Find out what I think about this question.

As a kid, I first heard the phrase “loose lips sink ships” in the context of World War II era sensibilities. During World War II people believed that one should keep quiet about someone they loved who was serving on a battleship because they believed in the possibility that the enemy might learn of the whereabouts of that battleship and torpedo it.

Loose lips of an entirely different nature can be found in 2012 in radio programming in the United States. I am referring specifically to nationally syndicated radio talk show personality Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh spoke out on the air during one of his talk radio shows using language that disparaged and diminished a particular woman who had advocated for government-funded birth control. Listen here for more details.

Just being real honest here, if any male over the age of 10 chooses to use specific derisive or scornful or mocking words (such as “slut”) to describe a female, he should never be surprised at angry responses from females to what he said.

Limbaugh is not a young person. He is 61. He has had employment in the profession of radio talk show entertainment for many years. He would have by now learned from a long career in radio talk show entertainment that what one says on the radio can produce angry responses.

Limbaugh could have chosen to be tight-lipped about the Congressional testimony that advocated in favor of government-funded birth control. There are plenty of other topics from which Limbaugh could have chosen to discuss on his live radio show. But Limbaugh chose instead to disparage and diminish a woman he didn’t know and never had met. Limbaugh chose to use specific language that any mature male or female would know in advance was so harsh and hurtful that it likely would cause an angry response.

This is not a First Amendment issue. I may have missed it, so please email me to educate me about the specific words contained in the First Amendment that guarantee everybody the right to have and maintain a professional career in commercially-sponsored radio talk show entertainment. I can’t wait to hear from you.

Limbaugh does not deserve to be forgiven by anyone whom he offended with his harsh and hurtful language over the air during his radio talk show. He chose deliberately to say what he said. Scores of commercial sponsors have withdrawn their financial support of this specific radio talk show entertainment. That is perhaps the most significant lesson learned from this. Commercially-sponsored radio talk show entertainment can risk losing revenue from sponsors if the radio talk show entertainment does not align with what the values of the sponsors.

UPDATE: Limbaugh minimizes the impact of the loss of sponsors. He chose a fast food metaphor to describe a minimal loss of advertising revenue: “That’s like losing a couple of french fries in the container when it’s delivered to you at the drive-thru.” I think Limbaugh has high credibility as someone whose body shows obvious evidence that he has eaten quite a few french fries.

Other radio talk show entertainers have brought similar loss of advertising sponsors upon themselves. Laura Schlesinger comes to mind specifically. She transitioned her radio talk show entertainment from terrestrial broadcast radio to satellite radio. Limbaugh should seriously consider the same exact transition so he will be unregulated and can be as unrestrained as he chooses to be.

ANOTHER UPDATE: After I published the original post on March 7, 2012, I saw a post online written by Michelle Malkin. You should read her post here: http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/2012/03/07/malkin-the-war-on-conservative-women/.

Malkin’s point is that her particular partisan side (conservative Republicans) have been so maligned over many years by the opposing partisan side (liberal Democrats) that nobody should get too upset over what Limbaugh said on his talk radio show. Malkin goes into detail about the kinds of disparaging and diminishing names that she, personally, has been called. She also gives examples of hurtful names that have been used to disparage and diminish other prominent conservative Republican women such as Kay Bailey Hutchison and Condoleezza Rice.

Malkin’s post is very persuasive in convincing readers civility in partisan politics officially is dead and gone. She does not seem to mourn the loss of civility at all. But, nothing that Malkin wrote changes my belief that Limbaugh should transition from terrestrial radio broadcasting to satellite radio where Howard Stern and Laura Schlesinger presently work. There Limbaugh would be utterly free to be as uncivil in his partisan political discourse as he pleases while having no annoying regulations to muzzle him.

ONE MORE UPDATE: I need to jump in here with yet another update because this story keeps on going like it just won’t stop. I want to call readers’ attention to an informed and intelligent commentary written by Skip Mahaffey, a broadcaster and media coach. This is a must-read in my opinion.

