RUSH: I was watching Fox this morning — well, I never really watch it, it’s just on while I’m in the midst of doing show prep. Sometimes, for whatever reason, I’ll actually look at the monitor, something attracts my attention, sometimes I’m just looking for a break from what I’m doing. I looked up there and I saw this graphic the bottom of the screen. You know what it said?
“Sandy victims shiver in Northeast without heat.” Victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Remember, this happened back in late October, early November. This happened a week before the election. This happened way back last year. And, I, ladies and gentlemen, I’m being dead serious with you. Do not infer anything in my tone of voice. I thought that it had been fixed. We haven’t heard since a couple days after the election anything about the Northeast. Well, there were occasional stories of people who still didn’t have power, still didn’t have gasoline, homes still hadn’t been rebuilt. But those stories died away shortly after the election.
Chris Christie wasn’t talking about it much anymore. Andrew Cuomo wasn’t talking about it much anymore. The president wasn’t. Mayor Doomberg wasn’t talking about it. And as time has gone on, I just thought that problem had been solved. Honestly, I did. I thought the power had been restored. I thought gasoline stations are back open. I thought people moved back into their houses. I was shocked when I saw this. Here it is January 25th. By the way, it’s my cousin Steve’s birthday today. Steve Jr., Cape Girardeau, Missouri, happy birthday. He’s, what, I think two years younger than I am.
Anyway, folks, I thought it was done. I haven’t heard any complaints about it. I haven’t heard, “Where’s FEMA?” I haven’t heard anything about people freezing. I haven’t heard anything, not like I heard in Hurricane Katrina. We heard about that for a year.
(interruption) No, I’m not. (interruption) I’m not. (interruption) Dawn, I’m not trying to be cynical. I’m telling the truth. This surprised me. I thought it had been fixed! (sigh) The president got together with Chris Christie; they said they set up this hotline. They were gonna eliminate any bureaucratic red tape. If you called with a problem, it was gonna get attention in 15 minutes. Well, here it is, and there’s a big cold snap in the Northeast to go along with global warming.
Oh, by the way, that reminds me. I shoulda mentioned this yesterday. Derek Jeter. You know, Derek Jeter is in Davos at the World Economic Forum. The reason he’s there is that Pepsi owned Gatorade, which Jeter drinks; Jeter endorses. Well, I assume he drinks it because he endorses Gatorade. So Pepsi’s over there because Pepsi’s a big, evil corporation. As such, there is a meeting of a bunch of evil CEOs planning how they can get all the money for themselves in the next year or two, which is what they do at these CEO economic forums. Everybody knows that.
These guys go and figure out how they can get more and more money for themselves, and find ways to screw their customers, and maybe even kill them at times. Anyway, they dragged Derek Jeter over there, and Derek Jeter was talking about Hurricane Sandy. He said (paraphrased), “We gotta do something. Something’s causing these hurricanes. Something’s causing them, and we gotta get going on global warming. We gotta get working on climate change.” This is very unusual for a professional athlete to throw himself head first into a political issue.
Mickelson didn’t even do this. Mickelson didn’t join a cause. Mickelson didn’t start advocating for lower taxes. Mickelson didn’t try to change policy. Mickelson was just saying, “My gosh, I’m keeping 38¢ out of every dollar. I think I might move,” and, for that, he’s attacked. They’re still after him. There’s another story out today. The media jihad against Phil Mickelson isn’t over. I’ll get to that in a minute. But Jeter has now thrown himself into the policy mix here with global warming, so I was thinking I was remiss yesterday.
I should have said that, if Jeter’s serious, he ought to put forth some ideas to help the cause, and one of those things would be what? No more night games in any sport. Look at all the electricity used. Have you ever been to a baseball or football game on an overcast day? They turn the lights on at the stadium in the daytime. Do you know why they do that? They do it for television. They do it to eliminate shadows for television. Even in the daytime, the lights are on at most of these stadiums.
