Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 10, 2012

8

LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

 Mountain Views News Saturday, March 10, 2012 

HOWARD Hays As I See It 

 

 “I thought this election 
was going to all be about 
the economy, but the 
economy started doing 
better, so Republicans 
went to Plan B - calling 
women whores.”

- Bill Maher

 The economy 
is improving and 
consumer confidence is growing. An A.P. 
survey shows economists predicting faster 
growth than they did two months ago, with 
unemployment expected to drop to 8% by 
Election Day. Consumer confidence is at a 
four-year high. The Hill reports influential 
Republicans are recommending a focus on 
Congressional races as prospects for the 
White House dim.

 Accepting the futility of debating the 
issues, Republican operatives resort to tactics 
they’ve relied on in the past.

 One is voter suppression. In 2000, Florida 
scrubbed black-sounding names from 
voter rolls and had state troopers manning 
roadblocks leading to minority community 
polling places. In 2004, Ohio Secretary 
of State Ken Blackwell said he’d go to jail 
rather than comply with an order to provide 
provisional ballots to those requesting them.

 Republicans created the myth of “voter 
fraud” to rationalize I.D. requirements 
affecting students, the elderly and the poor. 
In Tennessee, Dorothy Cooper was denied 
a voter I.D. because she couldn’t produce a 
marriage certificate. As a black woman, she 
said she’d never before had problems voting, 
even in decades prior to the 1964 Voting 
Rights Act. (Ms. Cooper is 96.)

 Under new Ohio laws, WWII veteran 
Paul Carroll, 86, was denied a ballot because 
his Dept of Veterans Affairs photo ID didn’t 
include an address. “I went to war for this 
country, but now I can’t vote in this country.”

 Another tactic is diverting attention by 
inventing threats – coming from hippies and 
“Harvard intellectuals”, “Welfare queens” and 
Latino immigrants, gays, gun-confiscators, 
the godless and “union thugs”. And when all 
else fails, the fall-back tactic is to make stuff 
up.

 Today, the threat comes from women 
– those Rush Limbaugh describes as 
“overeducated”. The made-up stuff was 
repeated by Bill O’Reilly for the Fox camera: 
“You want me to give you my hard-earned 
money so you can have sex?” (O’Reilly 
supports insurance coverage for Viagra.)

 This isn’t about sex or taxpayer money. 
It’s about a chain of events begun when 
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) convened his 
House Oversight Committee to consider a 
ruling from the Dept. of Health and Human 
Services that contraception be included 
under preventive care offered by private 
insurance companies.

 This isn’t about science or women’s health. 
At a hearing of the Energy and Commerce 
Committee, HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius 
referred to “scientists and doctors” when 
Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) cut her off and set 
her straight: “Ma’am, we’re not talking about 
scientists here, we’re talking about religious 
belief.” 

 Allowing employers at church-owned 
establishments to opt-out of providing 
certain coverage was not enough. Sen. Roy 

Blunt (R-MO) proposed an amendment 
that would allow any employer to refuse 
to provide any coverage for any service for 
any “moral reason”; whether that service is 
HIV/AIDS testing, prenatal care for single 
women, or vaccinations for children.

 The Blunt Amendment failed on a 51-48 
vote. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) provided 
the only Republican vote against it, and 
then announced her retirement. Sen. Lisa 
Murkowski (R-AK) told the Anchorage Daily 
News, “I have never had a vote I’ve taken 
where I have felt that I let down more people 
that believed in me.” She explained that 
what began as an issue of “religious freedom” 
regressed into a battle over contraception. 
“The wind had shifted, and Republicans 
didn’t have enough sense to get off of it”. 

 Rep. Issa refused to allow testimony from a 
third-year Georgetown law student, deeming 
her “not appropriate or qualified”. At a 
separate hearing called by House Minority 
Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sandra Fluke 
told of a fellow law student who was denied 
coverage for prescribed contraception 
to treat polycystic ovary syndrome. A 
subsequent operation led to removal of 
an ovary, risking early menopause which 
would render her permanently incapable of 
becoming pregnant. Another was denied 
contraception to treat endometriosis, 
because existence of the condition could not 
be confirmed without surgery.

