The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Nephythys

Durbin was just on Cavuto saying no to getting rid of the tax...

I would need better sources.

That interview neither confirms nor denies what I heard. Like I said, I herad it once yesterday as a proposal (don't even know that it was Durbin who proposed it), and it was quickly overshadowed by the $100 rebate talk. It was a 6 month suspension of the federal per-gallon gasoline tax, it wasn't about taxing oil company profits/windfalls, which is what was discussed in that interview. I'm still looking for details, though. It seems that they quickly gave up on the concept.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Found one source

[Gemini Cricket]

Talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh surrendered to authorities Friday on a charge of committing fraud to obtain prescription drugs, concluding an investigation that for more than two years has hovered over the law-and-order conservative.

Source

Moral compass of talk radio gets arrested for committing fraud. I picked the wrong day to go on a media diet.

[scaeagles]

Hmmm....another quote from that article -

The agreement is not an admission of guilt to the charge, which was fraud by concealing information to obtain a prescription.

A spokesman for the state's attorney's office, Mike Edmondson, said the agreement dropping the charge is "standard for first-time offenders who admit their addiction."

So it is standard operating procedure to investigate first time offenders for 2 years? That's funny.

[Alex]

Essentially an admission by the D.A. that they'd never be able to convict Limbauh of anything significant.

But at least those who don't like him will always have a mug shot.

[wendybeth]

Limbaugh is fortunate that they didn't have the types of drug laws in place that he used to advocate.

[Gemini Cricket]

If we followed Rush's own black and white logic for everything, he's guilty. He's a druggie. He should just say 'no' to drugs like Nancy said. He should be put away. And this is using his own logic.

[Scrooge McSam]

Limbaugh... haha you know, the name, the history just makes me wanna condemn him.

But I'm not going to. Rush Limbaugh is, after all, just a man. Pain can drive people to act in ways both destructive and illegal. I've seen people addicted to drugs. They usually don't need my criticism. Plus, I can't imagine how embarrassing it must be to have your business in the street like his is now. I don't take any pleasure from seeing anybody go through that.

Yes, Wendybeth, he is fortunate. He's also fortunate to have a bank account that allows him to sail through this, where someone of lesser means wouldn't fare so well.

[scaeagles]

While I appreciate that, Scrooge, I would also argue that someone without his noteriety would not have been pursued for two years in regards to this. Even the ACLU sided with Limbaugh on the issue of his medical records. The DA couldn't prove anything (in regards to "doctor shopping"), so they wanted to get at his medical records.

So yes, he is fortunate enough to have the means to go to a top notch clinic in Wickenburg, AZ to deal with the addiction and also to have the means to fight off what I would consider to be malicious prosecution.

[Gemini Cricket]

Rush on the topic of drugs:

On drug users:
Kurt Cobain died of a drug-induced suicide, I just -- he was a worthless shred of human debris.

(on the death of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia) Just another dead doper. And a dirt bag.

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.

When you strip it all away, Jerry Garcia (former Grateful Dead guitarist) destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he's being honored, like some godlike figure. Our priorities are out of whack, folks.

Too many whites are getting away with drug use...Too many whites are getting away with drug sales...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

Originally Posted by Scrooge McSam

I've seen people addicted to drugs. They usually don't need my criticism. Plus, I can't imagine how embarrassing it must be to have your business in the street like his is now. I don't take any pleasure from seeing anybody go through that.

I see what you're saying, SMcSam, I've known people who have been addicted to drugs as well. However, they were not trying to push a highhanded moral agenda and condemn others while putting on an air of being perfect. Even a closest friend who tried that would stir the same dose of schadenfreude in me. They would hear it from me, too. I have little tolerance for hypocrites.

As for his business in the street.

"That's showbiz, Kid." ~ Roxie Hart (Chicago)

Sorry, this guy's an asshole. He deserves what he gets.

A Rush gem:

Imagine we identify the gene — assuming that there is one, this is hypothetical — that will tell us prior to birth that a baby is going to be gay…. How many parents, if they knew before the kid was gonna be born, [that he] was gonna be gay, they would take the pregnancy to term? Well, you don't know but let's say half of them said, "Oh, no, I don't wanna do that to a kid." [Then the] gay community finds out about this. The gay community would do the fastest 180 and become pro-life faster than anybody you've ever seen. … They'd be so against abortion if it was discovered that you could abort what you knew were gonna be gay babies.