Spirit of the Radio

"Begin the day with a friendly voice,

A companion unobtrusive...

What irony that Rush Limbaugh began his radio show with these words from a song by my all time favorite band.  While in college I once ran across Williamsburg in a dress to catch a bus headed to a Rush concert. I don't remember which. I don't remember where. I went to hear them numerous times...it's all a blur.  That time I'd gone with my friend, Hugh, and a slew of people I didn't know at all on a really wacky converted school bus... I'm sure it was an awesome adventure...I do recall that it was so packed in front of the stage that Hugh and I could feel our feet lift off the floor. Mostly, this song in particular connects me to some wild and wonderful sailing days with friends aboard the Happy Frog...Ahh, sweet summer memories...

Sweet summer memories  give way to the unfortunate truth: Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot. Still. After all these years. I just googled that first sentence because I couldn't remember that it was Al Franken who used those same words to name a book.  The list of links that came up really turned the corners on my smile however as they began to add up--there are blogs and books and articles all over that name themselves using some variation of those words!

I'm not even going to bother with the extended list of reasons for why I find RL to be utterly idiotic.  His last blast at Sandra Fluke is enough for me.  I brought the topic up at breakfast.  There should be a big space here for people who know David and I to pause and giggle. That was a few days ago. I've been trying to process the aftermath ever since.  Another big space, but this time for me. I should know better than to stir politics into morning coffee...It didn't go well.  David had not seen the RL video on youtube...he didn't hear with his own ears the words RL used to describe Sandra Fluke. I however HAD...and I did my very best to summarize with all the flamboyance and indignation that I could muster because the Republican War on Women disgusts me.  And I waited for David's response...which I found frought with problems and potholes. "I'd have to hear it for myself."

"I'd have to hear it for myself." WTF...I thought, I heard it, I saw it. Am I so unbelievable? Do you think I misunderstood and can't give reliable testimony...oh, because I am a woman...I am a woman who, in this insane state from which I'd like to secede, can't be trusted even with her own vagina.  No. It did not go well.

In the days since, I've wondered why I had to invite RL to breakfast with us. I don't have an especially good reason--except that I am tired and frustrated from bottling it up.  I was a self-igniting firecracker. BOOM. It's been a tough ride just dealing with the backwards leaning insanity of  the VA General Assembly and Governor's Office...from transvaginal to personhood to gun control...backwards, backwards we go... where we'll stop, nobody knows.  I'm opinionated. I have opions that differ vastly from those of my husband. I do want to understand his perspective...but it seems I am just unable. sigh

If you've had your head in the sand, we Virginians now  have a Signed-by-the-Gov. mandate which will require women to have a transabdominal ultrasound before an abortion.  Never mind that it is medically unneccessary. Never mind that it will not be covered by insurance. Never mind that a transabdominal ultra sound will produce no discernable image in the early stages of pregnancy when most abortions are performed.  That's right. No discernable image. That's why this bill started out with the  transvaginal ultrasound...until it was pointed out that the transvaginal ultra sound without the consent of the women amounts to rape . Yup, state sanctioned rape...

Title 18.2-67.2 Code of Va.
INANIMATE OBJECT SEXUAL PENETRATION
Definition: Penetration of the vagina or rectum with any object by force and against the will of the victim.
Penalty: 5 years to life imprisonment

And then there is the contraception debacle...Yeah, I'm still mad about this. Why do we give the so called conservative religious folk the right to make laws which serve only to bully the rest of us? Why?

Begin the day with a friendly voice,

A companion unobtrusive

Plays that song that's so elusive

And the magic music

makes your morning mood.

-Rush, Spirt of the Radio

So Rush pulled their music from the RL show. Several others have done the same. The formal tally of dropped sponsors is around 40.  Let's hope he is down for the count. It looks like War on Women is beginning to translate in polling data. See here.


Well, what can I say...Keep your politics out of the morning coffee--it is the key to an exceptional morning mood (along with some good music from one's favorite band). I'm gonna try. Peace and Love and great weekend! -K