 Fluke explained that although Georgetown 
has an exception for medical necessity, 
“when you let university administrators or 
other employers, rather than women and 
their doctors, dictate whose medical needs 
are legitimate and whose are not, women’s 
health takes a back seat to a bureaucracy 
focused on policing her body.”

 Rush Limbaugh had his own take: “She 
wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so 
much sex she can’t afford the contraception. 
She wants you and me and the taxpayers to 
pay her to have sex.” 

 Fluke responded, “. . . this is historically 
the kind of language that is used to silence 
women, especially when women stand up 
and say that these are their reproductive 
health care needs.”

 House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) 
termed the language “inappropriate”. George 
Will responded to Boehner’s response, 
“Using the salad fork for your entrée, that’s 
inappropriate. Not this stuff . . . what it 
indicates is that the Republican leaders are 
afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb 
Iran, but they’re afraid of Rush Limbaugh.”

 As one of dozens of advertisers severing 
their relationship with Limbaugh, Carbonite 
CEO David Friend issued a statement, “No 
one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, 
and I have two, could possibly abide the insult 
and abuse heaped upon this courageous and 
well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, 
with his highly personal attacks on Miss 
Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of 
decency.”

 As another father thinking of his two 
daughters, President Obama called Fluke to 
offer his support.

 “I thought about Malia and Sasha, and 
one of the things I want them to do as they get 
older is to engage in issues they care about . . .” 

 As for the coming election, “Women will 
make up their own mind”. But as the other 
side relies on name-calling, voter suppression, 
invented threats and simply making stuff 
up, they’ll agree with the president that 
“Democrats have a better story to tell women.”

IT’S ABOUT OUR FREEDOM


Last week, I offered 7 specific issues on which all 
of the Republican candidates could agree. Even 
in the micro, there is amazing continuity in the 
conservative’s sometimes squabbling camp. But 
let’s step back a bit further and look at the macro 
issue that will most likely decide this election. 
To borrow a phrase, originated by Clinton 
strategist, James Carville, to explain the main 
driver of the 1992 election, “it’s about freedom, 
stupid”. 

The Republican candidate who really gets this 
is Rick Santorum. Say what you may about 
him, but he understands the big picture in this 
election. If you listen to any of his campaign 
speeches – rather than the caricature of them so 
often reported in the press- he doesn’t take long 
to start talking about the freedoms we’re losing 
under President Obama and those that will 
disappear should he win re-election. 

The list starts with regulation and the typical 
over-reach characteristic of so many government 
bureaucrats. Business people in the audience can 
always give ample personal anecdotes about the 
vast increase in regs with which they have to deal 
just to stay in business – let alone to open a new 
plant, launch a new product or hire more people. 
But the rubber really meets the road when the 
topic turns to Obamacare.

It is in Obama’s one signature legislative 
accomplishment, and the interpretations of 
the bill which are being released almost daily, 
that Americans can most clearly see the vision 
of increased government control and reduced 
personal freedoms which is reflexive in the 
character and personality of this president and 
all his followers.

It has almost become an overworked argument 
that Obamacare is going to interrupt the 
normal personal relationship between doctor 
and patient. Nonetheless it’s true! In addition, 
though, Obamacare is going to create a culture 
of dependence in this country that we can’t 
even imagine. If fully implemented, every 
single American will become dependent on 
government. One way or the other, every 
American will have to rely on the government 
to pay their medical bill and thus define what 
procedures they can have.

Of even 
greater concern should 
be the restrictions that 
Obama seeks to impose 
on arguably our most 
primary and important 
freedom – the freedom 
to practice religion as 
each of us interprets our 
own sacred scriptures. 
Last month’s dust-
up over Obamacare 
requirements that the 
Catholic Church pay for contraception and 
abortion-inducing drugs could have been 
written off as the missteps of a naïve and over 
zealous underling. That is except for the fact 
that Obama himself reiterated to the Catholic 
Bishops last Friday that no loosening of the 
mandate’s exemptions would be allowed.

As Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote in his open 
letter on religious freedom, “we have made it 
clear in no uncertain terms to the government 
that we are not at peace with its invasive attempt 
to curtail religious freedom” and its attempt “to 
define what constitutes ministry and how it can 
be exercised”. It’s a pity that the leaders of other 
faiths and denominations have not signed on to 
this letter, vocally supported it, or penned their 
own version.

Can they really be so clueless as to not remember 
the lessons of the past. Those who seek to curtail 
the individual freedoms of their citizenry always 
start with the sub group who they believe is least 
in favor with the public. Then they move on to 
other groups until the whole of a population has 
been brought to heel. To put it in simpler terms, 
power given to government when Liberals are in 
power remains power given to government when 
Conservatives are in power. All Americans 
– liberal or conservative, religious or secular - 
should understand what’s disappearing right 
before our eyes. It’s our freedoms.

Gregory J. Welborn is an independent opinion 
columnist. He writes and speaks frequently on 
political, economic and social issues. His columns 
have appeared in publications such as The Los 
Angeles Daily News, The Orange County Register, 
The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He can be 
reached at gwelborn@mtnviewsnews.com. 


The controversy over 
talk show king Rush 
Limbaugh’s sexually-
insulting and innuendo-
filled three day rant against 
Georgetown University 
law student Sandra 
Fluke for her advocacy 
of health plan coverage 
for contraceptives 
was….no fluke. 
Limbaugh is the 21st 
century’s most powerful talk show host. He 
spawned Rush wannabes on local talk radio 
stations who can’t duplicate Limbaugh’s success 
since they don’t have his broadcasting smarts 
and talent. He became the Republican Party’s de 
facto strategist after Senator John McCain’s 2008 
Presidential defeat, and the GOP has increasingly 
merged its brand into his.

 
Now, as Limbaugh loses sponsors and some 
radio stations, the GOP brand is likely to take a 
hit with women voters due to its leaders’ timidity 
in denouncing Limbaugh’s abusive and creepy 
comments about Fluke. Conservative columnist 
George Will flatly said: “Republican leaders are 
afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb 
Iran, but they’re afraid of Rush Limbaugh.” 
It was always perilous for a political party to be so 
closely linked to a talk show host. Political parties 
must aggregate interests and build coalitions. Talk 
show hosts must saw off a specific demographic 
and deliver it to advertisers. These two goals 
don’t necessarily converge. But Limbaugh 
wasn’t always a demonizer and polarizer.


When he went national in 1988, Limbaugh 
was truly funny. He sparked one controversy 
by talking about women “farding (putting on 
makeup) in cars.” He blasted then President 
George H. W. Bush, but once Bush invited 
him to sleep over in the Lincoln Bedroom, 
Limbaugh turned more supportive and serious. 
His show evolved into the Republican Party’s 
most important town hall where Limbaugh’s 
partisan perspective is heard and later repeated 
by listeners at dinner tables and on conservative 
weblogs. He successfully pushes hot buttons to 
motivate the GOP’s base to get out and vote.


Limbaugh’s defenders liken what he did to 
Fluke with liberal talker Ed Shultz calling 
conservative Laura Ingraham a “bitch” in 
May. It’s a phony comparison. Schultz gave 
an unconditional apology, called Ingraham 
to apologize and took time off without pay, 
then moved totally on. After the first day’s 
controversy, Limbaugh continued and escalated 
it for two more days. It was like he was saying, 
“I can say whatever I want any way I want and 
you can’t stop me!” He faced no consequences 
-- until some advertisers started to flee.


Limbaugh’s first apology on his website 
seemed somewhat conditional. And once he 
got on the air again it continued to seem that 
way. He suggested the controversy was only 
over “two words.” (It was over more than 
that). And he said he erred by descending 
to the left’s level. (The left made him do it.) 


In the space of a week Limbaugh went from being 
a de facto symbol of the 2012 Republican Party to 
being pointed to by critics as the embodiment of the 
late 20th century’s phrase: “male chauvinist pig.” 


