This certainly seems to be the right decision:
Palm Beach County prosecutors decide to charge Rush Limbaugh for his prescription drug use, they’ll have to do it without questioning the conservative radio host’s doctors about his medical condition, a judge ruled Monday.
Prosecutors can subpoena Limbaugh’s physicians in connection with a “doctor shopping” investigation but can’t ask them many meaningful questions unless the Palm Beach resident has been charged, Circuit Judge David Crow ruled.
If prosecutors charge Limbaugh with illegally obtaining overlapping prescriptions from different doctors, his physicians can be subpoenaed and fully questioned at a deposition, hearing or trial, Crow wrote.
Until then, the doctors can’t be asked about “the medical condition of the patient [or] any information disclosed to the healthcare practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient,” Crow wrote.
Of course, these prosecutors have been such partisan hacks I assume the first thing they will do is charge Limbaugh with a series of crimes without any evidence. Never in history has someone who admitted addiction, gone to treatment to dealt with it, and moved on successfully with his/her life been hounded like this, particularly when the only evidence to date is a snitch who received immunity from her own problems stemming from a narctoics sale. As always, for extensive coverage of this iussue, check Jeralynn’s archives.
*** Update ***
Please spare me all of the hypocritical anti-drug rants by Rush- I know the quotes. Those prove to me if a loudmouth, a bully, a hypocrite, and a fraud.
They do not prove to me that he deserves to be the target of a drug-related witch-hunt in which we set new standards fro what law enforcement can and can not fo with our personal medical records.
Call me insane
I really don’t like Rush but considering that Courtney Love isn’t in jail by now, how you can you go after him like this. Why in this country do we pick and choose who to attack in the legal system instead of going after everybody in the same way when they break the law?
rilkefan
Allow me to be a slightly skeptical about this claim. Ditto “partisan”.
That kind of case got Tookie a lot of sympathy from you.
Orogeny
The entire case now seems to revolve around the doctor shopping aspect. Initially, there was a lot of talk of Limbaugh using his housekeeper to obtain oxycontin illegally. Any idea what happened to this? If that charge has been disproved and all we’re talking about is doctor shopping, I agree that prosecutors are going overboard. If not, employing someone to buy and transport street drugs seems a bit more serious.
srv
Yeah, if these hacks hadn’t gone after Rush in the first place, he’d probably still be an addict. Too bad for truth.
Funny how none of these things would have stopped a federal prosecutor with their post-9/11 powers. You know Federal D.A.’s can get your medical/banking/employment records now?
Ah, I really hope Hillary doesn’t get POTUS or VPOTUS. I really, really fantisize about what would happen if someone appointed her Attorney General. Nothing would get the Patriot Act overturned faster.
Steven Donegal
This case is just another example that, in America today, we are all guilty of something, the prosecutors just haven’t charged us yet. I know that conservatives get their knickers twisted about activist judges, but the greater threat to our liberty is the increasing criminalization of behavior and the largely unfettered discretion of prosecutor to choose their targets.
caleb
I have been trying to find information on previous doctor shopping cases in the state of Florida. This obviously not being the first ever case, I have been trying to find out if what the prosecution has been doing is much different than in previous cases….but, bumkis so far….closest to anything so far is this little write up concerning some of the items in the case.
http://www.willamette.edu/~blong/LegalEssays/Rush.html
Then there is the money laundering aspect that was picked up in a case concerning US Trust. Haven’t been able to find anything new on that either. Last I have seen is Limbaugh, having records of 30-40 withdraws of 9900$ or so, claiming “black mail” by the housemaid was the cause of the withdraws…..all the while his attorney claiming all those pills were obtained legitimatly for a legit medical concern….which begs the question….if it was all legit how can there be any blackmail by the housemaid?
Well……like sands thru the hourglass…….
Ancient Purple
Meanwhile, all the people that gasbag Limbaugh vilified as evil, disgusting, vile wastes of human flesh for smoking a joint have gotten what from Limbaugh? Not even so much as a sincere apology.
Limbaugh is not, has never been, and never will be, a sympathetic character.
Mike S
I have a lot of sympathy for recovering addicts. But you make it sound like Big Pharma just decided one day that he had to get help. That is simply not the case. And if the same situation had arrisen with a Democrat instead of him he would have been all over it.
That being said I do agree with you on the court’s decision.
Lee
You reap what you sow.
