The newest controversy surrounding the Missouri area is, as many have heard, the honoring of Rush Limbaugh at the State Capitol.

Some of you might be just hearing about the controversy surrounding this and others may know all of the ins and outs. I am clearly not an expert on the subject, but I will shine some background light on the situation.

Rush Limbaugh, American radio talk show host and best-selling author, will be honored with a bust in the State Capitol this May as a great Missourian. There was an uproar over this as many Missourians don’t feel as though Limbaugh deserves the spot.

It seems the gist of the honoring system now is that if you make more than $100 million, you constitute a famous Missourian and therefore should be honored. But Limbaugh will stand alongside many truly great Missourians such as Harry Truman (33rd president and the namesake of our school mascot), Laura Ingalls Wilder (author of the wildly popular “Little House” series) and Dred Scott (a slave who sued for his freedom in the widely known Dred Scott v. Sanford case of 1857). Does Limbaugh really deserve a seat next to them in history?

The reason Limbaugh’s honoring is causing such a scandal is because of his particular views on the subject of women’s healthcare and how he chose to express them a few weeks ago on air.

Sandra Fluke is a Georgetown law student who spoke out in favor of contraception coverage on health care. Fluke testified before members of Congress in favor of a rule requiring free contraception in Obama’s administration. After hearing about this, Limbaugh decided it would be smart to touch on the subject during his radio show. Limbaugh lashed out at her and said, “Who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute.”

Like what, Limbaugh? What was your thought process? Do you not think before you speak?

Yes, we do have freedom of speech and, sure, say whatever you want, but that was just in poor judgment and poor taste. Because of this incident, Limbaugh lost many advertisers for his radio show who no longer wanted to associate with him and his show anymore.

Despite this error in judgment on Limbaugh’s part, he is still being praised in the State Capitol. Maybe it was just really bad timing and they had been planning to honor him for a while yet made the announcement at the worst possible time. I don’t know.

I don’t know if this one major judgment error really calls for him to be kicked out of the famous Missourian bandwagon. I understand that people make mistakes and it is just a hall honoring famous Missourians – not everyone has to like them, there will always be people to disagree.

What I’m really asking is does he deserve to be placed along side other great Missourians in the first place, regardless of the name-calling incident? Along with Truman and Scott reside Sacajawea, Dale Carnegie, Walt Disney and Walter Cronkite all in the Hall of Famous Missourians, all of whom have accomplished amazing feats in America history. Where does Limbaugh really stand with them?

He has a popular radio show and he is a best-selling author. He basically rakes in a ton of money each year, yet according to the Missouri House, that means he deserves a spot next to these men and women. I don’t think so.