The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[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.

[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.

[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]

I have no delusions that I'm a saint. I'm flawed just like everybody else. Everyone knows that. Rush needs to suck it up, be a man and admit that he's no better than anyone else and that he fu cked up. But, no, it's time to play the victim. I'm sorry, it's this kind of passive aggressive stuff that people pull that bugs. Don't pick on me while I pick on others. Oy.

[scaeagles]

I heard the shows when he talked about his upcoming leave of absense and his discussions of the five weeks at the drug treatment clinic upon his return. He most certainly did suck it up and say he screwed up. Not in terms of criminal activity - he completely denies doctor shopping - but in terms of his own personal weakness in becoming addicted to pain killers.

[wendybeth]

While I despise Limbaugh, I think he's to be pitied. He has lost his hearing, probably due to the drug abuse, and I'm sure he's suffered more than public embarassment- we have a few addicts in our family and I know how much pain they go through. His behavior post-treatment shows he's just a weasel, though. If he gets out of this without charges it will be because of his celebrity- saying he didn't doc shop is ridiculous. Every addict doc shops, and if he's desperate enough to hit up his housekeeper and others for meds, chances are he did the same with the docs. I'd have a hell of a lot more respect for him if he owned up to what he's done, but he hasn't the cajones to do so.

[Earkid]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

While I despise Limbaugh, I think he's to be pitied. He has lost his hearing, probably due to the drug abuse, <snip>

While studying for my Doctorate in Audiology I followed Rush's struggle with sudden/progressive hearing loss with intense interest. The doctor's at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles put Rush thru many tests to determine the etiology of his loss in order to determine whether or not a cochlear implant was indicated. They determined that he lost his hearing from a systemic viral infection that attacked the unique tissues and structures of the ear as if they were a foreign body. This is how Rush went from essentially normal hearing to a profound hearing impairment within six months. I am currently the audiologist for a patient who is suffering from the same ailment and, luckily, her hearing has stabilized at about a 60% impairment.

I know I don't post here much but I just wanted to add my .02 since I do specialize in ears.

As my final comment I will say that I think many are missing the true outrage of this investigation of Rush. How many times have we heard on the news lately how people are afraid that the president is illegally wiretapping and we have no privacy, blah blah. And yet when Rush's medical records were seized illegally no one in the media expressed outrage about that invasion of privacy? Hmm, pot, kettle, black?