All of the conservatives that have been asking for a greater War on (some) Drugs finally have one of their own looking down the wrong end of War on (some) Drugs.
Zero sympathy.
Mr Furious
Boo fucking hoo.
Kimmitt
Replace “someone” with “rich white guy,” and this is probably a valid statement. There is no doubt in my mind that this is not the sort of thing which is normally prosecuted, but on the other hand, the fact that this is not the sort of thing which is normally prosecuted is part of the problem. If the War on Your Neighbor starts impacting privileged white men (like, say, Judge Alito), perhaps they’ll start noticing how it’s affecting the rest of us.
Anyways, since the only reason Limbaugh admitted his problem was because of his legal troubles, I’m not sure things are as cut-and-dried as are implied here.
Cromagnon
And how would you know Rush has kicked his Hilly-Billy Heroin habit? If anything, he has proved that one can be high as a kite and still perform ones job quite succesfully since all the ditto-heads were apparently completely unaware he was totally doped up
Paddy O'Shea
This is by far the most unintentionally hilarious thing Cole has posted to date.
Talk about wearing your poor little heart on your sleeve.
DougJ
I feel like Rush has been AWOL in the war against Christmas.
cd6
maybe the aclu would help him if he didny think they were such terrorists
Steve S
It’s bad if someone else does it. But if you’re a Republican hack, you shouldn’t be prosecuted.
I wonder how many times Rush has gone off on Love, demanding she be in prison? Probably dozens. That’s just the way he is. But once he got caught, then he demands a little bit of empathy.
Whatever. He’s a crack-addict whore for the Republican Party.
We need a Zero Tolerance campaign for hacks, whores and hypocrites.
jahyarain
cute. now, back in reality, a girl i know was sent to rehab for one month then jailed for two for simple possession. not even enough time to kick the fucking habit. and you all know as well as i do, limpy ain’t off the shit. don’t even attempt to compare what has/will/or should happen to this hypocritical junkie to a real human. no matter what these disgusting conservatives think, that oxycontinmoron’s life and well being is NOT more important than the real people on the other end of the economic scale. your hypocricy obviously knows no bounds. typical conservative. the lowest form of life
srv
The ACLU did file an amicus brief with the court in 2004.
Retief
Yes why can’t everybody just ignore his being doped up to his eyebrows like they did with Rehnquist. Just because Rehnquwist was addicted to a powerful hallucinogen for fours years of his supreme court service didn’t mean polite people needed to mention such an unsavory business, certainly not that outofcontrolprosecutors dug through his medical records.
Lines
You can’t charge him because you don’t have the evidence that you can’t get unless you charge him?
Interesting, he’s safe because of a horrible Catch-22.
But hey, at least Michael Moore is still fat.
Paddy O'Shea
Enough about this wretched addict and his upcoming trial and well-deserved incarceration.
Let’s talk about the new Zogby Poll, shall we? It looks like Operation Eduring Bullshit has run its course, and the Little Chimp is in the political shithouse again.
Bush Job Approval @ 38%. After edging above 40%, it fades again.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1049
Mike S
How do you spell hypocrite?
TallDave
Sheesh, it’s not like the guy was caught doing lines off a hooker’s ass. He had back pain, he took too many painkillers. I don’t recall Bret Favre being strung up for doing the exact same thing.
TallDave
Speaking of Enduring Bullshit, how amny threads is Paddy going to spam with the same post?
Mike S
If my comment passes moderation muster then it will be a good lead in to TellDaves.
Perry Como
That would have gotten him a high five. Where do you think he stores his Cuban cigars…?
cd6
Brett Farve isn’t human scum though
Steve S
Brett Favre is an American Hero.
Rush Limbaugh is human scum.
There is a difference. One we feel sorry for, the other we lock up and throw away the key.
Davebo
Uh? Dude, you are sadly misinformed. And totally out of touch with what happens on a daily basis in our valiant war on drugs.
Steve S
More Kansas goodness…
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/13/child.bride.ap/index.html
Ancient Purple
And became an addict all the while repeating his mantra that anyone who so much as smoked a joint should be locked up in prison and the key thrown away.
No hypocrisy there. Right, Dave?
TallDave
Brett Farve isn’t human scum though
See, that’s exactly the attitude that’s the problem here. You people want him in jail for his politics, not his painkillers. And that’s just wrong.
