Unofficial Summary of the Rush Limbaugh Show

for Friday, September 23, 1994

by John Switzer

This unofficial summary is copyright (c) 1994 by John Switzer.
All Rights Reserved. These summaries are distributed on
CompuServe and the Internet, and archived on CompuServe (DL9 of
the ISSUES forum) and Internet (cathouse.org and
grind.isca.uiowa.edu). The /pub/jrs directory at ftp.netcom.com
contains the summaries for the past 30 days. Distribution to
other electronic forums and bulletin boards is highly encouraged.
Spelling and other corrections gratefully received.

Please read the standard disclaimer which was included with the
first summary for this month. In particular, please note that
this summary is not approved or sanctioned by Rush Limbaugh or
the EIB network, nor do I have any connection with them other
than as a daily listener.

*************************************************************

September 23, 1994

BRIEF SUMMARY OF TOPICS: aide to Senator Jim Sasser (D-TN)
threatened to use IRS against voters interest group; commercial
for EIB's Congress Insurance; study on education confirms what
most Americans have already known, that the most successful
schools believe all students can learn and challenge them, have
local control, and have a high degree of parental involvement;
Dee Dee Myers will continue at White House with expanded
responsibilities and greater access to President Clinton; Rush
talked to Senator Hank Brown (R-CO) on his TV show about
controversy over equipping of U.S. forces in Haiti; caller says
some troops heading into Haiti got only one 15-round magazine,
thanks to budget cuts; Senators Brown, D'Amato, and Nickles write
a letter to President Clinton asking him to correct any equipment
problems that exist in military; Pentagon confirms to Republican
Senators that some troops on the ground in Haiti got only 15
rounds for their M-16s; Senator Brown fears high government
officials have a lack of respect for those in the military;
caller says the Naval Reserves are running out of money;
Commanding General Mike Steele of 82nd Airborne calls Rush's show
to state that his troops were fully equipped; 82nd Airborne had
more than 640 tons of additional ammunition waiting for them
after they invaded Haiti; Paul Gigot writes that Dan Quayle is
giving Democratic candidates all their campaign ideas; Ted
Kennedy runs his first negative campaign ad in 32 years; NY
Governor Mario Cuomo is offering a $1.5 billion tax cut; earliest
air polluters were early Greeks and Romans who put lead into the
air because of their silver refining; Rush gets clarification
from Senator Hank Brown about what the Pentagon told him; caller
in Marine Corps says U.S. troops are grateful that Rush says what
they themselves cannot say; caller doesn't think Rush is too
arrogant; Vietnam War veteran thinks Haiti has parallels with
Vietnam, especially as how troops feel they are being used;
caller says U.S. Navy mothballed nuclear sub after its maiden
voyage because of budget cuts; military cutbacks are being
accelerated by those in government who have never respected or
understood the military; Clinton health care plan died because of
the plan, not because of Rush or anyone else; caller thinks
Clinton will put out troops from Haiti and leave Aristide
dangling; Judge Lance Ito furious with TV media's reporting on
the O.J. Simpson case and might deny TV cameras future access to
the trial; NYC city council might copy Los Angeles and ban
smoking in all city restaurants; caller disagrees with Rush about
"free trade" and how it should be defined; Rush doesn't like
GATT, but he's not paranoid about the WTO; caller thinks "dittos"
gives the impression Rush's callers are all zombies who follow
Rush blindly; Rush explains how dittos came about; former Gulf
War Marine combat veteran says there were no supply problems then
and blames civilian leadership for the current problems; during
his "your time is up" speech, Clinton had a Freudian slip,
calling the Haitian people "entitled"; Navy is mothballing a lot
of aircraft, which also reduces the ability of pilots to get
experience and flight time on those planes; caller thinks Rush is
ignoring the world population crisis and other environmental
issues; for U.S. to do anything effective in Haiti, it will have
to stay there a long time, at great expense; Rush says U.S.
should put Aristide on a plane for Haiti and leave him there.

LIMBAUGH WATCH

September 23, 1994 - It's now day 612 (day 631 for the rich and
the dead, and 46 days until the November elections) of "America
Held Hostage" (aka the "Raw Deal" which has 850 days left) and
675 days after Bill Clinton's election, but Rush is still on the
air with 659 radio affiliates (with more than 20 million
listeners weekly world-wide), 250 TV affiliates (with a national
rating of 3.7), and a newsletter with over 475,000 subscribers.

His first book was on the NY Times hardback non-fiction
best-seller list for 54 consecutive weeks, with 2.6 million
copies sold, but fell off the list after Simon and Schuster
stopped printing it. The paperback version of "The Way Things
Ought To Be" was on the NY Times paperback non-fiction
best-seller list for 28 weeks. Rush's second book, "See, I Told
You So," was on the NY Times best-seller list for 16 weeks and
has sold over 2.45 million copies.

NEWS

o	The Associated Press is reporting that a campaign aide to
Senator Jim Sasser (D-TN) threatened to request an IRS
investigation of a tax-exempt voters information group if the
group publicized the fact that Senator Sasser hadn't returned one
of its surveys. Jim Pratt, press secretary for Sasser's
re-election campaign, originally denied making the remark, but
admitted to it yesterday when the non-profit group, Project Vote
Smart, released a transcript and tape of his remarks.

Project Vote Smart, a non-partisan group co-founded by a group of
politicians that included former Presidents Jimmy Carter and
Gerald Ford, publishes information about candidates' voting
records and backgrounds. When its director, Richard Kimball,
warned Sasser's campaign that the group's literature would
disclose that Sasser had refused to fill out a survey form, Pratt
told Kimball that this sort of political activity would violate
their tax-exempt status; he then warned "if he carries through
with what he's threatening to do with us, we're going to file a
complaint with the IRS about his tax status."

Senator Sasser said he "disapproved" of Pratt's threat, but
insisted "in the heat of a campaign sometimes people blow off
steam." Sasser added he was satisfied with Pratt's assurances
that such a thing would not happen again.

LEST WE FORGET

The following are from the Rush Limbaugh show on Friday,
September 25, 1992:

o	When Rush's TV partner Roger Ailes was told that Ross Perot was
thinking of getting back into the Presidential race, he commented
that Perot was a "control nut." Perot replied to this by saying
"Well, I've seen Mr. Ailes and I think he could use some
Slim-Fast." Ailes answered back by admitting while he could use
some Slim-Fast, "when they lower his scrawny little body into the
ground, he'll still be nuts."

o	Al Gore told David Frost that Ross Perot would make a "great
cabinet secretary." Clinton aides have admitted that they were
scheduled to meet with Perot in Dallas.

o	Hillary Clinton did an interview with EIB's Cleveland affiliate
WWWE, and when asked about Rush Limbaugh's comments on how her
husband didn't graduate from Oxford, she laughed and replied "you
know, Rush Limbaugh has this great racket going where he says
whatever he wants to say regardless of the facts, because it, you
know, it makes news and it's controversial. I mean that's how he
makes his living." Hillary then laughed again.

