I don’t know whether it’s a deep irony, a strange symbolic event, or what, but apparently Rush Limbaugh has gone deaf. (Warning – Link is to Matt Drudge’s transcript of Rush’s announcement. Link thanks to Metafilter)

In a completely unrelated note – I love it when people request that you stop using {any body of work} to justify your perspective because you obviously don’t understand said {body of work} correctly. They obviously understand the {body of work} CLEARLY and without ANY personal bias whatsoever, but because someone else sees it differently, they are just wrong – the word “fundamentalist” comes to mind here, eh? What’s odd is that although you commonly hear of Christian or Islamic fundamentalists (particularly these days), it’s just as rampant with science or metaphysical bodies of work – people who feel they have THE TRUTH. I suppose it’s basis is in insecurity – some kind of need to be RIGHT and to make others WRONG – maybe to feel better than? The interesting part is that most people who want those who disagree with a works interpretation are the same ones who don’t just say, “*I* believe this and that,” but hold on tight to the book they’re referring to. Ahhh – so a misinterpretation of the body of work is seen as personal then – they found a piece of themselves in the book and are forgetting it’s inside them instead of in someone else’s words. Anyway… you can’t really hold any kind of conversation with fundamentalists. Of course, perhaps I’m a ME fundamentalist, as I always believe I have the final and lasting word/correctness on what it means to be ME. *grin*