Forced to Listen to Rush Limbaugh: Five Reasons This Woman Should Be Thankful

• Dick Connelly, the most essential job as a reporter is to REPORT THE FACTS. YOU FAILED.  You failed to mention that the woman pulled over to the shoulder because her car broke down, which the police knew, and which is why the charges were dropped. By omitting that basic piece of information, you deliberately tried to make the woman sound like a criminal to your readers, which you know she isn't. She thought the police were coming over to help her. Instead, they arrested her, made sure her cuffs were too tight, and, also, made her listen to racist radio. Also, Boyd is African American, which is why forcing her to listen to racist radio involved intentional infliction of emotional distress. You failed to document this, as well. This is just bad reporting, regardless of  the politics, Dick. Dick, if you can't see that Rush is racist, and you find the Barack the Magic Negro song funny instead of offensive, it's because you are racist, too and you can't tell the difference. You lack the objectivity to write about this topic. Most African Americans find Rush offensive. So you are saying that most African Americans are un-American because they don't like to be insulted and demeaned on a daily basis? Apparently your idea of an African American who is a true American is one who is still in chains and picking cotton. Dick, you work for the Houston Press, not for Rush, so it is your professional obligation to report the facts. Do your job, Dick. Save this sucking up to Rush for your KKK meetings.

• Look into how he was kicked off of ESPN for saying people only liked Donovan McNabb because he was black.  A guy who led the Eagles to the Super Bowl and is an excellent player is totally only liked because he is black.

• Savage* is an idiot - constant Obama bashing - he never quits...hate, hate and hate. And actually he's quite boring. I am not a big fan of Obama, but not for the same reasons as these righty talkers on cable and radio, no. They never complain about Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan or his not getting us out of Iraq - he will pare down the troops but the occupation of Iraq will continue ad nauseum. And the Obama care that the right vehemitly hates is actually written and approved by the major insurance companies and if it gets repealed - so what? Less regs for them and the left can say "we tried' and the right can say "blah, blah" and everyone wins except the public. Meanwhile healthcare costs - in a for profit system - will continue to rise astronomically... until Washington comes to it's senses and simply says it's medicare for all (single-payer). What I'm saying is Obama hasn't done much for the working man or by his own campaign promises. Of course the Repukes won't let him do much, but he caves in to them all the time - as in extending the Bush taxcuts. Rome always raised taxes during war, never otherwise... the Caesers weren't stupid. I didn't even mention the Spying on Americans by Obama - even worse than Bush. When's the last time Savage, Hannity or Limbaugh complained about that? All in the name of T.W.A.T. - a Bush program: The War Against Terror. *Savage, way back when, used to hang with the hippies down in North Beach, CA. Yeah he was one of them, and very liberal. Why did he change? I dunno... bad acid trip? or maybe it was for the money? Anyway, I say he's a turncoat. Why trust him now. Like a Judas Your brain on Savage is like puppy shiet!

• If your car is in imminent danger of stalling, you do not enter or re-enter a moving lane of traffic. You get it off the road. Once you get onto a shoulder, you STOP. Once you are on a shoulder, you are not a danger to others, you do not interfere with traffic. That's why the shoulders are there.  You do not continue to drive and use the shoulder as a lane. To get off of the freeway from a shoulder, you MUST re-enter moving lanes of traffic for the very simple reason that there are no shoulders on the exits. She is reported to have continued to drive while on the shoulder. To do so is de facto PROOF that she intended to use the exit. To re-enter a moving lane of traffic with a vehicle that is in imminent danger of stalling or is moving at a snail's pace poses an immediate danger to human life. If the car is already malfunctioning and barely moving, then it may not even be able to coast out of the way. That could possibly cause an accident, even a fatality, not to mention a traffic jam.  The lady in this case obviously had some sense: she got over to the shoulder. But, if the reports are correct, she continued to drive while on the shoulder. I would have arrested her and thrown away the handcuff key, and issued citations for every single violation I could come up with.  If your car is not driveable, you get it off of the road and call for a wrecker. You don't pull into a moving lane of traffic, such as an exit, and pray that it doesn't quit there. Your freedom does not extend to endangering my life or that of others. Driving too slowly on a freeway is enough of a danger, but having your car stop in the middle of a fast moving lane of traffic is even more of one. If your car quits unanticipatedly, that's one thing, but if you know that it's likely to quit, that's quite another: that's a crime.  One of my pet peeves is idiots driving mile after mile on the freeway at 10 mph with their flashers on, totally oblivious to the danger they cause other drivers: they "have" to be somewhere, and they, being more important than you or I, in their "minds," believe that they have the "right" to endanger all of us. My pet peeve number 1(a) would be those who drive cars in such a condition that they should not be on the road at all. I don't care what the officer's political views are or what he listens to on his own time in the car. We don't know whether the officer even agreed with Limbaugh, although, considering his occupation, it is likely he does. I've spent enough hours driving that I have, at one time or another, listened to almost all of those talk shows on occasion, from the time of Alex Bennett--"The Man You Love to Hate"--in the 60s, to the present day. And the fact that you might encounter me listening to one or another does not necessarily imply any approval of same. I've listened to whoever was on, whether it was Chris Baker, Ed Schultz or whomever. With some, it becomes a test to see how long I can put up with it; I used to find it almost irrestible to see which particular lunacy was being discussed on Coast to Coast late night. The serious talk show hosts are often worth more of a laugh than Phil Hendrie, but there are germs of truth in what almost any of them say, whether they be left, right, middle, or out of this world. Most people I know discuss the politico talk hosts without ever having listened to them, which puzzles me. I think that people need to listen to some of more wacky talk radio programs just so they would realize how much lunacy there is in this world, if not from the hosts in question, then certainly from some of the callers. But there should be a policy in place to make sure that, if a radio or other entertainment device is used in a public vehicle like that, it should not be used when members of the public are present without their consent. In other words, when the DPS starts arresting people who have insulted Rick Perry, let us hope that we would not have to listen to Perry propaganda while handcuffed in the back of DPS vehicles.