Mahaffey points out something that I had not considered: Mahaffey believes that Limbaugh has “milked this” story to benefit himself and to attract new listeners and new sponsors. The reality is, as Mahaffey clearly and persuasively expresses, Limbaugh does what he does on talk radio to be controversial and the whole point of being controversial is to generate buzz so that more people will tune in to his talk radio show. Any anger at Limbaugh only serves to feed the controversy, which only serves to attract more attention to Limbaugh. Any commentary (such as mine) only serves to bring more attention to Limbaugh, which is exactly what he wants to happen.

A major lesson learned is that Limbaugh does not have “loose lips.” Limbaugh is quite calculating. Limbaugh’s words are intentional. Limbaugh is an entertainer–a professional performer who gets paid to perform before a very large audience. Limbaugh generates controversy through the use of his spoken words. A famous quote from 1984′s science fiction film The Terminator says it best: That’s what he does! That’s ALL he does! You can’t stop him!

In Chapter 3 of my book Neon Fun Jungle: Quest for adventure in Hollywood rock and roll radio, I report the unforgivable sin of using a razor blade to cut out a crucial Jimmy Page guitar solo. I was following orders from station management. This butchery of one of the greatest rock and roll songs of all time was some idiot’s idea, not mine. I admit that I did the editing. I would have lost my job had I not complied with what station management wanted.

The station was KIQQ, Los Angeles at 100.3 on the FM dial. The year was 1972. The station was hampered by a signal transmitted from the Santa Monica Mountains that was insufficiently powerful to blanket the entire Los Angeles radio market. The successful FM stations of that time all had transmitters atop the landmark Mount Wilson, which has an elevation of almost a mile above sea level in the San Gabriel Mountains. But, the format chosen by station management also proved to be a big problem. Soft rock as a format in the early 1970s certainly may have been ahead of its time, but the mellow blend of current hits, recent favorites, and oldies, intended to be an alternative to rock and roll stations in LA, could not attain financial success like the owners wanted.

Editing out the Jimmy Page guitar solo from Stairway to Heaven was just plain insulting to the couple of thousand people who listened to the weak signal of that doomed radio station. That horrendous edited version of Stairway to Heaven certainly must have brought on some seriously bad karma upon that radio station. Back in the day, I could not shake the feeling at the time that my butchery of such a classic rock and roll song deeply infuriated the show biz gods who lived in another dimension within the walls of the radio station’s offices and studios at 6430 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, California 90028. Sometimes, late at night, I felt what could only be described as “a weird vibe” inside the offices and studios of the station. I concluded that those deities no doubt exacted a fitting retribution for my slicing and dicing of that Led Zeppelin song: I believed that the show biz gods doomed this particular radio station frequency at 100.3 MHz in Los Angeles to failure.

Learn what I did in an attempt to undo this bad karma on Sunset Boulevard by reading Neon Fun Jungle: Quest for adventure in Hollywood rock and roll radio, which is exclusively available on Amazon for five dollars and ninety-nine cents.

Very recently, two friends of mine asked me: Do you have a hard-copy version of your book that you can send me? Is your book available anywhere else except on Amazon? These both are valid questions.

As I writer, I see my purpose as sharing of ideas, not the selling of computerized or hand-held devices.

I have not owned purchased a Kindle device late in the game even though I am a classic early adapter. I will admit here, however, that I ordered the new Kindle Fire on the very first day that it was announced. Now I eagerly await the day when my Kindle Fire arrives at my door! I am a very happy owner of my own Kindle Fire.

My Kindle Fire

I completely respect Amazon as a company. In all the many years that I have been a customer, Amazon has never once failed to impress me. I have dealt with many brick and mortar and online companies as a customer. In my opinion, Amazon’s customer service is second to none. Period.

But, back to the device question: Why did I choose to go with an eBook that is exclusively available on Kindle instead of going with the more traditional hard-copy version? The answer is simple. The future of book-length writing belongs to those who embrace eBooks. To me, this fact could not be more obvious.

For those who somehow do not want to spend money to own one of the hand-held versions of Kindle, the alternative is to use the FREE online version that Amazon has today for Windows and Mac.

I am pleased to announce the publication of Neon Fun Jungle: Quest for adventure in Hollywood rock and roll radio. I am the writer, Woody Goulart, and I invite you to learn more about this 2011 book at NeonFunJungle.com.