We should accept Rush Limbaugh’s apology for calling a woman a slut only if he agrees to take, and pass, a course on female reproduction. Then, and only then, can we be assured that someone other than locker-room juveniles has finally taught him the real facts about the birds and the bees.
Limbaugh for three straight days denigrated a 30-year-old law student who agreed to testify to a U.S. House of Representatives committee how the lack of insurance coverage for birth control had harmed fellow students, and how the Obama administration’s health plan would require all employers – or their insurance companies – to fill contraception prescriptions with no copay. As with Viagra, a doctor would need to order a prescription for a woman after consultation.
Limbaugh apologized to Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke after the president called the woman to support her effort to speak on women’s behalf, and to point out that, his role as a father of two girls led him to feel that Ms. Fluke’s parents would be proud of their daughter’s act of courage.
Republicans had conducted a hearing on the mandate, but barred the young woman from testifying, preferring an all-male panel to address religious objections to birth control. This happened after the president provided a compromise allowing religious hospitals and universities to “opt out,” while shifting the women’s health-care burden to insurance companies.
The third-year student described a woman who had developed a cyst and lost an ovary when she could not afford the $1,000-a-year contraceptive cost. A doctor had prescribed it for medical reasons, not “recreational” ones, as Limbaugh suggested. Ms. Fluke testified before a Democratic panel to address the issue, and ended up in Limbaugh’s cross-hairs as a result. Limbaugh said women could cut back on the use of contraceptives by simply having sex less. You wouldn’t have to use as many pills, he indicated, if you abstained once in a while, perhaps by placing two aspirin between your knees. (St. Joseph’s aspirin for the Catholics among us.).
He compared the use of the birth-control pill to Viagra, something he is very aware of due to personal experience. But despite his four marriages, Limbaugh has never learned about reproduction and how it can be controlled by anything other than a good old Trojan. He never cared about how “the pill” really worked with women, becoming closed-minded – and closed-eared – when it was discussed.
For the pill to work, Rush, women must take it for up to three weeks of the month, depending on the brand. This doesn’t mean they need to have sex the entire time. Ask any women. About 99 percent have practiced some form of birth control, and can teach you these facts of life.
So, let Limbaugh prove how sincere this apology is by learning about a woman’s body parts. No, Rush, there wouldn’t be any nude pictures from Playboy or Penthouse to refresh your recollection of what you learned in the high school little boys’ room. You’ll be taught something that many men refuse to admit: Women have the same rights as men, and should not be held to a different standard on human sexuality.
Contoveros 
This guy as I have said elsewhere … is a loose cannon. I have never heard him, just of him. But I have read his recent remarks. There appears to be so much vehemence behind them that I immediately thought WOW … he is going after this young lady because of his frustration with himself.
It is well known (or it should be) that men … no, make that people, who overindulge in drugs or alcohol with a high frequency quite simply are either not aroused sexually or they are unable to perform adequately while having sex. I do believe that he falls into this category. I also thought … wow, stupid statement: “I don’t want my insurance to cost more because it must pay for contraception.” Perhaps I don’t want my insurance to cost more if it pays for a man’s prescription for Viagra etc.
Good post!
RUSH=LOOSE CANNON!
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It would not cost more, but actually cost less, according to studies that show a savings through the decrease in unwanted pregnancies and what we all would like to see: less need for any abortions.
See: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/14/1/gpr140107.html
I like your “loose cannon” analagy. Limbaugh, however, misfired on this one.
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I somehow wish we give him less exposure than we do by putting him down and making room for him to be “seen” in any medium. I do feel truly sorry for him. As my dear teacher commented on our displeasure with certain other bob-head, this is karma ripening in this lifetime. The next one…that is why you must summon deep compassion!
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I got burned while holding onto the anger the words of Rush Limbaugh caused me. I wanted to hurt him for hurting this young woman, someone who never attacked him or anyone else. And then then I remembered the little I learned about karma.
Karma is a word for “action.” I could continue to grasp and cling to my intense anger or choose to let it go. My anger was like a hot coal that burned me the longer I held it in my hand. I wanted to cause harm to Limbaugh, but the anger was hurting me more and more as I thought about his actions.
That’s when the words of great teachers came to me, and I saw this as an opportunity to deepen my understanding of myself by looking deeper into the action of a so-called enemy, Rush Limbaugh. I viewed him wth compassion and recognized we all start from a state of ignorance. He may not have learned the value of loving kindness and the wisdom that grows from practicing compassion for others.
I’d still like to hit him upside the head, but only more softly as a reminder to be kinder to another.
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He’s not really Rush Limbaugh, he just plays him on TV. Does he really believe the stuff that comes out of his mouth or is he pandering to an audience? Is it possible for anyone to be that clueless?
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Yes. I think he is clueless about this subject and too small of a man to admit he made a grevious mistake.
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I can think of worse ways to dispose of Rush Limbaugh than merely feeding him to the wolves. Why anyone with the slightest glimmer of intelligence would listen to this benighted individual for more than a few seconds is incomprehensible. His ego has outstripped his already severely diminished capacity to think and he, together with his extemporary uttering’s, should be relegated to radio land’s trash bin.
Beechmount
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I agree and I am proud of the president of the United States for placing a phone call to this young woman thanking her for her support without once bad-mouthing Limbaugh in the process. Obama showed a lot of class while you-know-who shows he has very little if any . . .
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Honest to St. Peter…does this man actually live and breathe?
I cannot believe that so many ‘mericans listen to him. I am troubled by the number…
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I was filled with anger day after day as newcasts presented Limbaugh trashing this woman who was simply speaking out for her fellow students. I reverted to the kid from the old neighborhood in North Philadelphia who wanted nothing more than to punch the radio broadcaster in the mouth for calling this nice lady a slut.
The anger ate at me, night after night, until I felt a calm come over me while feeling compassion for this man. Yes, I tried to understand him, and looked closer at what he actually said, one disgusting day after another, and then I realized he was a lot like guys I grew up with who “got off” on putting down girls while in high school. They resfused to date the Rush Limbaugh types who eventually turned their hurt into hate for the oposite sex.
Rush clearly knows little about women’s contraceptives, and is too proud and squimish to ask an intelligent woman about them.
My anger dissipated completely, and I saw some good coming out of his antics. Boycotts and pulling of advertising sponsorships are but a few of the positives that occurred, not to mention how women in the United States seem to be rallying against the so-called Republican “War on Women,” and protesting at state government houses, complaining to congressional committees, and signing petitions everywhere the new social media allows them a voice.
— michael j
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Point! You mentor and amaze me, Michael J.!
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Thinking of Rush Limbaugh is an efficient form of birth control.
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I think people from both sides of the aisle, men and women alike, would agree with you, joesix.
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