• I don't know why the reply button stops appearing after so many replies. Weird feature. And You are refuting things I never brought up. I never said that liberals or Democrats can't or aren't racist. I've met plenty who are, but that's not the issue right now. That is a different discussion separate from Rush. The term "boy" is not a bad word in of itself. That is also not the issue. Boy has been used as a proxy for other derogatory terms for decades at the very least. It is used to infantilize Blacks because they were seen, as an entire group, to be lacking the intelligence of whites. People wore signs during the civil rights marches saying that they are men, not boys. http://static.guim.co.uk/Guardian/observer/gallery/2008/jan/17/1/PD7860901@29th-March-1968,-Memp-413.jpg

• Wyatt - I guarantee that you have never listed to Limbaughs show a single time. Only the clippets brought to you by our friends in the media which are often (and by that I mean always) taken out of context. Rush is Right! Give me a lippy conservative over a foolish liberal doorknob any day of the week.

• stick to weed or coke, even lsd...  if you did the amount of oxy rush did you won't be able to listen to anything at all once your hearing goes...

• OMG, thank you, "guest," if that IS your real name.

• Nah, he's the equivalent of huffing from a whipped cream can. And speaking of drugs, please see my previous comment.

• LOL, especially #1...I'd need a shiteload of oxycontin to be able to stand listening to Rush, but I hear he's cornered the market so I can't find any

• dammit, i called this game, where in the hell did you find a reply button?...  must be a computer glitch... as for "barack the magic negro", it's been well documented that a liberal los angeles columnist coined that phrase, and rush merely ran with it, illustrating the left's hypocracy...  rush didn't call obama a negro, democrat senator harry reid did that, but of course he gets a pass because of the dnc's stellar history of race relations (that is, a stellar history of "caring" about race relations)...  rush does refer to obama as a man-child, which of course, as you suggest, is straight up racism since it's obviously a code for "boy"...  us racists are going to have to step up our secret codes from being cracked...

• What is it about pc culture that pisses you off? Not being able to discriminate against people? Being called out for saying something offensive? Actually having to think about other people in the world other than yourself? I find it weird that people think it's edgy, almost heroic (not saying you necessarily feel this way) to defend bigoted things. As if saying those things hasn't been done for all of history. Calling Obama a "negro" is bigoted. Why not call him "boy" or "uppity"? If there is one thing that does not need to be defended is old, tired, worn out hate speech. I like saucy and dark humor myself, but straight up racism is something that should never be encouraged simply because it's old.

• you and her both would do well to listen to savage...  but i, too, can speculate...  here's how it went down (no thanks to the chronicle): ms. boyd was pulled over because she had probable cause in the form of an obama bumper sticker on her 2004 nissan altima...  obviously disabled, her smoking nissan veered out of control, side-swiping a school bus and ambulance before crashing into the retaining wall...  upon assessing the situation, deputy goad's initial hunch proved out and he promptly arrested boyd for driving while black...  pulling her out of the flaming wreckage by her hair braided extensions, goad advised boyd he'll be doing her a big favor by throwing her ass in the squad car and made to listen to rush limbaugh by force...  when boyd encountered physical distress, goad's training kicked in and he immediately deployed a set of headphones upon her and connected them to his autographed copy of limbaugh's best selling audio version of "the way things ought to be"...  once he had her stabilized and properly ideologically oriented, goad released boyd into medical care... and now you know the rest of the story...