Rush marvelled at Hillary's comment about "regardless of the
facts," and picked up a copy of "The Comeback Kid: The Life and
Career of Bill Clinton" by Jonathan Portis. On page 31 of this
sympathetic biography Rush read the following just to show his
comments about Clinton's Oxford experience were accurate:

"Clinton looks back with mixed feelings about his decision to end
his study at Oxford. `I kind of regret the fact that I never got
a degree from Oxford. My class had the highest percentage of
Rhodes scholars that never earned a degree because we were right
there in the middle of the Vietnam War build-up.'

"Clinton said the threat of being drafted into service in Vietnam
practically dictated a student's curriculum. `We were over there
changing courses three or four times because we knew we'd get a
year and be done, and so ironically, at the end of my first year
is when President Nixon started to wind the war down so there
were only a couple of us who didn't get drafted.' "

o	John from Livermore, CA sent Rush a fax about Hillary Clinton's
visit to a Pleasanton women's health clinic (i.e. abortion
center). A number of conservatives showed up with Bush/Quayle
signs, and John himself was holding a 3-foot cardboard
advertisement for Rush's book, "The Way Things Ought to Be."

When Hillary left her motorcade to wade into the crowd, John and
his friends held up the cardboard picture of Rush's book. Hillary
looked at it, stared at John, rolled her eyes, and said "Good
Lord, you've got to be kidding." John added that "she left early,
Rush, as her broom was to take off soon."

o	Rush proudly announced EIB's latest service to the American public:

<<Jim Wright type>> We only want to help you!

<<Woman>> What?! Congress cut cable TV costs and my bill goes up!?

<<Jim Wright>> We, we only want to help you!

<<Man>> And the good news is Congress got us free medical. The
bad news is it cost me my job!

<<Jim Wright>> We only want to help you!

<<Second Man>> Hey, look - I was happy when Congress added the
luxury tax on those boats until I realized I make the boats!

<<Announcer>> Are you getting wiped out by Congress? Is their
helpful hand the hand that's driving you to the poorhouse? Well
now you can protect yourself and your family. You have car
insurance. You have home insurance. You have fire insurance. Now
you can have Congress Insurance.

That's right! EIB Actuaries, Incorporated can help you survive
the helping hand of Congress. Here's all you do - send us
everything you make over $20,000, and we'll guarantee you and
your family food, clothing, and shelter, no matter what the goofy
laws Congress passes. That's three meals a day, and snacks!

The next time you hear . . .

<<Jim Wright, but more vicious>> We . . . only . . . want . . .
to help . . . you.

<<Announcer>> Pick up the phone and call 1-555-CON-GRAB. Not
available to federal employees.

o	A thought for the day (source unknown): "You say that we should
save the rainforest because its trees might contain the cure for
cancer. Why, then, do you support abortion which might kill the
scientists who will discover the cure?"

o	The noses of about 20,000 Koreans which were cut off by
Japanese invaders 400 years ago were to be dug up from a tomb in
Japan and returned to South Korea. The noses were sent to Japan
as proof of the number of Koreans killed by the invaders; they
had been stored in the "1000 Nose Tomb" in Japan. Rush had to
wonder why anyone would want the noses back.

o	The previous day Rush commented on the USA Today story about
Nebraska state senator Lavonne Crosby who attacked Nebraska's
plan to delay AFDC payments to pregnant mothers until after the
baby was born. USA Today presented Crosby as a member of one of
the many feminist women's groups who were outraged about this
plan.

However, Senator Crosby was not a member of any outraged feminist
liberal groups. She wrote Rush a letter about this, saying that
she was misquoted on the current Nebraska budget crisis.

"First and foremost, I am pro-life. Always I support legislation
to protect the unborn child. Along with that I work very hard for
legislation protecting families and for helping poor women
survive. Never have I ever said anything about `white males
flying around.' Secondly, I was born and raised Republican and
have always supported the Republican party. I will indeed vote
for President Bush."

Crosby's main point was that she supported the AFDC payments to
pregnant mothers as part of her continual efforts to protect
unborn children. Rush saw her point in this and apologized for
miscasting her as a pro-choice feminist.

********

MORNING UPDATE

The American Legislative Exchange Council just completed a study
titled "Report Card on American Education, 1994" which confirms a
trend "discovered" in 1993: that increased spending does not lead
to increased educational performance. In other words, this study
acknowledges what most people have long known, that throwing
money at the problem doesn't help.

Not one of the ten states with the best educational records is
also on the list of the ten states which spent the most amount of
money per student. Furthermore, there is a growing consensus that
successful schools share three traits: 1) that all students can
learn, with the schools challenging the students academically; 2)
local control; and 3) a high degree of parental involvement.

In Rush's second book, "See, I Told You So," an entire is chapter
to education, and it notes that students must be challenged in
order to achieve. The book also stresses the importance of local
control of school systems and of parental involvement. Rush
points out in the book that the typical liberal solution to every
problem - just throw more money at it - simply hasn't worked at all.

Rush doesn't want to gloat, though - now that a major think tank
has confirmed what most people already knew, Rush is glad to
welcome them aboard. Better later than not at all, they always
say.

FIRST HOUR

Items

o	Rush is pooped, not just because it's been a tough week, but
because he was up late last night, attending the "big bash" party
held to celebrate the start of the third season for his
television show.

o	Rush congratulates White House Spokesperson Dee Dee Myers, who
has survived a long-rumored firing; she's been twisting in the
winds ever since Leon Panetta was made White House Chief of
Staff. However, the lovely and gracious Myers, 33, had a private
and emotional meeting with the President, with the result being
that she will now be given more responsibilities and greater
access to the President.

Rush notes that he and EIB have long sympathized with Dee Dee
because her job was the toughest in Washington - she had to go
before the press every day to explain the administration's
policies and stands on the issues, which was tough enough.
However, she also didn't have much access to the President, which
made this job harder; of course, not being in the loop also gave
her an out when her comments conflicted with the later realities
of the White House.

Now Dee Dee is in the loop, so her job is even tougher, given
that she'll now know exactly what she's supposed not to say,
instead of just assuming what she's not supposed to say. "So, Dee
Dee, congratulations . . . we think!" Rush adds.

********

Yesterday's show generated a lot of controversy, given that it
included two calls from men claiming to be active duty members of
the 82nd Airborne who had rather disturbing things to say about
how troops going to Haiti were being equipped. In some cases,
claimed one caller, soldiers were put on the planes with only one
15-round magazine for their weapon.

The 82nd Airborne is one of the Army's elite units, so these
reports of ammunition shortages were especially troubling.
However, during the show yesterday a major from the public
affairs office of the 82nd Airborne at Ft. Bragg called to refute
these reports, saying his troops went into battle fully equipped.

Rush received a fax from Senator Hank Brown after yesterday's
show, who had sent a letter to Bill Clinton yesterday about all
this. Rush called Senator Brown and then talked with him on his
TV show last night to clarify all this. To help his audience
understand this controversy and to clarify things, he plays some
excerpts from yesterday's show.

