[Mr. Mojo]

the National Enquirer did all kinds of checking before going with this story.

The same kind of "checking" they did when they had a picture of a transparant Elvis on the front page of their rag under the headline "Man Dies, Goes to Heaven, Sees Elvis, Takes Photo as Proof"?

[pollywog]

Rush has our prayers. I am sure he will share when he is ready. If in fact the deafness was caused by medication , he will have suffered his share of emotional pain without all of his supporters targeting him.

Sometimes we make choices in our lives that " satan means for evil".....but " God can use for good".....I pray that this be so for Rush.

[Richard Kimball]

I think you're confusing the Enquirer with the Weekly World News. The Enquirer used to do those kinds of freak stories, maybe 30 years ago, but they've gone semi-legit, in a low-brow fashion. They'll pay people for stories, which means they get trumped up stories, but they've also broken a few big ones, such as the John Belushi death (named the woman who injected him with the speedball & she ended up going to jail), and a couple of others. The Weekly World News, on the other hand, carries stories like this month's "George Bush's secret plan to invade the moon", and "500 pound Super Model looking for love".

The Enquirer may over-hype a story, but they're not morons or jokes. OTOH, all the news sources are running with this story, nearly peeing on themselves hoping it's true. If I read one more d*mned planted article that says, "I've been a Rush fan since the beginning, back when Carter was in office, and I just wish he'd come clean or he's finished" I'm going to puke. There currently isn't anything except an Enquirer story based on stories told by a couple of ex-cons who were paid. Everything else is "legit" reporters going to DA's and saying, "If a guy was buying pills, would he be sent to jail?", and then writing a story titled "Limbaugh might do time, DA says."