• as i said earlier, i do not refute what he said, he clearly said what you call "evidence"...  his comments on donovan mcnabb, the nfl and "barack the magic negro", just to name a few, have been debated ad nauseam with no resolution, other than each side forming their own conclusions...  those weasels at espn fired him for doing precisely what they hired him to do...  if they didn't want controversy they should have hired yet another ex-coach or jock to spew the same old cliched rhetoric...  and i'm not so much defending him as i am crusading against a pc culture that ultimately hampers, if not outright mutes, honest discussion of race in this country...  your notion of real people needing to be defended is noble in theory, but in practicality is a joke when applied to star athletes, actors and politicians...  obama and mcnabb are successful, grown-ass men and are quite capable of defending themselves... and since the reply button has now gone away, i leave you with this: GOT YOU LAST!!!...

• You know who else wanted to round up all the Jews and systematically exterminate them? Rush Limbaugh.

• I'd like to hear the whole story. I would bet, first of all, that she had been interfering with traffic for some time prior to her decision to pull over to the shoulder. I see people all the time who hallucinate that it's okay to drive 10 mph as long as you have your flashers on, and she was on the Beltway. I have not found a complete description of the incident, although one blog describes it as, "Bridget Boyd was commuting to work when her car began to stall and smoke. She pulled onto the shoulder of Beltway 8 and was followed by a Harris County sheriff's deputy." Did it stall on the freeway? If so, how many times? If it was stalling and smoking on the main lanes, that means she had been stopping in a moving lane of traffic already. Had she been restarting it and continuing to move, probably slower than the legal speed, while in one of the main lanes? There is no indication of how sudden her vehicle malfunction was or the duration of that malfunction. Was the vehicle in good enough condition to be driving on the Beltway to begin with? Nor is there any indication of exactly what happened when she did get on the shoulder: instead of pulling over to the shoulder and stopping, then calling for or going to get help, did she continue to drive on the shoulder? The population of Houston is 22% black, 28% white, and 42% Hispanic. The idea that one particular black woman was singled out because she was black is absurd. The deputy did not pull her over because she was black. She had to have gotten his attention somehow: I would bet that she had been driving slower than the surrounding traffic for some time, and that her car had already been smoking a little. Then it started smoking a lot more, but did not completely quit, and she maneuvered it onto the shoulder and continued to drive.  I would also suspect that the deputy could have issued a number of different citations to her, but decided on that particular one just on the general principle that she needed to be reiminded to consider other traffic on the road. In other words, he was probably doing her a big favor by only issuing one ticket. while  I sympathize with her for having to listen to Rush, but she should thank her lucky stars it wasn't Michael Savage or Mark Levin, or, worse, the deputy might have been playing country music, or, even worse, hip hop. I'm sure that a transcript of Rush's program can be made available to see whether he was actually making derogatory comments about blacks.

• Did he criticize them for being spoiled? No, he compared them to violent gang members. There is a difference. I also provided evidence which you have refused to refute. I never backpedaled because I never said anything about his friends. All i did was provide evidence when it was needed. You should ask yourself why you defend a rich bigot when there are real people who need to be defended.

• actually, yes, it is up to me to decide...  and when everyone realizes this things will run much more smoothly around here... i'm not blaming the race card, per se, but the players of those cards who scream racism at every turn...  railing against insensitive blowhards criticizing spoiled pro athletes who had their paths paved by the likes of jackie robinson and muhammad ali does a disservice to the legacy of the true struggles that the rosa parks' and the mlk's endured... finally, while you admit you don't know the details of their relationships, it didn't prevent you from dismissing them in the first place...  your backpeddling belies your broad brush accusation of racism with absolutely zero evidence of such...  but you're in good company, as at least one person on this page is being paid for doing so... 

• Ah crap, the cat is out of the bag now. John Bonham is NOT going to be pleased.

• And Gram and Otis and KAREN to the motherfuckin' CARPENTER

• But is it up to you to decide that? It's not very fare to decide what racist for other people. It doesn't work like that. Just blaming the "race card" doesn't make these statements or their intent go away or become unimportant.  And I never called them Uncle Toms. I don't know the details of their relationships. I'm just saying that racist people sometimes say they can't be racist because they have X number of minority friends. That doesn't lessen the racist things they say. It's merely a tactic to obfuscate the issue at hand.

