I don’t care what you think of Rush Limbaugh, but if you do not recognize that this is one of the most politically motivated witch-hunts in the history of American prosecution, I take back everything nice I said about “The Hunting of the President”:
Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday won an appeals court ruling that will send his case to the Florida Supreme Court, which could decide if prosecutors properly seized his medical records late last year as a part of an investigation into Limbaugh’s prescription drug use.
In early October, a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach ruled Palm Beach County prosecutors didn’t violate Limbaugh’s privacy rights when they seized his medical records with search warrants.
Limbaugh and his attorney, Roy Black, have maintained that prosecutors should have followed a procedure in state law and notified Limbaugh that they intended to obtain his medical records.
That would have given Limbaugh a chance to contest it in court, and a judge would have to decide whether prosecutors could issue subpoenas for the records. Instead, prosecutors looked at Florida case law and determined they were allowed to seize the records with search warrants without notifying Limbaugh.
After that ruling, which technically cleared the way for prosecutors to continue with their investigation, Black asked the same three-judge panel to reconsider its decision or send the case to the Florida Supreme Court.
There is absolutely no need for any prosecution in this case, there is no precedent for prosecution in this type of case (in particular, precedent points in different directions), and Limbaugh has already dealt with his addiction.
What is most saddening about this is that all of the fucked up liberals in Palm Beach writing the prosecutor to advance this case are probably the same loudmouths who have never read the PATRIOT Act but are screetching how it violates their civil rights. Once again, and I can not state this often enough- the corrupt war on drugs has destroyed more of your civil rights than anything else ever put before the President to sign. And now a supposed group of liberal civil rights advocates are willing to cut off their nose to spite their collective faces.
Roo
Am I wrong to believe that those same supreme Court Judges (6 Dems and 1 treehugger party, I recall) who changed Federal election rules in the 2000 race to benefit AlGore just might have a “problem” seeing anything wrong about persecuting Rush? An “enemy” you know- to be delt with so as to send a “message” to others who don’t toe the line.
tom
And now a supposed group of liberal civil rights advocates are willing to cut off their nose to spite their collective faces.
Dear Retard:
Most of your mouthbreathing readers will assume that the ACLU is one of those ‘civil rights advocates’. Let it be said, gentle readers, that the ACLU filed briefs in favor of Rush “It’s just like hazing! Honest!” Limbaugh.
Ramrod
You’re preaching to the choir, brother. The hate campaign of the Liberals extends to Rush, as well. I don’t want a bunch of marauding Liberal politicians looking at my medical rcords either. The circumstances of this “case” stink.
Besides that, the actions of the DA are illegal.
Kimmitt
Meh, let Rush get the punishment he has so consistently advocated for drug offenders.
You are, of course, correct that the prosecution is politically motivated. Most times, if a rich white guy was caught running a drug ring, it’d be swept under the rug with some community service. It is only because of Rush’s celebrity status that he is exempt from the usual priveleges of his wealth, gender, and race.
ape
Overweight, draft-evading, dishonest, twice divorced, drug-addict conservative hero Rush “say anything whatsoever to distort science, truth & understanding; polysterene decays faster than paper; oil is being replenished faster than we use it” Limbaugh should not be a victim of the wretched war-on-drugs. That’s because there shouldn’t be one.
However, it’s wretched conservatives like him who have designed and led this war to the point where it’s a global calamity. An African-American, for example, pulled over and searched; found with cocaine and then thrown into prison for a savagely long period will not tend to get shown the concern that is being afforded to Rush by JC here.
But nevertheless, it is Liberals at ACLU who are the ones stumping for Rush, just as they do for they do when a different cultural group gets harrassed (so much more severely) over their choice.
People like AWOL and Cheney are drink drivers. This get written down as a youthful indiscretion. They make up for it later.
At the same time, there are 2million people in US prisons, 60% of them on drugs charges: over 3/4 are black and hispanic (although it is estimated that most illicit drug-users are white). They don’t get the chance to atone, they are torn from their families at taxpayers’ expense.
If the treatment of the repulsive Limbaugh gets more people outside these groups to have a visceral understanding of the evil and absurdity of this situation, then that would be the first good thing he’s ever done. I have no pity for him.