First, Rush plays a short excerpt of the call from Doug from Ft.
Bragg, NC, who said he was a first sergeant in the 82nd Airborne:

"Doug has no desire to go into Haiti, a cauldron of interesting
diseases and a political quagmire, but he adds that while the
troops respect Rush perhaps more than the civilian leadership,
they do obey that civilian leadership out of a sense of honor,
duty, and loyalty. Sadly, however, budget cuts are creating some
major problems for the troops.

"For example, when Doug's troops were getting ammunition the
other day, some of them could get only one magazine per weapon;
they couldn't order more magazines, given that other parts had
higher priorities. Thus, some soldiers had only 15 bullets going
into battle."

Rush has received some letters from listeners who doubted that
this caller was truly a member of the 82nd Airborne since he used
the word "bullet" instead of the military terms "round" or
"ammunition." Rush is not sure if this is very telling, though,
because he was the one who first used the word "bullet," given
that he is a gun neophyte, so Doug might just have been trying to
use the same terms that Rush did.

Major James Hinent, public affairs officer for the 82nd Airborne
called in to give another side to his, and Rush plays an excerpt:

"As to ammunition, Major Hinent was fully loaded, with 210 rounds
of M-16 ammunition, and 45 rounds of pistol ammunition. He
couldn't imagine any officer putting a soldier on one of those
planes with only 15 bullets in his magazine. Also, a soldier is
equipped according to his mission - the initial assault force
most certainly came in fully loaded but soldiers on the follow-on
aircraft, which would come in only after the airport was secured,
might have less, perhaps only enough for their initial personal
defense."

Rush adds that the major made a point of noting that the 82nd
Airborne was "fully paletized" in terms of ammunition, with
enough stockpiled so that it could sink the island of Haiti if
need be. The major also noted that he was especially concerned
about these reports of troops being underequipped because this
could cause the families of the soldiers in Haiti to get overly
concerned.

After yesterday's radio show, Rush received Senator Brown's fax,
and he decided to talk to Senator Brown on his TV show. Senator
Brown wrote President Clinton to say that members of Congress
were outraged to learn from Pentagon officials that some U.S.
combat soldiers normally assigned to Ft. Bragg and currently in
Haiti were carrying only one clip of ammunition with just 15
rounds.

This is the amount of ammunition normally assigned to troops
operating in "benign environments"; in contrast, the 82nd
Airborne has a standard issue of 210 rounds for combat. Defense
Department officials told Senator Brown that these reports were
true, so Senator Brown, along with Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) and
Senator Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY), urged Clinton to find out if
these reports were indeed true and if so to correct them.

Rush then talked with Senator Brown on his TV show, and he
replays that segment now:

<<call begins>>

Phone	Senator Hank Brown from Washington, DC

Rush welcomes Senator Hank Brown to the show, and asks him if it
is true that some members of the 82nd Airborne going to Haiti did
indeed have only 15 rounds of ammunition with them. Senator Brown
says that he heard about this on Rush's show, and quickly called
the Pentagon to find out if it was an accurate report.

The Pentagon confirmed the fact that men and women were being put
into the field with only 15 rounds, but they assured Senator
Brown that additional ammunition was available. It appeared that
this policy was developed by the Pentagon, so Senator Brown,
along with Senators D'Amato and Nickles, immediately sent out a
letter to President Clinton so that the tragedy of Somalia would
not be repeated.

Senator Brown notes that in Somalia, the 18 Army Rangers who were
killed after their helicopters went down literally fired every
round in their weapons, and the lack of armored personnel
carriers prevented them from being resupplied or evacuated. These
men were killed and their bodies hacked up and dragged through
the streets, so Senator Brown can't believe that the country
wouldn't have learned from this tragic mistake.

Senator Brown adds that he just gave a short speech in the Senate
about his concerns about Haiti, and he introduced a resolution
that calls for American troops to be out of Haiti by the end of
this year. Rush is surprised about this because Clinton has been
saying the troops would leave in a matter of weeks, but Senator
Brown says the administration is now saying the troops might stay
one year or two.

Rush asks what would these troops be doing, and Senator Brown
says that their mission is now not only to make the country safe
for Aristide but to "nation build," although Clinton denies this.
Rush asks if the ammunition problems are limited only to the 82nd
Airborne or apply to other branches of the military.

Senator Brown says the Pentagon indicated that the 15-round limit
was imposed on the troops on the ground in Haiti, with the idea
being that if the soldiers need more rounds, they would be issued
at that time. The problem with this, though, is that 15 rounds go
rapidly in any sort of firefight, and as Somalia proved, people
can lose their lives really easily if they're not properly
equipped.

Rush notes that people go rabbit hunting with more than 15 rounds
in their pockets, and rabbits aren't known to shoot back very
often. Senator Brown says he fears this is yet another reason why
he's concerned about politicians who use the military as pawns,
and this shows a reckless disregard for the safety of those who
put on the uniform.

Rush asks if he fears that the "highest levels of government"
have a lack of respect for the military, for those who serve, and
what these men and women do. Senator Brown thinks so because it's
hard to explain otherwise things like how troops were committed
in combat during the Vietnam War but without there being a
commitment to win; how nearly 300 Marines died in Lebanon because
the troops guarding the barracks weren't issued live ammunition;
or Somalia, where the troops didn't have the personnel carriers
that their commander requested because he knew they were
essential if he were to safeguard his men.

This is part of a pattern of politicians being willing to commit
the troops, but not willing to commit themselves. This seems to
be the problem in Haiti. Rush says he was struck, appalled, and
amazed at how active members of the 82nd Airborne would call a
radio talk show instead of going to their commander; obviously,
these two men were concerned about their status and wanted the
public to know about it.

Senator Brown agrees, but now that this has been made public, he
suspects President Clinton will take quick action to correct this
policy, although he might also deny that he was involved in any
part of it. Senator Brown, though, notes that had Rush not made
this policy public, it's doubtful this news would have gotten
out. Rush thanks Senator Brown for being on the show and talking
about this.

<<call ends>>

*BREAK*

Phone	Chuck from Las Cruces, NM

Chuck gives dittos from "Las Cruces, where men and men and
liberals tremble" because Rush can be heard 20 hours a week
there. He just heard a story about the Naval Reserves running out
of money. According to what Chuck heard, the Naval Reserves won't
even be able to go on duty during the next period because they
have run out of money.

Rush says there are obviously cutbacks going on, even as the
military's mission is being expanded. However, this doesn't
necessarily tie into the problems with the 82nd Airborne, and
Rush admits he still doesn't think he has the complete story
about what's going on there. He doesn't want to insult his
callers, but anyone can call his show, say they are anyone, and
then say anything.

Rush thinks yesterday's callers were believable, but the
possibility still remains that the story here is not being fully
told. The 82nd Airborne is the military's elite, and it's a lot
harder to believe that they would be effected by budget cuts than
it would be to believe that something like the Naval Reserves
would run out of money.