• the woman's arrest spurred this post...  and since the crux of connelly's article is that rush is a racist, some examples of his racism that day would be in order, either by him or anyone else here all too eager to play the race card... i do not dispute the existence of any of the examples you cited, they're the usual suspects whenever this subject is at hand...  i'm taking issue with the notion anything he has said is racist...  at the very worst, rush is insensitive, in a ridiculously politically correct climate... as for your tired old game claim, the idea that a racist can have black friends is what doesn't hold water...  you've just insulted the intelligence and integrity of 4 very smart, talented and honorable black men...  do you view them as uncle tom's too stupid to realize that who they perceive as a good friend is merely a racist acquaintance?...  that seems to be the prevailing premise among those that criticize blacks for thinking for themselves by being conservative, rather than voting in 95% lockstep with democrats...         

• We can't have you telling everyone that Elvis is still alive. Next thing you know, people will be asking about Jimi, Janis, Jim, and Tupac.

• I wasn't talking about this woman being arrested. I talking about Rush in general.  You also did not dispute anything I posted. What do you mean by "haters", a term I thought only middle schoolers used. Why not just say they are jealous, seems to work against any form of legitimate criticism.  The words are there. Would you like sound recordings as well? Or is anything short of a lynching and yelling the n word not racist? And the tired old game of saying "Look, I have Black friends so I'm not racist!!!1!11!" just doesn't hold up against logic. I'm sure David Duke had a Black acquaintance.  

• Obama is all he never does a thing wrong and Elvis still lives

• OK, haiku: I can't abide Rush What a corporate hacktard Really pathetic.

• i get the picture, alright...  i used to hang at media matters...  that is, until i became thoroughly disgusted at their blaming the gabby giffords shooting on limbaugh, glenn beck and sarah palin all in one fell swoop the monday after...  of course we've since learned the shooter was no fan of them, nor politics in general, other than obsessing on a congresswoman...  i'm not missing much, i'm sure, since their site had deteriorated to little more than whining about fox news... your links are tired examples and no more than stretches by haters desperate to link any aspect of racism to rush in lieu of having an intellectually honest discussion of his views... and of course, you still fail to mention any of his offending rhetoric from the day of the woman's arrest... ask his friends walter williams, thomas sowell, clarence thomas and tony dungy how racist he is...

• Traditionally, a haiku is composed of three lines with a 5-7-5 syllable structure.  Sadly, your attempt was 3-6-3, but good for a first try I guess.

• Count stand rush. He's a corporate hack... Nothing more.

• http://www.cbssports.com/print/columns/story/9947327 The money quote: "Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it." http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2010/11/the-bald-racism-of-rush-limbaugh/179790/ http://mediamatters.org/research/200910130049 There is more, but I think yuo get the picture.

• ALL CONSERVATIVES SUCK!!!!!!!!!! (Woohoo! That felt pretty good... Should I have gone with "neocons" or "Repuglicans" instead?)

• you must listen to him 15 hours a week, i assume...  but to answer your question, no, i don't think he's ever said anything racist...  but then again, i'm an insensitive nazi who drinks dolphin blood from my panda skull stein...  try asking the many high profile black friends of rush if he's ever said anything racist, let alone actually be a racist... so what was it he said that day that was derogatory to blacks?...   

• I've noticed there is waaaaay too much common sense being used in your responses Katy.  Please try harder to keep it at a lowest common denominator level from here out.

• No it's not, but it sure seems to get a lot of people into trouble they otherwise would not be in.  Don't get me wrong, I do not like cops at all, I just respect the fact that they have the power to take away my freedom, even if I don't agree with it.

• Yeah like this: And now the liberals want to stop President Reagan from selling chemical warfare agents and military equipment to Saddam Hussein, and why? Because Saddam 'allegedly' gassed a few Kurds in his own country. Mark my words. All of this talk of Saddam Hussein being a 'war criminal' or 'committing crimes against humanity' is the same old thing: LIBERAL HATE SPEECH! And speaking of poison gas ...I SAY WE ROUND UP ALL THE DRUG ADDICTS AND GAS THEM."-- Rush Limbaugh, Nov. 3, 1988 That's all you need to know. This from a "Hillbilly heroin" (oxycotin) addict.