AF vet in Omaha
Hate to break it to you ape, but there’s a world of difference between a man becoming addicted to legal prescription pain medication, given to him by a dctor no less, for chronic back pain, and a guy being caught with illegal narcotics.
Should Brett Favre have been tossed into jail? he did the same thing, and I don’t here any outrage over that, but then again, he’s not a Conservative talk show host, so he doesn’t deserve the blind rage that spill forth from folks like you.
Should all those suffering from chronic back pain, which never truly goes away, be thrown in jail with hardened criminals? God help you if you ever suffer from the debilitating effects of back pain–I wouldn’t wish it on you.
“Draft dodging?” Uh, dude, he was 4-F. Even if he volunteered, they wouldn’t have accepted him. As far as the rest of your hate-filled screed…cut and paste it over onto the DU site; it’ll be more appreciated over there with those phucktards. Unless that’s where you got this crap from…
ape
4-F?
OK. What’s known for certain is that he lied about it.. saying he had a bad knee from football. Actually, he had a congenital disorder which didn’t stop his dad fighting.
Hate-filled? I remember listening to Rush about the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq.. just exactly how incompetent & worse than incompetent they were and the relationship between this and cultural stereotypes.
I don’t suppose he’s apologized.
I remember him describing how Europeans dont have toilets. OK, i know he was on drugs when he came out with all of this.. but mocking a teenage girl for her looks on nationwide TV? Inventing the word ‘feminazis’ (yeah, tell that to the Pankhursts. Or the victims of the holocaust.)
Limbaugh deserves contempt; mostly, I’d say, for his relentless dishonesty about science, but also for his for the pigswill of hatred he rolls in daily.. Listen to him SPIT the word ‘liberal’: he’s talking about people.
Hughman
Boy, you guys can give it out but you sure can’t take it.
Rush has taken care of his addiction? OJ says his anger management counseling was successful. For years Rush walked over countless lives imprisoned for drug use, but you guys cry that Rush should have a pass.
Well here’s to you cowards – for once take what you give out.
tweell
Amusing, gentlemen. Rush didn’t say squat about drugs and prison. His recent (post-addiction) words were that he ‘ran’ from the issue. Seems he didn’t want to be a hypocrite. Search away, Google to your heart’s content. Good luck – the MSM already tried and failed.
Speaking of hypocrisy, it came out earlier this year that a judge in the same FL county was addicted to OxyContin to the point of not doing his job. He’s getting a pass – rehabilitation, no charges, no inquiries into how he got his stash. One hell of a double standard for this DA.
ape
tweell – you’re right. He has, in general, evaded the issue. That’s not the same as having any decency. He’s not questioned the war-on-drugs. And my google says his views are firm:
” “Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. … And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up,” Limbaugh said on his short-lived television show on Oct. 5, 1995.”
And for once, I seem to be in a kind of agreement with him (see my comment above):
“During the same show, he commented that the statistics that show blacks go to prison more often than whites for the same drug offenses only illustrate that “too many whites are getting away with drug use.” ”
Perhaps some really harsh and outrageous treatment of Rush will make a few people who haven’t before considered the wisdom of mandatory YEARS in prison for making choices about your own body to do so.
BTW, AF, (“Hate to break it to you ape, but there’s a world of difference between a man becoming addicted to legal prescription pain medication, given to him by a dctor no less, for chronic back pain, and a guy being caught with illegal narcotics.”)
There’s also a ‘world of difference’ between a breach of procedure in accessing a suspect’s medical records and YEARS in prison. So still no tears for Rush.
wow
I don’t think anything John posted can be interpreted as begging for “tears for Rush.” It is a warning that if you are going to get your panties in a knot over the Patriot act, you might want to read it first and then compare it to the war on drugs, because it is THAT war that threatens our freedom much more immediately and dangerously than the war on terror. So go ahead and screw Rush, but realize that you are getting screwed too.
ape
Sorry, wow, perhaps drifted from JC’s post, I was responding to Tweell’s point: “Rush didn’t say squat about drugs and prison.” and AF’s depiction of Rush’s ‘chronic back pain’.
Quite a simple point really – Rush’s crimes may be relatively minor under the current law, but so is the alleged injustice.
tweell
Hmm.