*BREAK*

Phone	Major General Mike Steele from Ft. Bragg, NC

Rush is honored to be talking to the commanding general of the
82nd Airborne, and asks what kind of light he can shed on this
ongoing controversy. General Steele thanks Rush for letting him
get in on this conversation, and notes that while he didn't hear
yesterday's show personally, he has heard about it from many
other sources.

He stresses that he wants to get the truth out about this, most
especially to the families of those serving in the 82nd Airborne,
and since Rush's show is about the truth, he's grateful for this
opportunity. First, he points out that he sets the policy for his
division about how much ammunition is distributed to his
soldiers, and it was definitely more than 15 rounds. Also, he has
the final say in this - there are no directives from the Pentagon
telling him what he must do in this matter.

General Steele notes that his division was given the mission,
given all the intelligence needed to take out its targets, and
then they were equipped and trained to do the mission. Rush asks
how long they've been training, and General Steele says the
initial planning directives about Haiti came out about 14 months
ago. They had a great plan for the invasion and it would have
worked well, with minimum casualties on both sides.

Rush says that the second caller yesterday who said he was from
the 82nd Airborne said there was a bit of a letdown among the
paratroopers about the mission being called off. Rush noticed
this same attitude being expressed by some soldiers on Nightline
last night.

General Steele says he, along with Sergeant Major Steve Slocum,
was on the lead plane going into Haiti, and everyone was briefed
and ready for the invasion about 72 hours ahead of time. Thus,
tension was high as everyone was waiting for the order to go, and
the anticipation kept building through the briefings and repeated
rehearsals. These men, having drawn full ammunition and other
equipment, walked up the ramps to the transport planes, fully
prepared to jump out in the middle of the night over Haiti to do
their job.

This sort of thing takes a lot of personal commitment to their
country, army, division, and buddies. They were committed to do
the job, and they had been training all their professional
military lives to do exactly what they were sent out to do. To be
called back was a disappointment, and was a lot like showing up
to play the Superbowl, only to have the opponent forfeit because
they knew they couldn't win.

There's disappointment in that, of course, but General Steele
also thinks his soldiers know they played a small part in the
peaceful occupation of Haiti by U.S. forces. Shots were not
fired, and there were no casualties, so this is something to be
proud of.

Rush asks if any members of the 82nd Airborne are in Haiti now,
and General Steele says there are some soldiers in the area who
are waiting redeployment back to Ft. Bragg. However, there is
nobody committed with the Tenth Mountain Division, going out with
them to conduct operations.

Rush apologizes for sidetracking the General away from the
ammunition question, and asks about the report Senator Brown got
from the policy about the 15 round magazines. General Steele says
he is responsible for determining how much ammunition is issued,
and the troops are armed and equipped according to the mission
that's planned.

The mission was based on quickly achieving the objectives by
overwhelming the Haitian military with an overwhelming number of
paratroopers. This would allow the 82nd Airborne to rapidly seize
targets in Port Au Prince and the environs, and it would start
off in the middle of the night, with soldiers using night vision
goggles to find their way around.

There would have been near simultaneous paratroop assaults on
several drop zones in Port Au Prince, and these would have been
followed by air assaults and ground assaults by the forces on the
ground. About 2900 paratroopers would have led the assault,
paving the way for the total force of nearly 8500.

There would have been another 1000 troopers ready to jump in case
the airport couldn't be secured quickly enough to allow landings,
but assuming this happened, these troops would have landed with
the planes. Once the airfield was open, about 4500 troops would
have come in later in the day.

Also, about 600 soldiers would have gone in with the Air Brigade,
arriving at key locations via helicopters. All the troops were
completely armed and equipped to make this mission possible, and
the division got all the supplies it needed.

As to ammunition, General Steele notes that the troopers were
issued 1.2 million rounds of ball ammunition for the M-16 rifles,
which works out to about 210 rounds per soldier. The soldiers
with pistols had 30 rounds each, and those with machineguns
(Squad Automatic Weapons) were given 400 rounds. On top of all
that, the division brought along a lot of anti-tank weapons, such
as AT-4s, in addition to claymore mines, concussion grenades, and
fragmentation grenades.

Rush asks if it's possible that some troopers were given the same
amount of ammunition. General Steele says it's very likely some
troopers had more and others less, but he's certain none of them
had only 15 rounds. The ammunition was in the holding areas for
three days, and it was readily available, so if someone went in
with only 15 rounds, it was by their own decision.

Rush asks General Steele to hang on through the break so as to
continue this.

*BREAK*

Phone	Major General Mike Steele from Ft. Bragg, NC (continued)

Rush knows General Steele can't directly address this, but
Senator Brown said he received a letter from the Pentagon that
confirmed the story yesterday's two callers told. General Steele
says he doesn't know why this would be, nor does he know whom
Senator Brown talked to, but his own source at the Pentagon did
not confirm these stories.

Rush says whether or not you assume the two callers yesterday
either exaggerated the situation or weren't aware of the whole
situation, it's clear many, many Americans are concerned about
the continuing budget cuts and cutbacks in the military. There is
a great fear that these cuts will harm the military's ability to
perform its mission, so Rush thinks that perhaps this might be
the motivations behind yesterday's calls.

General Steele agrees this feeling might have been the callers'
motivation, but he doesn't know for certain; however, he does
know that funding for the 82nd Airborne has not been a problem.
They continue to get the people, equipment, and funding they need
to be able to respond to orders within 18 hours, so that they are
able to go to war whenever needed.

Rush asks if he would consider the Haiti invasion to be a war,
and General Steele says that the soldiers certainly would
consider themselves to be going to war. Rush asks if the 82nd
Airborne is trained or equipped to train a Haitian police force,
and General Steele says this wasn't their mission; their assigned
task was to go into the country and secure the vital landing
areas, such as the airport. After their assigned areas had been
secured, the 82nd Airborne would have then turned control over to
the other troops who would then train the police.

Rush asks if General Steele knows of any troops sent to Haiti
without sufficient weapons or ammunition, and General Steele
doesn't know since he didn't get into Haiti himself. His troops
were fully armed and equipped, and in addition to what he listed
before, which would be carried in by the troops in the backpacks,
there were several hundred heavy-drop and supply bundles that
would have been dropped as well. These bundles included another
222 tons of ammunition, and Rush notes that General Steele
obviously has to express this figure in tons because this would
be far too many rounds to count.

General Steele agrees, and notes that there was also a support
ship waiting off-shore Port Au Prince, and in addition to all the
support vehicles it contained, it also held another 424 tons of
ammunition. This was more than enough ammunition for the job that
the 82nd Airborne had been tasked to do.

Rush thanks General Steele for calling with this information, and
the General points out that his soldiers are all dedicated men,
the best the country has to offer; they train every day to go
into war without notice, leaving, "wheels up," 18 hours after
getting notice. This is what they did on Sunday, and every one of
those troops walked into the aircraft, fully equipped, with
parachutes on their back, fully prepared and willing to jump into
Haiti to do their job.