He doesn’t hold elected office, he has no official gov’t position whatsoever, he’s just a guy on the radio. Feel free to laugh at his pain and his hypocrisy and call him names if you want, but talk of imprisoning him is very dangerous.
Paddy O'Shea
Tall Dave: Only time the Zogby Poll has been posted to Baloney Juice. Whaddaya yapping about?
I do like the term Operation Enduring Bullshit, though. Puts into perspective the failure of Bush’s recent propaganda campaign to repair his badly failing administration.
TallDave
I agree Paddy, “Freedom = Bullshit” sums up leftist thought nicely.
Davebo
I don’t recall anyone suggesting Brett Favre was doctor shopping to support his addiction. Although he did get extra vicodin from his fellow players.
Paddy O'Shea
Tall Dave: Yep. Freedom does equal bullshit when it flows from the mouth of George W. Bush, his handlers or any one of his glassy-eyed bobblehead acolytes.
Davebo
And took up golf at about the same time. Odd thing to do when you’re suffering from delibilitating back pain eh?
Ancient Purple
Then I suggest you champion the cause that people who use/abuse drugs should not be put in prison. Not a single one of them.
Davebo
Of course, in the end his is just another case of Democrats attempting to criminalize illegal drug use.
Politics as usual.
TallDave
Davebo,
Well how do we know until we subpoena his medical records?
TallDave
Then I suggest you champion the cause that people who use/abuse drugs should not be put in prison. Not a single one of them.
Oh, I’ve always belived that. It’s an unconstitutional infringment of people’s right to abuse themselves and otherwise behave stupidly, an illogical proposition to begin with (why isn’t it also illegal to hit yourself with a hammer?), and besides that an unconscionable waste of tax dollars that could go toward preventing actual crimes.
Davebo
Well, we now know that getting his co-conspirator in the crime to fess up won’t cut it.
Bob In Pacifica
TallDave, Brett Favre has better career stats than Rush.
The problem when shitheads like Rush get exposed for hia hillbilly heroin habit isn’t that he doesn’t get enough sympathy or that the legal system is slanted against the bloviating white guy, it’s that the misguided sympathy never seems to find its way to the poor who suffer similar fates.
Boo fucking hoo, indeed!
Otto Man
If I remember correctly, we lefties used that as a slogan back in the civil rights movement.
TallDave
Freedom does equal bullshit when it flows from the mouth of George W. Bush,
That’s the kind of impeccable Paddy logic I’ve come to know and love.
Guess those Iraqi/Afghani elections were a giant mirage. Probably put together by those same guys who faked the Moon landing. Bastards!
TallDave
Otto,
Refresh my memory: was that before or after Robert Byrd became a KKK recruiter?
Mike S
I love that one. The sad sacks on the right have to bring something up from someones distant past that that person has expressed regret and shame for, but have no problem with their leaders going to Bob Jones Univercity of Hate and Bigotry.
I guess when you’re in the
cultparty of hatred and bigotry you have to find something to hang your hat on.Barry
After, TD, but before he recanted. Unlike the rest of them, who just joined the GOP.
Marcus Wellby
The problem is not Rush but his listeners. These rejects and mental defectives only want to hear bullshit that confirms their tiny view of reality. They’d rather hear some complete idiot, doped up to the gills, talking about how “evil drugs are” than someone explaining how pointless the drug laws are. The level of hypocracy shown by his audience is staggering.
Lines
Unforntunately, even a bloated gas bag like Rush deserves the full protection of the law. The catch-22 that he has found himself in results in his being innocent.
That still doesn’t change the fact that he’s a disgusting example of a banana slug.
Mr Furious
TallDave Says:
Refresh my memory: was that before or after Robert Byrd became a KKK recruiter?
Me: [rolls eyes]
Sal
There are plenty of people who’ve done time for drugs after (allegedly) kicking the habit. But even if not, Rush has railed against such leniency.
And doctor shopping isn’t the same charge as simply taking the drugs.
Now, lying about a blowjob under oath, that’s serious business. The jails are crowded with folks who’ve committed that very crime.
The Disenfranchised Voter
“Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. 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.”
— Rush Limbaugh. October 5, 1995 show transcript.
“What this says to me is that too many whites are getting away with drug use, too many whites are getting away with drug sales, too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we’re not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.”
— Rush Limbaugh. October 5, 1995 show transcript.
I just think he is a hypocrite. I mean shouldn’t he have sent himself up the river by now?
