RUSH: This is a story, interestingly, from the Las Vegas Review Journal. “Democrats Leave Bono Disappointed — Anti-poverty activist gets no promise of funds.” By the way, speaking of Africa, do you know who’s made the biggest difference in Africa, causing a number of deaths are incalculable? That would be Rachel Carson who succeeded (she’s no longer around) in getting rid of DDT. Hello malaria, perhaps AIDS. Who knows what kind of pestilence now runs around and rules Africa simply because one woman got everybody panicked in this country over DDT, and of course, panicking and in “crisis mode,” that’s nothing new. Now everybody’s looking at maybe reintroducing DDT. It’s something like 50 million deaths, in Africa, can be attributed to Rachel Carson.
That’s only recently now are people starting to look at it that way. For years and years and years Rachel Carson was one of the greatest heroines of American society! She “cared about the children” and pesticides which were poisoning people! Then we had Meryl Streep and Alar, and we scared everybody about apples. Alar was simply a substance that the apple growers put on them to make them appear more red or redder, and Meryl Streep’s up there testifying before Congress: “What are we doing to our children? What are we doing to our children!” I’ll never forget it. Meanwhile, Bono is running around, and he’s trying to raise money and so forth, which is fine, but I like to put these things in perspective. So Bono went to Washington last Thursday, had a meeting with Democrats, including the Senate Majority Leader Dingy Harry, and they got a photo-op out of it but not much else. 
“Bono was on Capitol Hill to seek assurances that $1 billion in planned US spending to fight AIDS and malaria in Africa would not be lost if Congress freezes agency budgets in the coming year. Bono said he also was seeking to close a commitment gap between what President Bush has requested for anti-poverty efforts and what Congress has agreed to spend in the past. After meetings with [Dingy Harry] and Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats in the House appropriations committee, Bono said he came away empty-handed. ‘I’m alarmed we could not get a commitment from the Democrat leadership to prevent the loss of $1 billion in the continuing resolution. I don’t know who to blame. Democrats are blaming Republicans, Republicans are blaming Democrats, but the million people who were expecting mosquito bed nets don’t know who to blame.
“‘They just know that a promise made by the United States to keep their families safe is in danger of being broken next year.’ A day later, Bono reconsidered his tough comments and took a softer tone in a follow-up. Bono said Friday that [Dingy Harry] acknowledged the difficulty situation with the congressional budget but he sincerely pledged his best efforts to improve the situation. Bono said, ‘Reid made my day taking me onto the Senate floor and leading me through the history of that great room.'” So anyway, Bono was frozen out. Democrats, the party of compassion, the party of understanding, the party that wants to solve suffering: (Raspberry). Sorry, Bono. Republicans messed it up for us, and we can’t guarantee you the mosquito nets. By the way, an L train has derailed in Chicago, ladies and gentlemen. No report of injuries yet, although there might be some. We’re still waiting on details. No word on whether Barack Obama is at the scene or plans to go to the scene. Without Obama on sight, if there are injured, do they have hope? If he is on site, the odds are they might have hope. If word can get to them, “Don’t worry. Relax. Barack Obama is here, and he’s on the scene.” Now, some might say that Obama will say, “No, this is a local matter. I have international concerns here that far supersede…” But you’re not working. It’s a break. Chicago is your home. We’ll see if he shows up. It depends on how bad it is over there.