Rush again thanks General Steele for calling and for explaining
so much about his division and its mission.

*BREAK*

Rush thinks America has a pretty clear picture of the controversy
about the 82nd Airborne and whether it was adequately equipped.
He suspects, though, that a number of callers will have other
things to say about this, too.

*BREAK*

SECOND HOUR

Items

o	Rush asks "is democracy restored yet in Haiti?" This question
should be asked every morning while U.S. troops are still in
Haiti, and when asking it, one should remember that you can't
restore what never was.

The other question is how will the Haiti situation end? Rush sees
three choices: a) Aristide will be restored, and Haiti will be
united under his wise rule, with peace and prosperity resulting;
b) it will be a long and drawn-out occupation (more than a year)
with minor embarrassments; c) it will be a long and drawn-out
occupation with major embarrassments, followed by a face-saving
withdrawal.

Should the answer end up being either b) or c), it won't be good,
so then you have to ask who will be blamed for it: Bill Clinton,
Jimmy Carter, the Black Caucus, or Republicans and radio talk
shows? Rush is certain that it will be the Republicans and talk
show hosts who will be blamed.

o	Paul Gigot has written a column for the Wall Street Journal
saying that the latest "new Democrat" is really Dan Quayle,
because it's Quayle who is the new "idea man" for the Democrats
who are running for their political lives. For example, Jim
Sasser is running ads that sound as if Quayle wrote them, and
Gigot makes the point that if it weren't for Quayle, these
Democrats wouldn't have any campaign ideas.

Gigot notes that this contradicts the "official Beltway wisdom"
which claims the Democrats' problem is Bill Clinton, not the
Democrats and their ideas. The Democrats who claimed Clinton's
character didn't matter in 1992, but now are saying that it
explains everything. Rush agrees completely - it's not just
character, but Clinton's ideas which matter.

o	Ted Kennedy has to be scared as he runs for re-election - after
32 years in the U.S. Senate, his campaign has aired its first
negative TV commercial against his opponent. The 30-second ad
attacks Republican Mitt Romney as a hypocrite because, among
other things, he advocates universal health care while his own
company, Staples, gives health care coverage only to its overseas
employees.

Romney's campaign has called Kennedy's ad misleading and full of
inaccuracies and false statements. Romney, by the way, has said
he wants no assistance from "ultra right-wing groups," telling
them "thanks, but no thanks." Romney told the Boston Herald that
not only doesn't he want these groups' money or help, but he is
proud to be at odds with these groups on many issues, such as his
support of the Brady Bill.

Rush notes that Romney might not be able to avoid these groups'
help, given how eager they are to get rid of Ted Kennedy.

o	New York Governor Mario Cuomo is offering New York voters a tax
cut of $1.5 billion. Speaking to a group of business leaders, he
promised he would cut the state's personal income tax; tomorrow
Cuomo will speak with Ross Perot at a Long Island rally.

Rush is pleased to see how scared these Democrats are getting,
and Tom Foley is also having problems, as the Wall Street Journal
reports today. The WSJ makes the point that Foley might be an
indication that voters might no longer be concerned only with
local issues when electing their representatives to the House;
instead, the voters are starting to pay attention to their
representatives' stance on national issues.

It used to be that people would always love their own
congressman, while condemning everyone else in Congress, but this
seems to be changing. Rush is not surprised, though, because when
you sue your own constituents, they tend to get mad, as Foley is
learning for himself.

o	Science magazine reports that the earliest air polluters were
not Christopher Columbus, the White Europeans, the Aztecs, or
anyone in the western hemisphere. Rather, the earliest polluters
seem to be the ancient Greeks and Romans who polluted the air
with lead because of their silver refining industry. French
researchers are claiming that the ancient Romans covered the
entire northern hemisphere with lead 2500 years, rivaling the
damage done by modern-day gasoline.

And in spite of this incredible damage to nature, mankind is
still around, living longer and better than ever.

*BREAK*

Phone	Senator Hank Brown (R-CA) from Washington, DC

Rush asks Senator Brown about General Steele's denial that there
were any members of the 82nd Airborne that had been sent into
battle with only 15 rounds. Senator Brown says his information
concerned not the 82nd Airborne that's commanded by General
Steele, but about the soldiers actually on the ground in Haiti.

Rush says the reason General Steele was referring to his unit was
because this is what the two callers from the 82nd Airborne said.
Senator Brown can't say anything about this because his
information from the Pentagon was related only to those "in
country," the troops on the ground in Haiti.

Senator Brown notes that his four years in the Navy taught him
that the admirals and generals don't always know everything, as
is the case with anyone, but the information they got from the
Pentagon concerned to those on the ground in Haiti. Rush says
even if it weren't the 82nd Airborne that's being discussed here,
15 rounds is not much for someone on the ground in Haiti.

Senator Brown agrees - with an M-16, 15 rounds can go really
fast. However, he thinks Rush and his show will help to get this
situation turned around and corrected quickly.

Rush thinks that what's driving this controversy is that a number
of Americans are concerned with the massive budget cutting going
on with the military, and it doesn't help when there are
high-level members of the government who don't seem to understand
the purpose of the armed forces and how best to use them. It thus
seems that those who made these complaints originally just wanted
the rest of the country to know how the military was being viewed
by the civilian authorities.

Senator Brown agrees - this is the mentality that allows senior
officers to serve drinks at a cocktail party and which sends
troops into Somalia without the armored support they desperately
needed. This mentality towards the military is what is getting
people concerned; the people aren't worried that America's troops
are unwilling to serve or take risks for their country. Rush
thanks Senator Brown for calling and for closing the loop on this
topic.

Phone	Mike from Pensacola, FL

Mike gives "mega-Marine Corps aviation dittos," and wants to make
sure Rush knows he is "Radio Free Rush," not Tokyo Rush, as far
as the U.S. troops are concerned. Mike is grateful that Rush says
what the troops can't say because they are governed by loyalty,
honor, integrity, and duty; those in the military would like to
say a lot of things, but they can't, so they appreciate Rush
saying these things for them.

Mike adds that when he was in Somalia, his brother sent him
videos of Rush's show; he and his fellows watched the shows in
their tents, on a VCR powered by generators, and it helped to
bring humor and a bit of America to that distant land. Mike also
notes that he turned his brother onto Rush, and as a result he's
now writing for a struggling conservative newspaper in Raleigh,
The Citizen. Mike's brother also has managed to be in the
audience for Rush's TV show several times and got some books
signed, which he forwarded on to Mike when he was in Okinawa.

Rush appreciates hearing that, and finds it fascinating how there
seems to be a number of TV viewers who can make it into the
studio audience more than once. There are some people Rush is
beginning to recognize because they've been there so many times,
and it's a mystery how these people can score tickets to the show
so often. However, Rush is gratified to hear of such loyalty,
from both Mike and his brother, and thanks Mike for calling.

