The company that syndicates Rush Limbaugh entered a float into the Christmas Parade in Raleigh, North Carolina...what could possibly go wrong?

Bob Dumas is the local right-wing shock jock in Raleigh, North Carolina. He and his show G105 “Showgram” decided to have a "special" float .

As described by the News & Observer:

The entry featured a black man dressed in a skirt with fairy wings, strapped to a harness that was suspended from the back of a tow truck. Dumas, riding on the float, described the scene to parade goers as “Tyrone the Black Christmas Fairy” who was going to turn “crackers” into Beyonce.

No need to adjust the settings on your computer, or make an emergency appointment with the optometrist, it says exactly what you think it says.

Radio Ink reports that the stunt follows "a familiar pattern: the hosts enrage some of the local citizenry, Showgram fans rally to their defense, the station gets free publicity and then apologizes."

Jennifer Martin of The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association told Radio Ink:

“We were told it would be the ghost of Christmas Present Angel, and he would be floating over the air and not hanging from the back,” Martin said. “I can tell you we are going to have a sit-down with G105 with and their producers.”

Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane wrote on Facebook to a concerned citizen. “Raleigh will not tolerate racism or anything that comes remotely close. This parade is a Raleigh tradition that includes everyone and should be treated as such.”

Jennifer Martin, executive director of the merchants association, said “They apologized for what they’ve done and they regret that what they did was insensitive, and they will not be doing that display again.”

Got that? No racism in Raleigh, so just move along now...nothing to see here.

Coming up on April 28, a nation-wide march against the War on Women.

Occupy Wall Street is urging a May 1st General Strike in response to the police brutality during the arrests of 73 people in New York over the weekend.

Nick Sorrentino says that this video explains why you have crushing student debt.

Occupy Wall Street protesters and their legal advisers were surprised yesterday to learn that the size of their bail was being affected by whether defendants were willing to have their irises scanned and logged into a database.

Rogers’ “Cybersecurity” Bill Is Broad Enough to Use Against WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay.

Oh my. A second former Goldman Sachs employee has come forward to blast the firm and the "commercial animals/jerks" working there, and says that others have left because they couldn't “sell the crap they were being asked to create."

A new memo lists 31 advertisers who requested ‘not to be scheduled in any Rush Limbaugh program."

Also, a song in honor of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Political comic strip Doonesbury will feature an abortion storyline this week that focuses on the new Texas law requiring pregnant women to receive a transvaginal ultrasound and then wait 24 hours before having an abortion.

The subject matter has some papers opting to run "flashbacks" rather than the live cartoon.

In an interview, Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau says to ignore abortion-law debate would have been ‘comedy malpractice.’

I chose the topic of compulsory sonograms because it was in the news and because of its relevance to the broader battle over women's health currently being waged in several states. For some reason, the GOP has chosen 2012 to re-litigate reproductive freedom, an issue that was resolved decades ago. Why [Rick] Santorum, [Rush] Limbaugh et al. thought this would be a good time to declare war on half the electorate, I cannot say. But to ignore it would have been comedy malpractice.

What's in the strips?

Monday's strip (above) features Young woman arrives for her pre-termination sonogram, is told to take a seat in the shaming room, a middle-aged male state legislator will be right with her."

On Thursday features the same young woman who, "In the stirrups, she is telling a nurse that she doesn’t want a transvaginal exam. Doctor says “Sorry miss, you’re first trimester. The male Republicans who run Texas require that all abortion seekers be examined with a 10″ shaming wand.” She asks “Will it hurt?” Nurse says, “Well, it’s not comfortable, honey. But Texas feels you should have thought of that.” Doctor says, “By the authority invested in me by the GOP base, I thee rape.”'

Asked how he approached the storyline, Trudeau explains that the topic was fairly easy and straight-forward. He decided to write the perspective of the physician as that of "resigned outrage."

Texas's HB-15 isn't hard to explain: The bill says that in order for a woman to obtain a perfectly legal medical procedure, she is first compelled by law to endure a vaginal probe with a hard, plastic 10-inch wand. The World Health Organization defines rape as “physically forced or otherwise coerced penetration — even if slight — of the vulva or anus, using a penis, other body parts or an object.” You tell me the difference.

The Oregonian, issued a note to readers Friday, saying that Trudeau "went over the line of good taste and humor in penning a series on abortion using graphic language and images inappropriate for a comics page.” The Gainesville Sun and Ocala Star-Banner have also said that they will not run the strips this week.

The Freep links to Slate's Doonesbury strip, which is running the compulsory sonogram storyline. Is your area newspaper running the strips this week?

Animation: Rush vs Women (Actual Audio) from scottbateman on Vimeo.

BTW, A commercial radio station in Pittsfield, Massachusetts-- 96.9 FM, WBEC-- says it is dropping the Rush Limbaugh show in the wake of Limbaugh's comments on contraception last week.

And check here for a list of companies still advertising on the Limbaugh show. Netflix, et tu?