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Norman Lear

Norman Lear

Posted: January 4, 2011 10:39 AM

I might have been six years old when I first learned how integral the bumble bee was to the human food chain. The Huffington Post article yesterday about the American bee population plummeting and the disastrous effect this is likely to have on those of us who eat scared the food I had digested up to that moment out of me. Then I remembered someone who eats far more than me and is certainly far more informed on such matters as the calamitous loss of bees and other pollinating insects, not to mention snakes and tigers and penguins and other wildlife that is dying off, according to the new study across three continents by the World Wildlife Fund to which HuffPost referred.

That person is of course Rush Limbaugh, also known as El Rushbo, a pseudonym he reminds us of to his own amusement quite often. El Rushbo goes on about what fools and fakers and worse environmentalists are -- and what hogwash environmental science is. The man once claimed that the BP oil spill was the result of a conspiracy of environmentalists, for God's sake. His fans, who are also tickled to be called ditto-heads, seem to be entertained by this -- just enough, I imagine, for Limbaugh to refer to himself as an entertainer when he suspects his role as a commentator has gotten him into some unsustainable mischief. Should Limbaugh be too embarrassed to do that for himself regarding the environment -- and I predict that moment is coming -- look for El Rushbo to hide behind the stations that carry him. "You take him too seriously, the man's an entertainer," will be some representative suit's mantra. What the hell, that's the way the New York Times and Michael Steele -- how entertaining is that combo? -- have referred to him.

If Limbaugh is an entertainer, I'm an astronaut.

 
I might have been six years old when I first learned how integral the bumble bee was to the human food chain. The Huffington Post article yesterday about the American bee population plummeting and the...
I might have been six years old when I first learned how integral the bumble bee was to the human food chain. The Huffington Post article yesterday about the American bee population plummeting and the...
 
 
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10:50 PM on 01/09/2011
I listen to limbaugh, and the only thing I hear is his respect for freedom and individual responsibility. If its hateful that I feel you liberals are ruining the country with more and more government control, then let me be a hater. Man the people on this board are a bunch of whiners. Rush correctly points out alarmism and you guys lose your cookies. To you 140 iq'ers out there, you should know the difference. By the way shame on you leftys for blaming the shootings on the right. Reports are he waa a leftist. How do you reconcile that one? Same way global warming makes it colder?
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aceempress
09:48 PM on 01/09/2011
A plumber who came to my house recommended Rush to me. So twenty years ago I listened to him for a week. I couldn't stomach him because I actually have an IQ of 140 and read. The amount of misinformation he spouts to his illiteratti is amazing. I told my friends that he was going to destroy our country, and he and Fox are both doing a great job at that. As long as you can make stuff up and as long as our congress can look at facts (like the numbers from the CBO about healthcare and ignore them), and as long as we have representatives who represent Oil, Wallstreet, and billionaires instead of the ordinary citizens, we are going the way of Mexico. Why don't we just invade Mexico and call it a day?
10:41 PM on 01/09/2011
Wow, you quoted your IQ in your point? Nice.
08:16 AM on 01/10/2011
Oh hell, why don't we just acknowledge that the same entity controlling Mexico (Oil,Wall Street, and billionaires) has already invaded the both of us----and then call it a day?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Smilinsteve
09:33 PM on 01/09/2011
I once heard Rush label Joey Ramone of the Rock n Roll band The Ramones "....a maggot infested, (whatever he said after that-.... liberal...) Aaaah! The emails started pouring in that actually Joey religiously listened to Rush, and he loved him!....Rush couldn't even back off of his hate speech and stereotyping, and he called him that again! THAT'S the problem with the power of hate speech...its toxic, stereotyping, and just plain wrong....just like Rush losing his job at the football league for talking foolishly about black athletes....I don't even listen a little to him anymore for years, and I'm glad I don't....I'm a registered and proud Dem, and Ive been plying in bands since 71
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billstu
Doing the least if not less
10:47 PM on 01/09/2011
using joey ramone as your argument only re-enforces rushes argument ... joey ramone what a joke ... get sedated buddy ...
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SonOfUgh
Your micro-bio is empty
02:01 AM on 01/10/2011
Did you read the post you replied to? SmilinSteve was saying that Rush made an erroneous statement, in that case about Joey Ramone, but would not admit to it - he just "doubled-down" and repeated the same statement. When your message is hate, you cannot vary it, you cannot allow it to be curtailed by admitting an error, because that takes the edge off of the message and that effectively ends it.
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08:07 PM on 01/09/2011
Mr. Lear - get ready for your space shot. Rush Limbaugh is a highly paid entertainer. He is paid to promote the ideas and attitudes of those who pay him.