• "As far as Rush goes, I don't listen to him, but it cracks me up that most people that talk shit about him settle in for a comfortable night of Keith Olbermann." Yeah, the whole "Hate thy neighbor" crowd makes my head hurt, regardless of which political bent they take...

• Nice quote. It's fine to be wrong about something, but when you're that wrong and that vitriolic and hateful, then you're just in another league of insufferable.

• Talking shit to the police isn't illegal.

• Racism is now obsolete, just like the Republicans (and El Rushbo*). I used to say:  Vote Republican and watch your job get shipped to China! Now it's: Vote Republican and watch your job get shipped out of the country, while the Democrats just stand by and do nothing! Both partys may talk a good game, but neither really do anything for the working man; But they sure do take care of the Corporations (and Big Banks)! ...Whom BTW, run the show. Bottomline: We the People are screwed. The Emperor of the U.S.A. Empire is > The leaders of Multi-national Corporations and the owners of the Federal Reserve. Unfortunately - sorry Obama fans (or fans of the opposite party) - any President of the U.S.A. is under command of the Emperor. And the wars in the M.E. are all about expanding the Empire [and the (folly of a solely) "Oil Economy"; IMHO]. [Just SCROOGLE (don't use Google) John Perkins ('Confessions of an Economic Hit Man') to learn more; or see him on some clips on YOUTUBE] h "Sarah, if the American people had ever known the truth about what we Bushes have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." -- George H.W. Bush to interviewer Sarah McClendon, Dec 1992 *PS: Something for you TRUE Rush Limbaugh fans: "And now the liberals want to stop President Reagan from selling chemical warfare agents and military equipment to Saddam Hussein, and why? Because Saddam 'allegedly' gassed a few Kurds in his own country. Mark my words. All of this talk of Saddam Hussein being a 'war criminal' or 'committing crimes against humanity' is the same old thing: LIBERAL HATE SPEECH! And speaking of poison gas ...I SAY WE ROUND UP ALL THE DRUG ADDICTS AND GAS THEM." -- Rush Limbaugh, Nov. 3, 1988 That's all you need to know. (This from the "Hillbilly heroin" (oxycotin) addict himself).

• Abba Zaba, you my only friend.

• Agreed.

• Don't go hating on Detroit Red.

• I can handle and ignore the stupid, but the racism is what boils my blood.

• Your right, he doesn't say that many racist things, he just says some real stupid shit.

• Malcolm X

• Jeremiah Wright

• Will it make you wet knowing I don't like either of them? Both are blowhards. Also, Keith doesn't really say as many racist things as good old Rush.

• Harvey Keitel, Art Garfunkel, "Bad Timing"

• Edward James Olmos.

• Connelly's  "hilarious" points aside, if you actually take the time to read the article about what happened, it all boils down to a pretty simple premise, don't talk shit to the police and you won't go to jail. As far as Rush goes, I don't listen to him, but it cracks me up that most people that talk shit about him settle in for a comfortable night of Keith Olbermann.

• Political talk radio is cruel and unusual punishment. 

• You don't think he has ever said anything racist? You must not listen to him much.

• I have listened to Rush before. If you think his bile counts as smart discourse then you are either stupid or just giving in to the very human desire to hear what you want to hear. Could be both.

• Rush rocks. His rhetoric will clean out all the crappy left wing rhetoric. try it for one week

• typical rush bashing...  since the chronicle cited no specific racist remarks, connelly has to settle for falling back on the old reliable rush-is-a-racist mantra, and insulting his audience to boot...  why be bothered with facts when you have a 5-point fluff piece as your all-purpose stand-by that's convenient to plug in whenever someone cries racism against rush... 

• great how his followers are called dittoheads. they're more than happy to admit they'll eat the shit he shovels without thinking critically about it. i like a lot of thinkers but i don't automatically agree with anything anyone says. because i find value in critical thinking.

• he died several years ago, in his apartment, surrounded by mountains of football player stats...  he was a hoarder before hoarding was cool...

• Whatever happened to Joel Buschbaum?

• About what? He's an intellectually shallow, hateful demagogue. I wouldn't assume someone is stupid or gullible because he's conservative. I would be tempted to assume as much if he listened to and really appreciated Rush. If I were a conservative, I'd be embarrassed by Limbaugh. He's the rhetorical equivalent of eating whipped cream straight out of the can. It might make you feel good, but it's unhealthy, disgusting and wrong. And before your knee jerks wildly and you call me a "libtard" or a "demoncrat" or whatever passes as wit nowadays among the talk-radio set, please note that I'm not attacking conservative ideas. Just this asshat.

• Rush is Right!

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