Loyal conservative bloggers vilified Fluke by 
making suggestions about her sex life that will 
make some libel lawyer drool. Some bloggers are 
scrambling to find things to discredit her, but 
any findings can’t negate Limbaugh’s three-day 
attack. Others are blasting companies that pulled 
ads from Limbaugh, trying to discredit them.


Limbaugh committed the same sin as the late 
Senator Joseph McCarthy of not knowing when 
to stop. Joseph Welch had this line that many 
feel deflated McCarthy: “You’ve done enough. 
Have you no sense of decency?” In Limbaugh’s 
case, the key quote came from Carbonite’s 
CEO David Friend in announcing that his 
company would pull ads from Limbaugh’s show:


“No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, 
and I have two, could possibly abide the insult 
and abuse heaped upon this courageous and 
well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, 
with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, 
overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. 
Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued 
an apology, we have nonetheless decided to 
withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope 
that our action, along with other advertisers who 
have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately 
contribute to a more civilized public discourse.”


Mr. Friend, may I use the word? Ditto…

Joe Gandelman is a veteran journalist who wrote for 
newspapers overseas and in the United States. He has 
appeared on cable news show political panels and is 
Editor-in-Chief of The Moderate Voice, an Internet hub 
for independents, centrists and moderates.

RUSH’S FLUKE CONTROVERSY 
WAS NO FLUKE

Independent’s Eye by

JOE Gandelman

BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and Techniques


By La Quetta M. Shamblee, 

WOMEN & BUSINESS 
OWNERSHIP

Business ownership remains as one of the most 
viable options for women to achieve economic 
and professional equality in the U.S. Despite 
decades of gains across a wide landscape of 
industries and occupations, the masses of 
gender-majority women in the U.S. are clearly in 
the gender-minority when it comes to the highest 
paid and most prestigious positions in corporate 
America. Although women comprise 46.7% of the 
workforce and almost 52% work in management 
or professional positions, the following statistics 
describe the Fortune 500 business environment 
for women. (www.catalyst.org, March 2012)

Women account for:

• 14.1% of all high-level executive positions
• 16.1% of all board seats
• 7.5% of top earners
• 3.4% of CEO’s 


This may explain why more women than ever 
are deciding that its time to strike out on their 
own as entrepreneurs. For those who aspire 
to create their own statistics, the U.S. Small 
Business Administration’s Office of Women’s 
Business Ownership (OWBO) is a great resource. 
Established by a federal executive order in 1979, 
the OWBO provides a variety of services and 
referrals through a network of Women’s Business 
Centers (WBC) located throughout the United 
States and its territories.

Each WBC offers comprehensive training and 
counseling on a variety of topics, with services 
tailored to the needs of the respective community. 
The program offers services in four main areas: 
Training and Counseling, Financial Resources, 
Federal Market Opportunities and Local SBA 
Resources.

Training is offered in marketing, finance, 
management, the use of the internet for business 
and other areas. The WBC is a point of access 
to learn about all the SBA’s program for loans 
programs and to get information and assistance 
with getting contracts to provide goods and 
services to the federal government. This is 
of paramount importance since the federal 
government has a goal of expanding business 
opportunities to have a minimum of 5% of all 
contracts with women-owned businesses.

The survival rate for businesses that have received 
assistance from WBC’s is substantially higher 
than that for businesses that launch and operate 
without this type of support.

Visit the SBA’s WBC homepage at: http://www.
sba.gov/about-offices-content/1/2895

WBC’s are located in most U.S. states, and there 
are three in the Greater LA area, including 
two in the City of Los Angeles and one in San 
Bernadino. Contact info is provided below. Visit 
their websites to review their offering of programs 
and schedules for upcoming events.

Inland Empire Women’s Business Center at 
The Foundation for Cal State University San 
Bernardino. Phone: 909-890-1242 - Website: 
www.iewbc.org

Asian Pacific Islander Small Business Program 
WBC. Phone: 213-473-1605 Website: http://
www.apisbp.org/wbc.html

PACE Women’s Business Center. Pacific Asian 
Consortium Employment. Phone: 213-353-
9400 Website: http://www.pacelabdc.org/
Womens_Business_Center.php