Steve S
But we’re not. What they are doing to Limbaugh is pretty standard routine stuff.
Your argument would have more credibility if you didn’t misuse the partisan attack line. As it is now, it just sounds like a partisan defense for the Republican hack.
Steve S
No. I want him in jail because he’s human scum.
I could care less about his politics.
Darrell
And I want Steve S in jail because he’s human scum. Now do you see how whacked you kooks really are?
Don
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Oh, you’re funny John. Okay, okay, I’ll play along – yeah, it’s a shame that Rush has been so horribly picked upon and harassed after cleaning himself up; after all, everyone else who has a drug problem and gets into trouble gets to serve their time and then move on, free of social stigma, able to get a job and a place to live.
Hehehehe. You’re right, this is a fun game. Let’s do one about how all the Bush nominees are unfairly called vanity appointments when they’re really accomplished professionals!
Darrell
Probably true that never in history has a “celebrity” who admitted addiction, gone to treatment, etc been hounded like this
Mike S
Darrell loves the work “kooks.” Since his party contains people who think all farm kids from Georgia fuck mules, I’d say he’s projecting. If we were to line up all of the “kooks” from each side next to each other I’d say it’s a pretty sure bet that the GOP’s line would eclipse the Dem one.
You could even assign 1/2 of a person to people like Coburn and still not see the end.
Steve S
How so? You just claimed you are no different than a kook.
Darrell
Mike S, it’s your side, not mine, making statements like this:
Equivalent example from conservatives on this thread of that sort of whacked mentality? No? Well then, we can certainly see the validity of your point
The Disenfranchised Voter
He only admitted it because his ass was caught.
It’s probably also true that never in history has a man spoke out so strongly about punishing all drug offenders and then turned out to be one himself.
Mike S
I’m talking about your prolific use of the word. I thought that comment was lame but I have seen you use the term “kook” in just about every other thread in the last month.
I just find it funny that any member of a party that has so many real kooks in it would be so fond of the term.
Darrell
I read somewhere that during the time of his addiction, he said little or nothing about ‘hard time’ for drug addicts. That’s probably why all the quotes from him being harsh on drug addicts are from pre-2001.
Paddy O'Shea
Tall Dave: Yep, those Iraqi elections are true bellwethers of freedom. And just because they have ended up empowering fundamentalist Shi’ite clerics and Grand with ties to Tehran should in no way dismay those concerned with real democracy. I’m sure you find it very inspiring to think that 2,100 or so Americans have given their lives so Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani can seize the reigns of power in Iraq.
After all, George Bush said they were all about freedom, right? And all you bobbleheads can say is, “Yes George! Yes George! Yes George Yes!”
srv
Until rich white folk start getting treated like the rest of society, you might as well just be defending the status quo.
RSA
How ironic; George W. Bush didn’t have much to say about drug use until long after 1979. Matching bookends.
Bob In Pacifica
Can we all agree that the solution to drug abuse isn’t to fill up the jails with drug addicts? 60% of the inhabitants of California penal housing are non-violent. Some are mentally ill and shit in their pants in the wrong place and howl at the moon and should be institutionalized where they can be cared for, but most of that 60% are druggies.
Rush can’t help himself. He’s a drug addict. Maybe that’s why he’s so bitter and hallucinatory.
Bob In Pacifica
TallDave, wasn’t Byrd in the Klan prior to 1948? As I understand it, he joined the Klan in the early forties. While the Civil Rights movement is ongoing and has been since the beginnings of this nation, generally the 1950s is considered the time when the Civil Rights movement began rolling.
Perhaps you’re not familiar, but after the several Civil Rights bills were passed in the mid-sixties, Southern Democrats had the choice to continue with their party and an endorsement of civil rights for all or defect to the Republicans where they could go on endorsing racial discrimination, which many did. This process was successfully set into motion by Nixon after George Wallace was eliminated from the race by yet another lone nut.
So, to answer your question, Robert Byrd would have been in the KKK before the Civil Rights movement, as we generally describe it, started.
Gee, TallDave, don’t you know anything about the civil rights movement?
ppGaz
You guys are talking about Rush, in a thread contaminated by Darrell and TallDave, two fellows who have not had an original thought since 1989 …..
What next. A “Lost” thread?
Groan.
