1. Rush Limbaugh is not a political figure. His followers insist that he is an entertainer and have repeatedly insisted on that designation.His show is straight entertainment according to his followers.
2. Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly denigrated and insulted half of the population of the United States with his misogynist views and opinions of women. This has gone beyond what is generally considered acceptable on the publicly owned airways.
3. Limbaugh is an admitted drug addict, not a good example for our troops. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh#Prescription_drug_addiction
4. Normal sane people do not go on diatribes accusing a young women whose only public exposure was to testify in front of Congress of being a slut or solicit pornographic videos from them.
5. Our armed forces have an acknowledged problem with rape in the ranks to the point that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has called it "the epidemic" of rape and sexual assaults in our armed forces. "In 2010, an estimated 19,000 service members were raped or sexually assaulted by other service members. Clearly, more resources devoted to counseling for victims and training for prosecutors and judges will help." http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/07/opinion/speier-military-rape/index.html
* 3,158 military sexual assaults were reported in fiscal year 2010, a decrease of 2% from fiscal year 2009. Only about a quarter of these sexual assaults occurred during deployment to a combat zone.
* While sexual assaults are notoriously under‐reported, this problem is exacerbated in military settings. The Department of Defense (DOD) estimates that only 13.5% of survivors report the assault, and that in 2010 alone, over 19,000 sexual assaults occurred in the military.
* Approximately 55% of women and 38% of men report that their assailant sexually harassed or stalked them prior to the incident of rape or sexual assault.
* Prosecution rates for sexual predators are astoundingly low—in 2010, less than 21% of reported cases went to trial. Of these 529 alleged perpetrators who were prosecuted, only 53% were convicted while 41% were acquitted or had charges dismissed. An additional 6% were discharged or resigned in lieu of courts‐martial (RILO), which effectively means the military allowed rapists quit their jobs in order to avoid facing charges.
http://servicewomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/R-SASH-Quick-Facts-081811.pdfHow much does Limbaugh contribute to an atmosphere that encourages rape in the military? If his attitudes are propagated among the military, it certainly cannot help reduce this problem.
Rush Limbaugh is not just offensive to half the American population, he is a danger to the capability and morale of our troops. "Entertainers" have been banned from the airways for fewer outrages than Limbaugh has created. Why should he be allowed on the air at all, much less being allowed to corrupt out armed forces?
I don't have the energy to initiate a dialogue with AFN about this - why don't you run with it?
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