“Perhaps some really harsh and outrageous treatment of Rush will make a few people who haven’t before considered the wisdom of mandatory YEARS in prison for making choices about your own body to do so.”
Is this the best you can do? So, it doesn’t matter if the DA lets his buddies off for the same offense. It doesn’t matter if he breaks the law to get Rush. It will be good because it may make people rethink their positions.
Riiiiight.
Ricky
Can you feel the love?
Ah, but it’s Rush’s fault…..of course.
ape
Tweell – well, on the other hand, is an alleged breach of procedure in accessing a minor suspect’s record an obvious place to start protesting the drug-war when 1.2m are in prison?
When that suspect has not yet been convicted? Yeah, free Nelson Limbaugh.. not imprisoned for standing up against his own professed beliefs; and then lying about it.
tweell
What I find amusing is that ape, John Cole and I all agree that the war on drugs is totally hosed. The US voted in and then repealed Prohibition of alcohol, a cultural drug of choice. This ‘war on drugs we don’t like’ has been going on in one form or another for much longer, with the same ill effects.
ape wants Rush busted for drugs, but doesn’t agree with the drug laws. ape, stop being a hypocrite!
ape
Tweell – I said: “Limbaugh should not be a victim of the wretched war-on-drugs.”
I’ve even put it on my new blog!
But I am allowed to laugh about it.
Ordinary joes get their whole lives destroyed (and taxpayers foot the bill for it coming and going), whilst Rush is still on the radio, still free.
And I am allowed to make the serious point that more people would be more outraged if they felt it affected them, rather than ‘someone else’ (perhaps those ironically terrible ‘hardened criminals’ referred to above); and thus the Rush example is one case where some good might come of it.
willyb
ape:
“Quite a simple point really – Rush’s crimes may be relatively minor under the current law, but so is the alleged injustice.”
What would you be saying if this comment was made in the context of the Patriot Act? Lose the hate, and consider some new drugs!
Kimmitt
It doesn’t matter if he breaks the law to get Rush.
Of course it matters; my desire is for Rush to be nailed to the wall using legally acquired evidence. And lefty groups like the ACLU (which Cole has conveniently forgotten about) agree, so there we go.
ape
If there were two injustices under the Patriot Act, and one was relatively minor compared with the other (eg, in one, an individual was held for a period of years without trial or charge, and in another, someone’s records, which could be accessed without their consent, were allegedly accessed without their knowledge), I should think that such a statement was perfectly ordinary.
Note that I was responding to the specific point from AF that Rush’s ‘crimes’ should not be pursued IN CONTRAST to other drug offenders, because they were minor.
For anyone who opposes the drug war per se, the concept of ‘minorness’ in this context begs the question. Perhaps, if heroin (so serious!) was available on prescription post WOD (as it was in the UK before we had a drugs problem) then Limbaugh’s offence would remain, and be on the serious side. (Although this says nothing about the right of prosecutors to access records).
S.W. Anderson
Grounds for prosecuting Limbaugh are clear and undeniable. That’s just a fact.
From your post, it appears there’s ambiguity in Florida law that the state’s legislature ought to rectify. In the meantime, the prosecutor would’ve been wise to err on the side of good PR and notify Limbaugh of his intentions. That’s especially so if the prosecutor has done that in other such cases.
There’s a very good case to be made for shifting the emphasis of handling drug abusers whose only offense is using (as opposed to dealing, producing, stealing, etc.) as people with a mental health problem. I seem to recall the AMA or psychiatric association has called for doing just that.
However, we’re not there yet. In the existing circumstances it’s a question of whether a multimillionaire celebrity with political clout will be given a pass that Joe Nobody who abused prescription drugs and got caught would not get.
Bottom line, Limbaugh should neither be let off nor subjected to harsher treatment because of his status. The goal has to be arriving at the truth as best it can be determined and rendering justice as fairly as possible.
HH
Man has this post brought out the trolls…
willyb
ape:
My understanding of all the uproar surrounding the Patriot Act is that there is a great POTENTIAL for an American citizen’s rights to be abused. I haven’t heard of many actual cases of ABUSE. The point of John’s post is that someone’s privacy rights are being abused. Whether you like Limbaugh or not, is irrelevant. Look at the people/events that the ACLU typically chooses to make their point.