Robbie
Mr. Limbaugh should be placed in the jail that he deems other addicts need to serve in. He’s a drug abuser plain and simple. I have no sympathy for his plight because he lacks sympathy and compassion for others who face similar problems. This hypocrite and addict needs to spend some quality time in jail…
Zifnab
You know, if it was anyone else in the country – barring a handful of other rightwing loudmout lunatics – I’d be all for cutting a man with a serious condition some slack. But before we let Rush off the hook, why don’t we let out the hundreds of thousands of citizens currently incarcerated for possession of marijuana.
Honestly, Rush is getting exactly what he asked for. Shortsighted, bigoted, petty, meaningless prosecution in the name of justice. Rush has been pushing for this sort of criminal crackdown for decades and his pissant opinions have fueled the fires of ignorance and stupidity that have lead to the War on Your Neighbor. Asking to spare Rush from trumped up drug charges would be like asking to spare the Bush daughters from being drafted.
So I say Fuck’m. I hope he’s tried. I hope he’s convicted. And I hope when all is said and done a big burly sex offender spends the next ten to fifteen years pounding old Rush in the ass.
But that’s just for Rush. Anyone else, and I’d be with you all the way John.
MAX HATS
I guess there’s two sides to every issue.
Either “Rush shouldn’t be locked up just because he’s a really bad man,” or “Rush is a really bad man.”
The debate. . .
continues.
Richard Bottoms
>See, that’s exactly the attitude that’s the problem here. You >people want him in jail for his politics, not his >painkillers.
So?
See it’s us liberals who aren’t too bothred by recreational drug use. And use liberals who believe in treatment on demand as many times as you need it to kick.
Having a firebreathing drug addicted right-wing hypocrite go to the slammer would just fine with me.
Fuck him.
rachel
The ACLU did file an amicus brief with the court in 2004.
December 13th, 2005 at 2:47 pm
Tee-hee-hee! Now that’s just beautiful. :-)
Stormy70
Feel the Moonbat love. LOL. I like Rush for making you all give up your convictions, due to hatred alone. For that reason, I may have to start listening to his show.
Your convictions come very cheaply, when political enemies are involved.
DecidedFenceSitter
At least for me, I have other convinctions as well, such as a “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” or another variation of the “Golden Rule” – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” or just “just desserts”.
Rush, as a drug addict, deserves sympathy and support. But he does not deserve this sympathy and support blindly, for we are not saints. For a man to condemn others for what he himself has done, well that deserves our condemnation.
That being said, each man deserves equal protection under the Constitution whether they are a “loudmouth, a bully, a hypocrite, and a fraud”, a gangbanger, or just someone at the wrong place at the wrong time.
John S.
Amazing, the disconnect…
versus
The former being the view of a deranged conservative and the latter, while not necessarily coming from a liberal, I think represents the viewpoint of a majority of liberals. This, after all, is what the evil ACLU is all about – even when they represent political ‘enemies’.
So, tell us another bedtime story, Stormy.
Ben
John,
Most pathetic thing you’ve written on this site… also the most definitive proof that you have indeed joined “pajamas media”. Watch out Powerslime and Little Green Fanatics.
TallDave
Re Byrd: I just think it’s amusing the leftists from that claim the Civil Rights movement was their idea continue to openly harbor a KKK recruiter, but one innocent comment from Trent Lott at an old man’s birthday party means he has to resign his Senate leadership. (Hey, which party freed the slaves again? Oh, right, those evil racist Republicans, whom the KKK was originally formed to assassinate.)
You guys would all be screaming “FASCISM! NAZIS! OPPRESSION!” if it were a right-wing DA going after Al Franken or Randi Rhodes.
TallDave
Oh, and Byrd also filibustered the Civil Rights Act iirc, so that whining about racism being in his “distant past” is pretty hilarious.
Steve S
I’ve never understood this argument. But it seems clear that it is in response to the existence of men like Trent Lott, Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms and such within the Republican party.
You can tell what your opponents fear, by how they attack you.
HH
“I wonder how many times Rush has gone off on Love, demanding she be in prison? Probably dozens.”
And once again we see where the rules about Limbaugh, etc. are totally different… just assuming he said something is enough to condemn him (if he has ever commented on Love, I only recall her as a subject for derision or humor, not condemnation – of course, she’s hardly a regular topic on a political show like his).
ats
Imagine, if you will, Rush’s commentary on this ruling, had the drug abuser been Al Franken.