A petition to remove conservative host Rush Limbaugh’s program from the Armed Forces Radio Network is nearing the number of electronic signatures needed to get a response from the White House, the Army Times reported.
Two online petitions are competing on the "We the People" section of whitehouse.gov, which encourages people to request government action on issues.
The petitions come in the wake of Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student a "slut" and "prostitute" for advocating that insurance companies cover birth control.
The anti-Limbaugh petition, which had more than 21,000 electronic signatures as of Monday, asks Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to remove Limbaugh’s show from AFN for the host's "abusive, divisive, insulting language." If it receives 25,000 signatures by April 4, the federal government will respond, according to whitehouse.gov.
The pro-Limbaugh petition launched on Friday calls the threat to remove Limbaugh from AFN "a direct threat to free speech" and says liberal-progressive entertainers have made much worse remarks. It demands Limbaugh stay on AFN. That petition had 10 electronic signatures on Monday afternoon, with 25,000 needed by the April 10 threshold to receive a response.
Among other popular petitions: One to stop expanding trade with Vietnam at the expense of human rights with 149,000 electronic signatures, and one to end the “destructive, wasteful counterproductive ‘War on Drugs’” with more than 28,265 signatures.
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