Do you know how much electricity that’s burning, the CO2? Do you realize the carbon that we are putting into the air? So Jeter could at least come out for all day games. Maybe something Jeter could then say is, “A minimum of four people in every car traveling to a stadium! Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, it doesn’t matter: minimum, four people in a car.” I mean, if he’s gonna get involved here, he should go all the way. It’s clear Pepsico dragged him over there because he’s an endorser.
Anyway, I then saw there’s a Fox News story, “Sandy Victims Left Out in Cold During Arctic Blast — The brutal cold snap affecting much of the country is taking a devastating toll on victims of superstorm Sandy, many of whom are camped out in tent cities or living in homes without power, heat or running water.” I had no idea! I honestly thought that this had all — I don’t know — been fixed, put back together. I thought the power was back on! “Hundreds of people in New York’s Staten Island and along the Jersey Shore are still without basic necessities nearly three months after the storm hit.
“‘Many families in Union Beach are using space heaters to warm upstairs,’ said Jeanette Van Houten, a resident from the small New Jersey town that was among the hardest-hit communities. ‘There’s people with no heat, no electric, but they are staying in the house because it’s better than having to deal with FEMA and having to leave hotels every two weeks. There are families who have chosen to stay in their homes just to have some sort of normalcy,’ she added.”
I really thought — and again, from bottom of my heart: I’m not trying to be sarcastic or sardonic. I actually thought it had been dealt with, because everybody involved at the government level said they were gonna expedite things and get it all fixed, and there hasn’t been any reports of any problems. It’s not like Hurricane Katrina. After Hurricane Katrina, we knew that nothing was put back together fast then because media was there every day and telling us. The people in the Northeast have just been abandoned. That week before the election, everybody drove in, flew in, had photo-ops, and made promises.
Since then, Governor Christie has been doing a fundraiser with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Has Springsteen done anything more for the Sandy victims? He was involved there. He cares a lot. I know that. I remember him saying so. But I’m shocked. I mean, this is a liberal Mecca, a Democrat Mecca. Forget liberal. It’s a Democrat Mecca, and still no heat. No heat, no running water after three months! I did not know it. Speaking of that, you know, I talk to you about Gawker now and then. It is a website.
It’s a blog. It’s oriented toward gay issues. It’s quite ribald. It’s very, very dangerous to go there. I’m not advocating you go, but I like the Gawker guys. They have a running back and forth with me, but one of the Gawker guys, Travis Okulski, posted a tweet about this. You know what he said? He’s a young guy. He said, “I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that this cold weather is far worse than the Holocaust,” and he means it. He’s dead serious
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RUSH: I can’t tell you… I’m not trying to overdo this. I can’t tell you how surprised I was when I saw that graphic on Fox: “Sandy Victims Shiver in Northeast Without Heat.” I literally didn’t know that that hasn’t been fixed, that the electricity hasn’t been restored and that the gasoline stations weren’t open and food was being trucked in. I had no clue, folks. There hasn’t been anything in the news about it out here. Maybe where you live, in the Northeast, there has been coverage every day, but there hasn’t been here outside the Northeast.
I saw public opinion polls saying Cuomo and Christie have the highest approval ratings they’ve had in a long time, and I’m not kidding. According to the polls, both Governor Cuomo and Christie are wildly popular right now. It just doesn’t jibe with the idea that apparently nothing’s been done; apparently so few repairs have been made that it’s breathtakingly shocking. I mean, I haven’t seen any pictures of FEMA trailers. I haven’t seen the FEMA people on TV describing their actions with photo-ops, wanting credit for their work.
The assumption was it was over. They fixed it. It was done. Now we got this global warming stuff going on out there. In the middle here of global warming — Obama made that a major part of his immacural address — what’s wrong with a little cold weather? If we got global warming, shouldn’t everybody be breathing a sigh of relief at the cold snap, then? It’s cooling things off a little bit. I have to tell you, folks, I thought I knew a little starting today. I’m really confused now.
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RUSH: Maria in Margate, New Jersey, we’re starting with you on the phones. It’s great to have you here on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. Mega 21st-anniversary-of-when-I-started-listening-to-you dittos. Thank you so much for taking my call.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: I was just calling because I heard you talk about Hurricane Sandy and how they’re telling us everything’s good; we’re all recovered. My house still has no power.
