasty word and no one complained about that.” Actually, they did. I found this interesting commentary about the “c” word and Sarah Palin. The difference is, people know that Bill Maher is going to go after Palin, and he is also going to OWN UP to the fact he is going after her. He’s wrong. And he damn sure shouldn’t be saying what he is saying. Bill Maher should wash his mouth out with soap and show a little respect for women. He knows this. He doesn’t lose sponsors, because he didn’t have those sponsors to BEGIN WITH. Yeah, he has people on his side, and he has money, but they are not the rabid, right-wing Rush Limbaugh BoB who choose to ignore what a misogynistic bullying moron he is because he comes across as a “good old boy,” and he says what they are already thinking. He just says it out loud.

I am now going to attempt to sum this up with THE TRUTH. The actual events. The things that took place.

Sandra Fluke gave an impassioned speech about the fact that some female employees of Georgetown University have to pay for their own birth control pills, because Georgetown, a Jesuit university, is a private school owned by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church does not believe in birth control. However, they DO provide erectile dysfunction drugs to their male employees, despite the fact that these male employees are most likely not having sex for the purpose of procreation. This is a bias and an inequality. Nonetheless, they are a private university, and they have the right to dictate the moral code of their campus. UNLESS THEY ARE ACCEPTING FEDERAL MONIES. At that point, they gave up that right, and must now live by the same “separation of church and state” issues the rest of us do.

Nobody is going in to the Vatican and telling the Pope he needs to get on the birth control band-wagon, least of all President Obama.

Rush Limbaugh is a schoolyard bully, and should be treated as such. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR. We get it, Rush. You don’t like women, unless they are pregnant and barefoot and serving you lemonade with your prescription drugs that you are addicted to. Is that an unfair slam? Maybe, maybe not. How did it feel?

What the hell is wrong with just showing respect and being decent, period. Why aren’t more people on the Dalai Lama bandwagon, huh? That’s a band-wagon for which I would learn to play the tuba. Or how about the Gandhi bandwagon? I would totally be in the drumline for that. Mother Teresa? Count me in! I could totally play the cymbals.

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?
Mother Teresa

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

Mahatma Gandhi

Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them. Dalai Lama

This, people, is the music of life. Drown out the bullies.