I didn’t hear any of it, but it sounds like Limbaugh may have learned something in rehab:
Emerging from a self-imposed exile in which he was treated for an addiction to painkillers, Rush Limbaugh returned to the air today, and listeners who tuned in the first few minutes of his radio program would have been forgiven if they thought they had tuned into a self-help program that might have ordinarily been presided over by Orpah Winfrey.
“I have to admit I am powerless over this addiction I have,” Mr. Limbaugh told his listeners, just after noon on the East Coast. “I used to think I could beat it by force of will.”
…Even one of the first calls he took, from Mary Jo of Montgomery, Ala., was a question not about politics – Mr. Limbaugh’s stock in trade is to carry the message of the right – but about a friend in trouble.
“You have a friend who’s an addict?” Mr. Limbaugh asked.
Mary Jo responded that she did, and wanted to know “what strengthens someone.”
“Are you ready to listen?” Mr. Limbaugh asked. “I want you to know something now. You are not responsible for what your friend does.”
He is lucky he has his resources to fight this- a lot of people don’t.
Charlie
I caught that first part of Rush’s show today, and I’ve got to say, he might be on a little bit of a “pink cloud” right now, but I think it sounds like he’s taken a couple of genuine Steps; I think it’ll be good for him, and for his audience.
Charlie (another friend of Bill W.)
Donnie
Resources not just in terms of $, but family support as well.
I like Rush, I think he has a good brain, and his head is set pretty much firmly on his shoulders.
That said, I have a real problem with his invective vis a vis “druggies”, “alcoholics”, and “junkies”, and his subsequent (or concurrent) behavior.
I think it’s obvious he won’t be hounded in the manner the “WAR ON YOUR NEIGHBOR” demands, and given the juxtaposition of his celebrity status and his hypocrisy, I hope he’ll address it.
Not that I’ll make any inane threats to stop listening to him if he doesn’t — I like his show, and my turning the dial wouldn’t disturb Rush in the least.
Kimmitt
Welcome to America, where if you’re rich and white you take a 5 week vacation, and where if you’re black and poor you take a 5 year vacation.
JPS
Mostly true, Kimmitt, and a damned disgrace it is. Two quibbles:
1) A sarcastic “Welcome to America” always raises my hackles. I am not, heaven forfend, questioning your patriotism (!), but it does sort of imply: America, don’t it just suck? Then again, could be I’m just touchy.
2) I happen to disagree with the policy of prosecuting, rather than treating, mere users. However, the relevant laws were passed with the assumption that harsh laws would in fact be effective. If poor blacks are more likely to be imprisoned, and for longer, I thought it’s because crack is the most prevalent drug in the inner cities, and the penalties for its use are higher. Racist? Yes, in effect–but these harsher laws were partly a response to outraged accusations that a racist gov’t didn’t care enough about the victims of crack to really fight its spread.