Author: Trish

Rush’s Boss to Limbaugh: Don’t Let the Door Hit You

Trish

Rush Limbaugh’s big fat feelings might be hurt, and he is considering leaving the distributor of his show over it. Cumulus Media, which contracts with Limbaugh, is blaming reduced company revenues on last year’s boycott of advertisers on Rush’s show. The boycott was called after Limbaugh labled a “slut” the lone female who provided testimony to a Congressional committee examining insurance company coverage of birth control.

Although several dozen advertisers either permanently left the show or suspended their ads until the dust settled, Rush at the time described the situation this way.

“That’s like losing a couple of French fries in the container when it’s delivered to you at the drive-through,” Limbaugh said. “You don’t even notice it.”

But to Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey, the advertiser stampede must have been more like more being shorted the fries AND the burger, being left with the ketchup packets and the soft drink.

In an August 2012 earnings call, Dickey said Cumulus’s top three stations had lost $5.5 million, in part because of the boycott. In a March 2013 earnings call, Dickey said the company’s talk radio side had “been challenged… due to some of the issues that happened a year ago.”

Rush could actually be right that Cumulus Media’s losses aren’t all his fault. In addition to his show, the company carries The Mike Huckabee Show and The Huckabee Report, Focus on the Family “Commentary,” and The Savage Nation. I don’t know about you but I sure wouldn’t want to advertise on any of those shows.

Meat Me in the Turkey Burger Aisle — in a Hazmat Suit

Trish

Sadly, it would take generous definitions of most of the nouns and verbs in that sentence for it to be accurate.

— Tom Laskawy, writing for Grist, about proposed new regulations for the handling of poultry carcasses that would depend even more heavily on chemical washing to avoid contamination. The sentence Laskawy referred to said the new regs would, “further the agency’s transformation to focus solely on public health and help address the challenge we have to reduce foodborne illness” and comes at the same time as a Consumer Reports finding that, despite the carcasses being washed in chlorine and other toxins, all 257 samples of ground turkey tested from different supermarkets showed the presence of fecal bacteria, staph, or salmonella.

Proof That S.C. Voters Should Never, Ever Get Back Together With Former Gov. Mark Sanford

Trish

Former Gov. Mark Sanford’s braying jackassiness shone through in his recent debate with opponent Elizabeth Colbert-Busch. Both are running from South Carolina for a seat in the United States House of Representatives.

The election is Tuesday, May 7, and polls show Busch expanding her lead or tying with Sanford, depending on the political affiliations of the pollsters. Either way, Sanford is no longer going into the election with an air of inevitability.

Come on South Carolina! Every seat in Congress counts, and it’s time to stop sending fiscal hypocrites and knee-jerk “NO!” ninnies* to Washington, and then wondering why nothing gets done there.

*With all due respect to the late Vice Pres. Spiro Agnew.

White, Middle-Aged Americans at Greatest Risk of Suicide

Trish

40%

The rate of increase in suicide among middle-aged (35 – 64) white Americans during the decade ending in 2010. There was almost no increase among older or younger people, or other racial groups. Theories on the uptick include the poor economy during that time, and increased use of prescription drugs. Nearly half of the suicides were accomplished using guns.

Basketball’s Jason Collins Steps Up to Be First Professional Player to Come Out

Trish

The coming out manifesto from free agent NBA center Jason Collins, published by Sports Illustrated, shows how far the struggle for equality and dignity for people of all sexual orientations has come.*

Collins waited for another major league team sports professional to be the first to tell the world he or she was gay. None have.

I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport…I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, “I’m different.” If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.

Collins says he decided the time was right after becoming a free agent, after the Boston marathon bombings, and after watching his straight friend, Rep. Joe Kennedy, march in a gay rights parade — while he stood on the sidelines.

I’m seldom jealous of others, but hearing what Joe had done filled me with envy. I was proud of him for participating but angry that as a closeted gay man I couldn’t even cheer my straight friend on as a spectator. If I’d been questioned, I would have concocted half truths. What a shame to have to lie at a celebration of pride.

He also wanted to beat the gossip sites to the punch.

My maternal grandmother was apprehensive about my plans to come out…She worries that I am opening myself up to prejudice and hatred. I explained to her that in a way, my coming out is preemptive. I shouldn’t have to live under the threat of being outed. The announcement should be mine to make, not TMZ’s.

Read the whole piece.

*Update: A search on Twitter for the words, “Jason Collins faggot” shows how far we have yet to go.

George W. Bush: Still Bizarre After All These Years

Trish
Note the signature.

It’s good to know, thanks to an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, that George W. Bush hasn’t changed a bit since leaving office.

In fact, he might have fallen even further behind in his ongoing struggle with verbal skills.

For example, in explaining his new pastime, which is oil painting:

You know what the interesting lesson is though, that you can keep learning in life. I mean, some guy one time said to me, “Man, you deserve to rest.” And I don’t wanna rest. I wanna live life to the — I wanna follow the example of President 41 and, you know, sprint into the grave.

As most of us (but maybe not his son) know, President 41, aka George H.W. Bush, has not yet set the example of sprinting into the grave because despite being hospitalized earlier this year, he is still kicking. But we’re sure that when he does go, it will be in track shoes and running shorts.
[…]

Gun Company Stocks Nosedive After Its Lobbyists Prevail in Washington

Trish

Without the gun industry whipping them into a frenzy by telling them Obama’s going to take their guns away, people are less interested in buying more guns.

Gosh, whodda thunk?

Alliant’s (ATK, Fortune 500) stock price dropped 1.5% Thursday, after seeing its shares surge 38% over the last year. Ammunition maker Olin Corp. (OLN) fell 1.2%, after climbing more than 13% over the last year. Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (SWHC) managed a 1.7% gain Thursday, while Sturm, Ruger (RGR) slipped 1.5%.

The stock price for Cabela’s (CAB), a retailer dependent on gun sales, dropped nearly 5%…

Brian Rafn, a gun industry analyst and director of research at Morgan Dempsey Capital Management, said gun companies are going to have to figure out how to remain profitable now that the “visceral political craziness is removed from the equation.”

Don’t worry, the NRA and Gun Owners of America will come up with new lies tomorrow, and the people they’re counting on to believe them will dump more money on guns and ammo.

Senate Goes Rogue: Votes to Continue Gun Show and Internet Loophole

Trish

The next time there’s a mass shooting and they’re asked what they did to prevent it, they’re going to have to say nothing.

Erica Lafferty, the daughter of the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary, who was shot and killed along with 20 first-graders and five teachers during five minutes in December of 2012. Lafferty was reacting to news that the Senate failed to pass a bill to close a loophole exempting gun shows and online gun sales from background checks. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) joined three other Democrats and all but four Republicans in voting against the measure, which polls show that 90 percent of Americans favor.