RUSH: Maria, it’s not —
CALLER: It’s going to be torn down.
RUSH: Maria. Maria, wait. It’s not that they’re saying everything’s fine. It’s that they’re not saying anything, and I just assumed it was fine. They had the concert. Christie met with the president. Cuomo said that he’d never seen any better response. He couldn’t have been happier with the attention the president has been giving, and there hasn’t been anything in the news about it. Now I see today that all of these people like you don’t have heat and running water and gasoline and stuff. I was shocked ’cause I literally thought that it was done, in the past, fixed, and everybody moved on.
CALLER: Rush, if I wrote a book about all the fraud, the waste, the abuse, the lies, everything, I could fill Atlas Shrugged.
RUSH: By who? Whose fraud and waste? Government, you mean?
CALLER: Government and people who’ve taken advantage of people.
RUSH: Really?
CALLER: They’re are stealing things out of drop boxes and calling FEMA and saying —
RUSH: Really?
CALLER: — they donÂ’t have insurance; calling FEMA saying they have these big losses and FEMA cuts them a check.
RUSH: You’re kidding.
CALLER: Ugh. I guess I could take your whole three hours and then some telling you all of this.
RUSH: I’ve not heard a word of this.
CALLER: Oh, it’s happening. It’s happening.
RUSH: I haven’t heard a word about FEMA. I just assumed that the power was back on and that everybody thus had heat and gasoline.
CALLER: Nope.
RUSH: That’s why I was stunned today when I saw this story.
CALLER: And the concert and the Red Cross and everything? I called the people that had the concert asking where the proceeds were going, and they said not to individuals, to nonprofits. I’ve called the Red Cross and I’ve called the United Way because we didn’t know what to do when we first found out we were homeless, and they all said, “You’re not on enough government assistance to be on the priority list.” So we had to wait for shelter.
RUSH: Wait a minute. What do you mean, money from the concert? The concert itself was supposed to fix it. What do you mean, money from the concert?
CALLER: Well, where did all the money go?
RUSH: They had all these people up there who cared, and they sang songs, and the next day it was supposed to be a lot better. I don’t know. I’m just confused. I’m sorry, Maria. I thought it was better.
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RUSH: That concert that they did headlined by the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, and the guys netted $30 million. Thirty million dollars, the concert for Hurricane Sandy. Well, I figure $30 million, and we have not had one story about corruption in the cleanup effort. Well, our last caller was describing some, but there have not any media reports of any corruption, like we had for a full year after Hurricane Katrina. I remember Wolf Blitzer, I think it was Wolf Blitzer in the Katrina aftermath.
It might’ve been Shep Smith. I don’t know. I get ’em confused. But Shep Smith openly wondered why so many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina were African-American. Well, we haven’t seen any stories in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy about why so many victims are white. We haven’t seen anything about victims at all, not since the week before the election.
Look, I’m not trying to make you all in the Northeast feel bad. I’m just telling you: I was genuinely shocked when I saw the story today about how many of you still don’t have power, or running water, and therefore you don’t have heat in this cold snap. I didn’t know. I guess, “What difference does it make now?” The election’s over, the immaculation has taken place, so what difference does it make?
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RUSH: Here’s John in Corsicana, Texas. It’s great to have you on Open Line Friday. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. I’m a longtime listener and it’s honor to speak to you.
RUSH: Thank you very much, sir.
CALLER: We deal with disaster relief. I started in 1967 and began Southern Baptist work in 1970, and let me tell you: I have never seen a government that could put a bean on a plate.
RUSH: (laughing)
CALLER: It’s your faith-based organizations that come in after a disaster that get into the nitty-gritty of the personal world.
RUSH: I love that. You’ve never seen a government that could put a bean on a plate. (laughing) So you say it’s the private sector groups that come in after disasters and really get the nitty-gritty done?
CALLER: Oh, yeah. Red Cross, of course, is the first first responder. And then Salvation Army, which is a religious group, is a second major responder. Southern Baptists are the third largest responder. We have 1,500 units and 85,000 trained volunteers.
RUSH: Yeah. Yeah.
