Keep Rush Limbaugh on Armed Forces Radio

To:  U.S. Senate, President George W. Bush, the Honroable Donald Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense, Senator Tom Harkin D-IA, Rush Limbaugh

On 17 June 2004, Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced an amendment to the 2005 Defense Approprations Bill that would take Rush Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio on the false claim of "lack of balance". It is false on the basis that the rest of AM programming besides Rush Limbaugh consists of NPR, which is left-wing political propaganda, much of it anti-American in nature and intended to demoralize our deployed troops and undermine the war effort. Armed Forces Radio only plays one hour of Rush on the other hand. Why Senator Harkin would move to ban a radio show that has expressed support time and again for both the President and the troops and insist on keeping NPR which much of its programming consists of undermining the President and the troops is yet another example of why both the judgement and patriotism of Democrats is questionable. First and foremost, Senator Harkin's amendment shows nothing more than callous disregard for the First Amendment and the free speech that it protects. Second, it gives substance to the charges conservatives have lodged about the Democrats' desire for power outweighing their consideration for the best interests of the nation. Third, by attaching an amendment to dictate what soldiers can and cannot listen to on the radio as condition to pass a bill meant to keep the Department of Defense running and to ensure that soldiers deployed are properly trained, equipped, and supported shows total and outrageous disregard for the well being of the soldiers in order for Senator Harkin and his colleagues to engage in their partisan political power games. And finally, for the Senator and his party colleagues to go through this much trouble to suppress a mere comedian just because they cannot debate nor defeat this comedian in the arena of ideas just shows to their lack of competence in governing our nation and exercising good judgement when there are far more important and serious issues at hand.

We, the undersigned, are petitioning the members of the Senate to reconsider the lack of wisdom and good sense to this amendment and to uphold the First Amendment as well as the right of the soldiers to listen to what they want on the radio while they fight for that very right for all other Americans. We also urge the Honorable Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, to disregard this amendment and we urge PResident George W. Bush to veto this amendment. We also strongly condemn Senator Harkin for his misconduct and actions that violate the First Amendment on false pretenses and to push an anti-American agenda to serve both his, and his party's, own selfish political ambitions.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Keep Rush Limbaugh on Armed Forces Radio Petition to U.S. Senate, President George W. Bush, the Honroable Donald Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense, Senator Tom Harkin D-IA, Rush Limbaugh was created by and written by David S. Caillouet.  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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