RUSH: Heath Shuler from Tennessee, former NFL and University of Tennessee quarterback, sworn into office. This is amazing. He says, ?I had a good conversation with Speaker Pelosi. We talked about my conservative views. She’s fully aware of the district I represent. I’m here to represent the people of my district, and she’s here to represent hers. She said if we vote against each other, it’s because we’re voting with our districts.? Heath, Heath — he’s probably not listening to me today — if you actually think, Heath, that you’re going to survive by not doing what Pelosi tells you to do, ha!
Heath, your only reason for existing is to put her into the leadership. They knew that they couldn’t win that district with a liberal Democrat, so they recruit you, a conservative Democrat, who is able to out-conservative the Republican incumbent, which is a shame and an embarrassment for our side. And, Heath, by the way, I mentioned this earlier, ?Despite their differences, Shuler praised Pelosi for becoming the country’s first female speaker.? He said that Pelosi was an ?inspiration? to his daughter Island Shuler. Island is two, a two-year-old. “Daddy, daddy, I want to grow up to be just like that insipid old woman, the speaker of the House, she is so inspiring to me. Daddy, can I meet Nancy?” Come on, folks, two years old. A kid doesn’t know what inspiration is at two years old. 
Fuel for cars may be in trouble here, ladies and gentlemen. This is hilarious. Listen to this. A story from the Milwaukee Urinal Sentinel, ?Soaring demand for corn to make ethanol could trigger higher U.S. food prices and riots in low-income countries as grain supplies tighten, according to a report released Thursday.? I love that. Riots. ?The government has vastly underestimated the amount of corn needed to fuel the demand for ethanol, according to the report from Lester Brown, a researcher and president of the Earth Policy Institute, an environmental think tank in Washington. Corn is the main ingredient for ethanol, which is mixed with gasoline to make motor fuel. A bushel of corn produces about 2.8 gallons of ethanol.? The story goes on to describe all of these food products made with corn, and corn itself is going to skyrocket in price because there’s going to be less corn for that because it’s all going to be used up for ethanol, and that is going to lead to riots in low income countries where grain supplies will tighten. Riots. It’s the environmentalist wackos who are now complaining who gave us this stuff. You just can’t write this stuff.
“Tim Johnson won a coveted chairmanship” — he’s still in the hospital. He has not spoken. He is on a ventilator at night in order to breathe. He’s responsive in some aspects, but he doesn’t speak. He had a brain hemorrhage. Those are not good. Those are very, very bad. (story) ?Tim Johnson won a coveted chairmanship of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Thursday, even though he is still in critical condition after emergency brain surgery last month. The South Dakota Democrat remains in intensive care.? What subcommittee is this? It’s the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. ?The senator ‘will lose none of his rights during his absence’ and his office remains open for business, said spokeswoman Julianne Fisher.? When I first read this I said, ?What is the point?? And I said, ?Wait a minute, he’ll be just about as effective as any of these other Democrat chairmen, so what’s the difference??
Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana) received an ovation from the Congressional Black Caucus, as reported on Fox and Friends this morning, got a standing ovation, and he, too, I think, got some committee chairmanship. Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana). Now, you have to understand how this happens. Jefferson gets a standing O, and what’s really happening here is that the amateurs in the House were honoring the professional. Here’s a guy who knows how to get away with 90 grand of cash in the freezer, who knows what other ethical charges may be coming down the pike, he got away with it, he gets a standing O because he beat the system, he beat the man. He beat the system. He got away with it, and that’s why he got a hero’s welcome, because the amateurs in the House who aspire to get away with it like Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana) saw that he did, and it was a standing O of honor and respect.