AF vet in Omaha
Ape…that roaring sound you hear is my point zipping over your head at the speed of stupidity: what Rush did–become addicted to LEGAL pain medication for back pain (you putting it in pithy quote marks doesn’t make it false)–does not even compare to those he’s admonished for choosing to take ILLEGAL drugs. People who are prescribed these medications get hooked on them all the time. By your ‘logic’, then any doctor that prescribes these meds should go to jail for dealing drugs.
After coming home from work and seeing all the posts that you and kimmit have belched all over this thread, all I can say is: yeah dude, you’re pretty full of hate. Deal with it before it eats you up.
John cole
I have not forgotten about groups like the ACLU- I have consistently been on their side on this issue , and I applaud their service.
When I mentioned lefties, I was mentioning the citizens of palm Beach who wrote the prosecutor and forced him into action in this frivolous case.
S.W. Anderson
AF vet in Omaha wrote: “what Rush did–become addicted to LEGAL pain medication for back pain (you putting it in pithy quote marks doesn’t make it false)–does not even compare to those he’s admonished for choosing to take ILLEGAL drugs.”
The minute Limbaugh started lying to get prescriptions and refills, he started breaking the law. If you question that, you cannot question the illegality of buying prescription drugs from other people.
Like the street person who patronizes the corner junkie and shoots up meth or heroin, or whatever, in an alley, Limbaugh broke the law.
Unlike all but a very few street persons, Limbaugh had an opportunity early on, when he realized he was hooked, to go to his doctor and get the best professional help available to break the habit. He didn’t do that. He chose to go on breaking the law.
Furthermore, it’s your logic about busting physicians for writing prescriptions that’s wrong. The illegality of Limbaugh’s drug abuse doesn’t reside in the drugs, any more than a murder resides in a handgun.
Physicians can’t be expected to investigate all their patients to ensure they’re not getting hooked. It would never work because patients go doctor shopping. The responsibility lies with the individual. (Point of irony: Here am I, relatively a liberal, explaining that to someone who’s presumably a conservative; go figure.)
Roo
“The minute Limbaugh started lying to get prescriptions and refills, he started breaking the law.”
Gawd, the same people who were tripping over themselves to defend a perjuring President are the same ones who hold the “truth” to be the overwhelming judgement on a Conservative. Oh,,, speaking of him, anybody in the market for a singlewide down in Littlerock?
Kimmitt
Yeah, yeah, felonies are frivolous when people you like commit them.
Harry in Atlanta
Here in Georgia the most profitable cash crop has consistantly been pot. And all the war on drugs has done is drive a huge black market economy underground and subjected the citizens who become addicted to such substances into either passive or active criminals and all Americans into potential victims of drug related crime. It has also spawned a huge growth in designer drugs that do not required smuggling or sophisticated operations. If it were legal and out in the open addicts with problems would be more readily identified and the huge criminal cartels would be driven for the most part out of business.
The problem with the Limbaugh case is the implications it has for every American. The prosecutors are doing an end run around doctor patient privilage in order to do a selective and very rare prosecution. If Limbaugh loses then all of our medical records no longer become our private and personal property.
I would rather Limbaugh prevail than for that to occur. The ramifications otherwise are too terrible to contemplate about basic freedom in America.
Harry in Atlanta
Two other points: One is that if this occurs patients will become much more reluctant to confide in their doctor diminishing healthcare greatly, the other that because almost everyone knows, including the government, one has to wonder why we continue such a worthless and futile endeavor? My answer would be follow the money because some part of government and especially local governments are profiting at the taxpayers expense. They didn’t create the dubious and draconian asset seizure laws which twisted the burden of proof onto the accused for nothing.
Harry in Atlanta
that should read almost everyone knows the WOD is a abysmal failure,
including the government,
preview is my friend.
S.W. Anderson
Roo wrote: “Gawd, the same people who were tripping over themselves to defend a perjuring President . . .”
What a lame attempt at guilt by association based on pure supposition. No rational, fact-based argument to make so it’s on to trying to stereotype someone you know nothing about, lumping me in with . . . exactly who? And reaching back years to do it.
Before rehashing the Clinton years, you might spend a little time speculating on the likelihood of a more contemporary perjury party in response to the alleged investigation of Valerie Plame’s outing.