*BREAK*

Phone	Jim from Richland, WA

Jim gives "mega-arrogant dittos" because he doesn't think Rush
should worry about being "too arrogant." Rush remarks that some
"wise-acre" sent him a note insisting "the word is not arrogant,
the word is egotistical, and the caller was right, pal, you're
losing a lot of us!" Jim thinks this guy, like the caller
yesterday, just don't get it.

Jim is a two-year Vietnam veteran, and he thinks the important
part of the call yesterday from the first member of the 82nd
Airborne was how he said that while his unit's effectiveness
wouldn't be affected by how Clinton called them back from the
Haiti invasion, they did feel they were being used by Clinton.

Jim says that this should be a warning sign, and he saw it for
himself during the Vietnam War. If you put the military in this
position for a long time, then bad things are going to happen,
which is why Jim thinks parallels between Haiti and Vietnam could
develop - the troops will be there for a long time, without any
clear idea of their mission or purpose, guerilla attacks start,
etc.

Rush notes that General John Shalikashvili is clearly warning the
American people that there will be some casualties to American
troops, whether from friendly fire or guerilla actions. Everyone
seems to think, though, that guerilla attacks will be the main
threat to Americans in Haiti, given how a large number of
Haitians fled Port Au Prince to the hills and jungles. They
haven't given up.

Jim agrees, but he thinks Rush is going to make a difference; he
agrees with the caller who said his show was "Radio Free Rush,"
and he believes if such a show were on the air during Vietnam,
there would have been some major changes made. He knows that the
liberal media won't report many of what's going on in Haiti.

Rush says this might be true, but the liberal media wasn't so
liberal in 1968, although it could be said that a show like his
might have stopped the total 180 turnaround that the country did
with regards to the Vietnam War. The press did pay too much
attention to the supposed "transgressions" caused by U.S. troops,
but the media was reporting on the futility of waging this war in
the way it was done.

Jim says this was true to a point, but he recalls that when he
got back from the war and watched the news reports on television,
he saw for himself that they weren't telling the truth. What they
reported was not what was going on in Vietnam, plus you had all
the anti-war protests being conducted by people like Bill
Clinton. These protestors are to this day saying they "stopped"
the war, but in reality they kept it going for a lot longer time.

Rush says this is a good point - the war protestors think they
achieved a victory but all they did was encourage the enemy,
probably at the cost of more American lives. He thanks Jim for
calling.

Phone	Sue from Buffalo, NY

Sue says her husband deals with the Navy Reserve, talking with
high-level officers, and he told her that the U.S. Navy had a
nuclear submarine that was mothballed after its maiden voyage.
The man who would have become commander of that sub was told that
he would get a desk job if he remained in the Navy, simply
because cutbacks prevented the Navy from using that sub for more
than the six-months of its first and only tour.

Similarly, the Naval reservists was told that although there is
no more money, they can still drill and get their points; of
course, they will never get paid for their work. Meanwhile, the
U.S. is not only paying Haitians to become policemen, but is also
paying thousands of dollars for Russian generals so that they
will stay in Russia instead of going to work for the highest
terrorist bidder.

Rush says that what's happening with the Russian generals is
classic free-market economics - they are commanding top dollar
for their services, knowledge, and expertise, and the U.S. is
joining in by "bidding" on these guys, too.

Rush thanks Sue for calling, and agrees that the downsizing of
the military is especially visible in the U.S. Navy, and it's all
the result of a clearly different philosophy towards the military
that exists in the current administration. These people view the
military as just another social program, and to them "investing
in America" means giving more public money to people who are
likely to vote for Democrats.

Those in the administration have a distaste and hatred for the
military, having grown up believing that the U.S. military is the
cause of the world's evils. This is what is motivating the
increasing defense cutbacks.

In truth, though, the military budget is perhaps the best
investment that could be made. Plus, since most of the military
budget is people-related, not weapons-related, cutbacks hurt the
people in the military the most. Therefore those who have decided
to serve their country, even if that might mean dying for it, are
seeing less money available for their food, clothing, housing,
etc.

But even though the money that goes to developing better weapons
and technologies is not a majority of the defense spending, it
has served as seed money for American industry, resulting in
great advances in the private sector. There are those claiming
that there has to be a "partnership" between the government and
private industry, but this is exactly what military R&D has been,
and it's been a very successful partnership.

However, because there are those in the administration who have a
lack of understanding, a lack of respect, and in some cases a
real hatred for the military, the military will continue to be
cut back so that this money can be "shifted to people."

*BREAK*

Phone	Mike from Bowling Brook, IL

Mike is a computer programmer who works in the health insurance
industry, and he thanks Rush for his efforts to defeat the
Clinton-style health care proposals. Rush was the only one
telling the truth about them, and if it weren't for Rush, the
people wouldn't have known things such as how the Clintons wanted
to turn doctors into criminals and how Senator Mitchell voted
against his own plan. He thus thanks Rush for everything he's
done.

Rush appreciates hearing this, especially as it's obviously that
Mike is someone who gets his show. In contrast to him there are
groups like FAIR which try to discredit him by coming out with
things like a list of 43 alleged "lies" that Rush has told in his
six years of national broadcasting. In truth, this list contained
no lies or inaccuracies; at best, whatever was left on the list
after you got rid of the stuff that had been taken out of context
were simple matters of opinion.

However, while Rush "arrogantly" is glad to accept Mike's
compliment, he notes that he can't be given the credit for
stopping the Clinton plan. There is another reason this plan
died.

Rush recalls that when Clinton introduced his health care plan,
waving about his magic Health Security Card that would cover
everyone for life, he was riding along nicely at about 60% in the
polls. In addition, Clinton had the full force of the mainstream
media as his allies, along with the active support of Hillary
Clinton and many members of Congress. In fact, when Hillary went
up to Congress, she was treated like a queen, with Dan
Rostenkowski even saying that soon Bill Clinton would be known as
"Hillary's husband."

But in one year, Bill Clinton went from all this to seeing his
approval rating drop like a stone and ending up with a dead
health care plan. This all happened because of Clinton's plan -
it was the Clinton health care plan that killed the Clinton
health care plan, not Rush or anyone else. All Rush and others
had to do was point out how this plan had 1400 pages, even
thought it was supposed to "simplify" things. Then all Rush had
to do was read from the plan.

The media continued to claim that Rush was being inaccurate
and/or that all these things were not going to end up in the
"final" plan. Yet even if that were true, isn't it important what
the President tried to get in the first place? Rush therefore
hopes that the next time some Democrat tries to claim Rush or
talk radio or Republicans killed health care reform, someone
reminds them that it was Clinton's health care reform that killed
health care reform.

*BREAK*

Phone	Tom from Cincinnati, OH

Tom thinks Rush missed a possible option in Haiti: that the
negative public opinion about the operation would increase,
continuing to put pressure on Clinton, who would eventually
succumb and pull the troops out before the "job" was done,
leaving Aristide dangling. Rush says nobody knows what the "job"
really is - supposedly, Aristide is supposed to go back into
Haiti in 24 days, but nobody is talking about what it's going to
take to keep him alive.