CALLER: And we do most of the cooking for Red Cross wagons. We go out there and deliver stuff.
RUSH: Well, what group are you with?
CALLER: I’m with the Texas Baptist Men.
RUSH: Oh, okay, so Texas Baptist Men. When you say, “We deal in disaster relief,” that’s your group.
CALLER: Yeah. We’re under the Southern Baptist Convention. That is the organization that’s overall.
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: We do international disaster relief as well as domestic.
RUSH: Do you guys take guns to your disaster relief shifts?
CALLER: No. (laughing) No, but when I was working in Iran I saw an awful lot of the wrong ends of AK-47s.
RUSH: I’ll bet. You worked in Iran? What do you mean, you worked in Iran? What did you do there?
CALLER: Well, during Desert Storm I was in the mountains of Iran working with the Kurdish people.
RUSH: Were you military or were you over there for humanitarian efforts?
CALLER: Humanitarian effort.
RUSH: Humanitarian effort.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: And you had your gun with you then?
CALLER: No, I didn’t have one then, either.
RUSH: See?
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: He’s from Texas. He’s from the South. Disaster relief? You can imagine if I asked him about slavery!
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: Do you still believe in slavery? John, do you still believe in slavery?
CALLER: I’ve worked in North Korea quite a bit also. Go ahead.
RUSH: Do you still believe in slavery?
CALLER: Oh, absolutely not.
RUSH: Really? A lot of people would be surprised at that.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: Well, okay. John, had you heard anything…? I’m serious. It’s three months since that hurricane hit the Northeast. Have you heard anything in the Northeast about power not being restored yet?
CALLER: Not in the news, but FEMA has to work through contractors locally. And, for instance, one contractor had to wait two hours for a union carpenter to do a fifteen-minute job on a house.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: So they are being held up that way.
RUSH: So basically FEMA doesn’t really do anything. They just subcontract everything, right?
CALLER: Right. That’s right.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: And, um —
RUSH: So it’s the subcontractors’ fault that nothing got done. I see.
CALLER: No. (laughing)
RUSH: It’s not the government’s fault. Okay.
CALLER: (laughing) I know some of them, and they’re working as hard as they can, but they’re limited by the work rules.
RUSH: Right. So you don’t take your gun to disaster relief like after Hurricane Katrina and you don’t believe in slavery?
CALLER: No.
RUSH: Okay. Just checking! Just checking!
CALLER: (laughing) I worked in Bosnia, Serbia, Herzegovina. I worked in North Korea. I never take a gun. I don’t need one. I figure it’s as close to heaven from wherever I am as it is from Dallas.
RUSH: Well, God bless you, and I appreciate your call. I really do. Thanks very much, John. I appreciate it.
CALLER: You’re welcome. You’re prayed for daily in our family.
RUSH: I thank you. I really do appreciate that. Thank you so much.
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RUSH: Here’s Bill in Fresno, California. Bill, hi. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. What an honor.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: I have a question, and then I have a request, if I may.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: My question being, I heard a report that in New Jersey they passed a law that said any construction bid from a company that was nonunion would not even be considered. And my question is, how does that correlate with the proclamation of Obama’s that everybody will be getting a fair shot?
RUSH: It doesn’t, and I think for the most part you’re right. I have a story here from NJ.com back on the 14th of January. “Taking up its first substantial piece of legislation relating to Hurricane Sandy, the [New Jersey] state Senate today passed a bill that would let governments call for all union workers when hiring contractors to rebuild key pieces of infrastructure,” because there was this restriction. You can only be a member of a union. The relief workers had to be unionized or they couldn’t work.
CALLER: Doesn’t compute.
RUSH: Have you ever heard of the Jones Act and the BP oil spill?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: The Obama administration would not permit international relief workers to help because they were not union.
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: Politics comes first!
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: Politics comes first.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: I didn’t think any of this mattered. I thought this had been fixed. I did. I’m not making this up. Everybody thinks I’m sitting here trying to stir things up, and I’m not. I’m being honest. When I saw the story that there are still people without power and without gasoline and limited food supplies three months after this when there are no news about this… I thought the problems had been fixed!