Simple as that.
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stumanchu35
CA 16B in Debt. Great job Democrats.
06:13 PM on 01/09/2011
I've heard of most astronauts.
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03:26 PM on 01/09/2011
The hatred has always been there, looking for a face or voice to legitimize the indefensible.
02:28 PM on 01/09/2011
The funny thing is.. everybody on this site that have hateful things to say about Limbaugh, also listens to his radio show. His ratings are the best of all-time because his haters listen to him everyday. Just find a liberal talk show host and stop listening to Limbaugh.
06:30 PM on 01/09/2011
I have listened enough to LIMBAUGH to see what he is and that is a divider, not a uniter.He spreads hatred and contempt on anyone that doesn't agree with his far RIGHT WING views.To listen to him his ideal view a AMERICA would be from 1890 to 1930 before all the great reforms of the mid 20th century were enacted.Those reforms have been opposed and villifIed by CONSERVATIVES ever since.LIMBAUGH and his pals are responsible for the intense partisian atmosphere we have been experianceing the last 20 years
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aceempress
09:50 PM on 01/09/2011
Actually, I hate him, but I haven't listened to him in years. His whole game is to look at facts and make up stuff to deny those facts. Easy. Why would I listen to that? I'm smarter than that..
01:04 PM on 01/09/2011
In _A Face in the Crowd_ Andy Griffith was a down home Southern comedian who became a front for a plutocrat. (The infamous Hunt family of Texas seemed to be implied.) The comedian became a right wing political commentator. The climax was when his girlfriend went to the control room and put his contemptuous comments about his fans on live TV.

The next day he is ruined and his show is cancelled.

So much for Hollywood fantasy. In real life Limbaugh heaps contempt on his fans as ditto-heads. They've already been vetted as people who will take the abuse. Rush has immunized himself. So you can reveal to his fans if you will that he is an elitist in Palm Beach, Florida who parties in New York and -- OMG -- Paris and it has no effect.
12:57 PM on 01/09/2011
Only if you find hatred entertaining.
12:56 PM on 01/09/2011
It's the fault of the people who tune in to his show. They are to blame for this hateful person getting paid to "entertain"!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ivoteforsmartpeople
There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch!
11:48 AM on 01/09/2011
Well, you're obviously NOT a Biologist - it's HONEY BEES that pollinate plants and are necessary for agriculture!

OTHERWISE - I Totally Agree!!
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okim5150
I only drink to make you more interesting
12:05 PM on 01/09/2011
Honey bees are in serious decline too. After years of research, they figured out that it is pesticides that is killing them. In effect, our farmers have been poisoning the bees they depend on.
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hopeforchangenow
07:08 PM on 01/09/2011
Specifically, Bayer's pesticides. They are outlawed in Europe. Only the US allows them to destroy our environment.
10:51 PM on 01/09/2011
Well at least Norman listens to and reads the news and has the intellectual capacity to understand what they tell him. The recent news to which he is responding is about BUMBLE BEES, which are also necessary for agriculture. Different species of insects are primary pollinators of different plant species.
08:35 AM on 01/10/2011
Honeybees are actually alien invaders introduced to the Americas from the Old World. They displace a host of still-extant native North American insect pollinators which within a few years of honeybee demise would probably take back over the job of pollinating most native species. Of course the many honeybee pollinated food crops which did not originate in the New World might go by the wayside and lots of we humans would starve in the meantime. Some of us could probably live off our fat reserves for a couple years, though.
11:38 AM on 01/09/2011
Anyone's opinion about whether Limbaugh is an entertainer is irrelevant. The reality is that there is a large number of people who revere him and accept what he says as truth and wisdom. This gives him power to change history. This is true of any "leader".
In my mind, the real issue is whether he is an influence for the good of humanity. I think not. My opinion is that Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, Angle, Coulter, Palin, Bachman, and others foster misguided hate and discontent and encourage ignorance. They are causing Americans to fight with each other like a barrel of wet cats. It's destructive and unnecessary.
11:36 AM on 01/09/2011
Limbaugh is more of a cult leader than an entertainer. He inspires hate and fear. Which is never a good thing
10:33 AM on 01/09/2011
He is an entertainer... one that I do not care for. The problem is, some people view what he says as facts. That makes as much sense as picking up a FICTION book and believing every word of it. Then again, not sure a lot of his listeners know how to read, yet alone distinguish between fiction and non-fiction.
09:58 AM on 01/09/2011
Tokyo Rose was an entertainer.
11:27 AM on 01/09/2011
Excellent comparison!