Tom thinks that it's no mystery why Aristide is reluctant to go
back, and Rush agrees. He points out that Jimmy Carter is still
claiming his agreement was the best he could get, even with the
threat of American troops. Yet if this agreement's whole reason
for being is to reinstall Aristide, but Aristide doesn't like the
agreement, what does that tell you about the entire situation?

*BREAK*

THIRD HOUR

Items

o	Judge Lance Ito of Los Angeles is furious with how the press
has been dealing with the O.J. Simpson case, with the final straw
being the news story that reported that socks covered with Nicole
Simpson's blood were found in O.J.'s house. Both the prosecution
and defense said this was not true, but KNBC-TV of Los Angeles
"stands by its story."

Judge Ito is thinking about not only kicking out KNBC's cameras
but all TV cameras. Rush says "amen" to this, noting that CNN
will be the big loser should this happen. This issue goes right
to the point of whether TV cameras and the media can interfere
with the criminal justice system, and it will be interesting to
see what happens in this.

o	Peter Vallone, speaker for the NYC city council, has decided to
copy the LA city council and ban smoking in the city's
restaurants. Meanwhile, of course, you'd still be able to go to
nearly any street corner in New York and buy crack, heroin, or
even a gun; yet, it's the smokers who are being singled out as
the "evil enemy" in this town. And it's the New York restaurants
which will suffer, just as the LA restaurants have.

If this happens, Rush will seriously think of opening a "private
club" called "The Cigar Palace," which will feature the finest
chefs, food, wine, and cigars. The maitre de will greet diners
holding a cigar, and Rush will be proud to be the last bastion of
fine dining that welcomes smokers. He bets the restaurant would
operate at a capacity crowd every night.

Phone	Pat from Mundelein, IL

Pat enjoys Rush's show and would love to join Rush's Cigar Palace
some day; however, while he agrees with 90% of what Rush says, he
disagrees with him about free trade. He doesn't see how Rush can
be a conservative and still support "unfair" free trade.

For example, America's trade agreements with Japan can't be very
fair when that country imports only $1 worth of goods for every
$3 of manufactured goods exported to the U.S. Japan has a $200
billion favorable trade compared to the U.S.'s $100 billion of
unfair trade. Pat supports free trade, but it has to be managed,
and he doesn't understand why the country refuses to manage its
trade.

The first thing Pat would like to see done is impose duty
restrictions on Japanese goods. Rush notes Clinton is threatening
to do this, but the Japanese don't think he's serious. Pat
doesn't doubt this, but notes that the Europeans aren't allowing
the Japanese to export more than 20% of their automobile
business; Pat thinks this is how the U.S. should done.

Rush says America did implement import quotas in the 70s, and
Detroit took advantage of it by making cars nobody wanted; all
this did was to remove competition from the market place. Pat
insists he wants competition, but not like what the free traders
are saying they want - the free traders want America's factory
workers and farmers to compete with foreign workers and farmers.

However, free traders such as Rush, along with government
workers, lawyers, and all sorts of others aren't competing with
foreign workers. Thus, these "free traders" are saying that only
the farmer and factory workers should have to compete.

Rush says this is not his attitude - when he talks about
competition, he's not talking about the workers' competing, but
about management competition and design competition, where
companies compete to build the best products at the best prices.
Certainly labor costs come into this, but the main thrust is not
on the workers but on the products that are produced.

Rush asks if Pat thinks if freezing import levels will protect
U.S. jobs, and Pat says yes, because this is the only way to
level the playing field. Rush says this will deny the U.S.
consumer the same choice of goods that they've had for years. Pat
says these consumers are the schoolteachers and such who want
their pay raises, but who think factory workers and farmers
should have to compete. This, to Pat, is hypocrisy.

Pat says that America's standard of living is the highest in the
world, and his happened because all Americans agreed to overpay
each other, in comparison to each other. Rush can't believe this
logic - the country didn't agree to pay each other like this. Pat
says this is what the country did when Americans decided to buy
American products.

Rush says that people were paying for these products according to
the free market, which was charging according to what the market
would bear. The market determines not only what products will
cost but what people will earn in it. Rush holds Pat over the
break.

*BREAK*

Phone	Pat from Mundelein, IL (continued)

Pat says anyone in favor of free trade has to consider its impact
on socialism; Karl Marx, after all, said that world-wide free
trade would result in world-wide socialism. Rush notes that Karl
Marx is dead and buried, and long discredited across the world,
except in the Clinton administration and America's universities.

Pat says there are still socialists in South America and Europe,
and they're very happy with the GATT agreement. Rush admits he
has problems with GATT, although he's not paranoid about the
World Trade Organization; if the WTO tries to throw its weight
around, the U.S. will tell them to go to hell.

Pat thinks this would be great, but the country would have to
have the guts to do this, which is why he'd appreciate it if Rush
would talk more about GATT. Rush says he doesn't want to jump
into a subject too early, as you can beat it to death that way;
this is why Rush avoided talking about NAFTA until the debate
about it became more public. Rush bets that Pat, though, isn't
happy with NAFTA either, in spite of its successes.

Pat says NAFTA has already resulted in lost American jobs -
Illinois already has seen three companies shut down their
American factories to go to Mexico. Rush notes that the
automakers are creating new jobs, thanks to NAFTA; there are
those who'll accuse Chrysler of coming up with the 1,000 new jobs
as a "PR move," but Rush is not swayed by such arguments.

Rush does agree that the U.S. has to solve its trade imbalance
with Japan, but he doesn't want to fix this problem on the backs
of the consumer. The consumer should always have a choice of
products in the free market, as this is what will improve the
lives of the most people. Rush, though, thanks Pat for calling
and for his pleasant "non-belligerent but disagreeing attitude."

Phone	Jim from Encino, CA

Jim bets that the majority of Rush's listeners are in the upper
educational and intelligence levels, but when people use phrases
such as "megadittos," it gives the mistaken impression that they
are following Rush blindly. In reality, these are thinking people
who come to their own independent conclusions, which typically
are the same conclusions Rush has come to himself.

Rush agrees completely, but "dittos" doesn't mean "Rush, I follow
you blindly," as he'll explain after the break.

*BREAK*

Rush explains that when his program began in August, 1988, his
callers were so excited that such a show was on the air that they
went on for minutes praising Rush, his show, etc. These people
were overjoyed to have an alternative to the rest of the media,
and they were effusive in their praise. Rush was surprised by the
outpouring of support, and since he enjoyed hearing it, he let
them continue.

After about six weeks or so, one woman who came on after a
particularly effusive caller said "ditto to what that guy just
said." Rush decided to latch onto the term, and he and his
audience started using it as a codeword, so that the callers
would use up valuable air time with their praise.

Thus, "dittos" means "Rush, I love the show and hope it never
goes away." It does not mean "Rush, I am a mind-numbed robot who
agrees with everything you say." This, however, still seems to be
the conventional wisdom - someone sent Rush a copy of the entry
about him that's in Grollier's on-line encyclopedia on Prodigy -
it claims "dittoheads" are people who agree with everything Rush
says.

This is not true, and Rush has corrected this time and time
again. Dittos does not mean someone agrees with Rush but only
that they love the show.

Phone	Bill from Newburgh, NY

Bill is a Marine Corps combat veteran from the Gulf War and
current political science student. He notes that when he was in
the Gulf War, the troops had tons of ammunition and no supply
problems. He's thus extremely disturbed that there could even be
any question about ammunition or supplies now; when someone goes
into combat you have to give them everything they might need.

Rush says that this didn't happen in Somalia, and that's why
there's so much anxiety about whether the troops in Haiti are
well supplied. Bill notes that in the Gulf, he was given 800
rounds for his "squad automatic weapon" (SAW), which is a small
machinegun; if he ran out, there were resupply points. However,
the General who called earlier said his troops got only 400
rounds for this weapon, which is ridiculous.

Bill thinks the military is not responsible for this, but rather
the civilian leadership; he can't believe a general would allow
his people, even if they were the follow-on forces, to go into
combat with so few supplies. Rush says that General Steele did
say the initial troops went in with 210 rounds for their M-16s.

Bill says that it's disturbing that there could be any questions
about this, and General Steele, after all, represents the 82nd
Airborne. However, the Tenth Mountaineering division is also in
Haiti now, and Senator Hank Brown said this morning that it was
these troops who went into Haiti with only 15 rounds.

Rush says he's not sure about this, but Bill's main point is a
good one. The bottom line is that there are some soldiers in a
position to know who wanted to alert the country that things are
not what they should be in certain places in the armed forces. As
Senator Brown noted, the best thing about this controversy is
that it will bring about needed changes, which should be a
comfort to the families of these soldiers and all other
Americans. He thanks Bill for calling.

Phone	Richard from Penngrove, CA

Richard says that when Clinton gave his "your time is up" speech
on Haiti last week Thursday, he mispronounced a word when saying
the "entire population of Haiti"; instead of this, Clinton
actually said "entitled population of Haiti," which Richard
thinks is an interesting Freudian slip.

Rush says that Aristide is certainly "entitled," and Richard says
he fears that Aristide will be followed by a few million Haitians
who will end up being the beneficiaries of U.S. spending. Richard
jokes that he wouldn't be surprised to see Clinton call for Haiti
to become a state, given that it would give the Democrats a brand
new block of voters who will be dependent on federal social
programs.

Phone	Tom from Virginia Beach, VA

Tom notes that the Navy right now is putting some aircraft into
long-term storage, mothballing nearly every kind of aircraft,
especially Tomcat fighters. Three squadrons on the East Coast and
two on the West Coast are being stored away to save money. And
the worst part of this is that the pilots are getting maybe only
five hours of flight time on them.

Rush says this is the major problem with the drawdowns the
military is experiencing - not just equipment cutbacks, but the
lack of training; this is why experienced military personnel are
worried about the country's future military readiness.

*BREAK*

Phone	Bill from Philadelphia, PA

Bill claims to be a retired military officer and a listener who
agrees with Rush on nearly everything but environmental issues.
He thinks "planet Earth" has suffered a population explosion in
the past 100 years or so; if every man, woman, and child alive in
1850 had been given a hatchet and told to cut down trees, they
wouldn't have had any environmental impact. Today, though,
machines can chop down trees "in seconds and defoliate entire
forests in days," which means "we can destroy the Earth."

Rush can't let that go by because 1) mankind is not destroying
the Earth and 2) mankind could not destroy the Earth, short of
launching nuclear weapons. Humans living their lives won't
destroy the Earth. Bill says the Earth might remain, but it would
remain uninhabitable.

Rush doesn't agree with that either because the "Population Bomb"
fanatics such as Paul Ehrlich have been making predictions like
this for decades, and none of them have come true. There were
those who claimed the Earth couldn't handle 6 billion people, but
their dire predictions haven't come true. Rush also doesn't think
cutting trees down is "environmental destruction," given that
humanity can and does plant more; it's a renewable resource.

Bill thinks the rainforests are being destroyed at a phenomenal
rate and this affects the entire Earth's ecosystem. Rush points
out that there is more greenery and foliage sprouting up in
Europe than expected, and one theory is that this is "Mother
Nature" balancing out the reduction in plant life in one area
with more plant life in another.

Rush has heard the claims that humanity is cutting down tens of
thousands of acres of rainforest every day, but he hasn't seen
any proof that mankind is destroying the Earth. Nor does he agree
with Vice President Algore that the automobile is the most
dangerous threat mankind faces today.

Furthermore, while there are legitimate environmental concerns
and a need for effective resource management, the loudest
environmental voices are those of the extremists who make such
absurd claims. Bill thinks Rush should stress this aspect more
strongly, especially since there is more disease than ever in the
U.S. that's being produced by environmental causes, such as
smoking, pollution, etc. Americans do have longer life
expectancies, but they are also being afflicted by more heart
disease, cancers, etc.

Bill also doesn't think it's right to claim there isn't
pestilence and famine in the rest of the world. Rush says these
things exist, but not to the degree predicted by the 60s
environmental doom-and-gloomers. There is a "normal" amount of
these things, and more famines in Africa have been induced by bad
people and Communist regimes than by bad weather; Communism has
killed more people than the environment has.

Furthermore, Communist countries have a far poorer environmental
record than the U.S. has, proving that it's the backwards living
standards that are most unfriendly to the environmental. It is in
the Eastern Bloc countries where you find the worst environmental
disasters, all because Communism restrained its industries,
preventing them from being able to clean up their messes; in
contrast, it's freedom which has allowed America to discover the
methods that allow it to clean up its environmental problems.

As far as managing resources goes, Rush thinks this is a
necessity; he does not think all trees should be cut down just
because someone wants to do it. Yet at the same time, responsible
management of resources should not be defined as limiting
capitalism, ending private property rights, and restricting
freedoms. There simply is too much extremism in the environmental
movement for Rush's taste.

For example, the only reason the Spotted Owl became a big deal
was because some extremists wanted to save some trees; the owls
were never endangered, but were used simply as a convenient way
for the extremists to make it a crime to cut down "old growth"
forests. Rush will oppose anyone that attacks capitalism, private
property rates, and freedom, and this is the case with the
environmental extremists.

*BREAK*

Phone	Cameron from Vallejo, CA

Cameron says that if the U.S. gets out of Haiti fast, then Haiti
will end up where it was before; to really do anything effective
in Haiti - to educate the people, set up a working democracy,
etc. - will take years and years of an expensive occupation. As a
conservative, Cameron would like to see democracy but America
will have to pay for this. Thus, what should be done about Haiti?

Rush says what should be done is that Aristide should be put on a
plane, taken to Haiti, and then the U.S. can leave. This is what
the invasion is all about, so Aristide should be left there and
told "you're on your own, pal."

