Limbaugh Detained At Airport

Didn't this disclosure violate the HIPAA medical privacy act?

ComSen, you'll never find an article on newsvine that will publish information that might help the conservative side. It's probably in their Terms of Use.

Three posts until politics get involved!

That's fast, but I don't think it's a record.

David Kellaway, digitalscoots introduced politics into the comments.

Yeah, but you can't count everything. I meant to say "three posts until someone says the word 'liberal' or 'conservative'" :P

digitalscoots introduced politics into the comments.

Hey now, play nicely. I could have said something like Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot.

Schadenfreude was the word that came to mind when I read the first comment.

Addiction is sad in all cases. Even when it happens to people we don't like.

The first time he got caught was news. If this story turns out to be true, it's a cry for help by someone who has lost control, and we don't need to make him the butt of every anti-Republican joke or the topic of every Air America talk show. Please, everybody, just back away from this one. Schadenfreude is not an attractive trait.

No. backing away from this one, regardless of how sad Limbaugh's personal life has become, is wholly inappropriate.

I sympathize with him as a human being who is an addict and who is quite possibly out of control. And on that level I wish him all the luck in the world. However, my sympathy ends in light of Limbaugh's obtuse and un-nuanced criticism of drug users (following is an excerpt from his radio show):

Let's all admit something: There's nothing good about drug use. We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. Drug use destroys societies.

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.

If you're a black living in the inner city--and--and I firmly believe that, no matter what your race, if you have children--or even if you don't--you don't want to be surrounded by drug infestation. You don't want your kids running around being tempted by the quick profits of drug sales or the quick high of drug use. And if the cops are in these neighborhoods and ridding these neighborhoods of these people, then that's good and you ought to be happy about it.

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.

Limbaugh's situation is a very sobering reminder that addiction is a personal tragedy and one that is not remedied with the "send them up the river" approach he seems to think is such a smashing idea.

Rush Limbaugh is someone who helped set the public's tone towards the sickness of addiction as one of punative intolerance. And now Rush Limbaugh himself has been exposed several times over as being an addict himself. Holding him up as an example of why the policies he espouses do not work is not schadenfreude. It is exposing the bald face of hyprocricy.

-J

What is the date of that excerpt? Before or after the back surgery that marked the beginning of his pain killer addiction?

What is the date of that excerpt? Before or after the back surgery that marked the beginning of his pain killer addiction?

The excerpt is from October of 1995 -- before his surgery that introduced him to the painkillers to which he became addicted, which makes it even more damming.

Limbaugh chose to help perpetrate the position that addiction is a crime. Then he became an addict himself. And despite a self-admitted addiction that lasted several years, and despite multiple atttempts at rehabilitation, he never attempted to amend his position -- even after he admitted to his addiction:

"My behavior doesn't change right and wrong. And just because I may have been doing something that appeared to be contradictory to what I was suggesting others do doesn't mean that what I was suggesting others do is wrong."

To his credit, he publicly took responsibility and ownership of his addiction; however, in the last three years even his new perspective on drug addiction hasn't been enough for him to reexamine his public position that addicts are criminals.

He is rightly being hung by the same public perception he helped create.

-J

Although I sympathize with him as a person I have to now wonder how he feels about his "Send them up the river" policy. Does he now think he should be treated as he would have so many others treated or has his policy become more fluid since he's the one facing it. I find it hard to believe that so many people admire these so called pundits when time after time they are found to be espousing policies to which they feel they are exempt of. They are quick to criticize anything that gets them rating even if they are guilty of the same sins. Then they cry about how unfairly they are being treated and seem incapable of admitting that their policies and opinions may be harming people just like them. I say Send Him Up the River, and let him find out just how polluted that river is.

Did ANYONE bother to read the article that was seeded? He had Viagra that was prescribed in his doctor's name, and it is not illegal under Florida law for the doctor to do that. He broke no law, the 'case' will be dismissed. The only potential complication is that he broke the agreement to stay out of trouble and not be arrested, but I'm sure the judge will let him off if the case is dismissed and this all turns out to be legal. I'm no Rush fan, but this article is not about his addiction.

Actually was he even arrested? or merely detained for questioning?

One reason people listen to him is he provides an opposing view to news presented by the MSM, something they should be doing (fair and balanced, both sides of a story) but usually fail.

Good god, you sound like the morons that treat Karl Rove like the devil. It's hillarious at best.

..ok,the point please...

MEANING, the left is so quick to jump and believe anything that damages any republican/conservative view, but anything their guys say/do should not lead to conclusion jumping, ie. Hypocrisy

I believe the right was just as quick to jump on Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) when he crashed his car a month or two ago (apparently related to drugs and/or alcohol).

Kennedy was treated harshly more because of the Cynthia McKinney treatment that he got from the Capitol Police than anything else. If you or I had crashed a car into anything while under the influence, do you think that we would have had the opportunity to get home unticketed and check into a rehab center.

The car portion of the incident is a factor. I am not aware that there is any evidence that Rush ever crashed (or operated) a car while under the influence.

The car portion of the incident is a factor. I am not aware that there is any evidence that Rush ever crashed (or operated) a car while under the influence.

I'm not implying that he did. I was merely stating that both sides jump at the chance to make the other look bad.

Meanwhile in the world everyone has to live in, the world where newsvine is riddled with left wing powderpuffs and throbbing no nonsense rightwingers, whether chemically aided or not, get to constantly bemoan their minority status, the world we all live in where nothing will ever change except individuals stamina to moan about things that will never change.

Hey get this, a certified and convicted hypocrite just got busted for importing drugs.
Drugs that give you a stiffy! In the dominion republic which is the closest sex tourism stop from the states.
At least he isn't married, whoring's still christian if your not married.
Can't wait to hear what he's got to say about it because I respect him for giving us an alternative to MSM (or reality as it is often called by left wing wingnuts *superior shudder*)

From the man himself
"I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it."

The article says at the bottom that Viagra is not addictive and is not considered a controlled substance by the DEA. What his doctor did is apparently legal in Florida.

Or because the article quotes the DEA as saying that, perhaps?

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Viagra is not considered a controlled substance because "it's not something you can be addicted to," said DEA Investigator Maria Gilbert.

The article you linked to, Aine, contains this definition of "controlled Substance"

(6) The term ''controlled substance'' means a drug or other substance, or immediate precursor, included in schedule I, II, III, IV, or V of part B of this subchapter. The term does not include distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco, as those terms are defined or used in subtitle E of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

In the Schedules referred to in the definition, sildenafil citrate, the chemical name for Viagra, does not appear.

Sorry, I didn't mean the seeded article in my comment above. I meant the documents on the DEA site which you linked to in comment 12.2.

Yeah. Keld Bach slipped the Viagra in his luggage.

Liberals have gone so far as to degrade an middle of the road reporter? Nice.

Or ... Ann Coulter.

"Middle of the road" I'd watch for oncoming traffic if I were you.

"Middle Of The Road reporter" You have got to be kidding me. His views have to be considered as conservative at the very least, more reallistically they would be characterized as far right. This man has consistently towed the christian right's line and has benefitted from it to the tune of millions of dollars and now that he stumbled on one of his own lines in the sand we are supposed to feel sorry for him? Try that spin somewhere else.

I don't like Limbaugh at all, but... pretend for a minute that he's just another American citizen. Is it common for Customs to search luggage so thoroughly that they compare the names on prescription medicine bottles with the name of the owner of the luggage?

evano, the flight was from the Dominican Republic. An international flight.

In the last two years, I flew between the States and Turkey five times. My prescriptions were thouroughly checked every time.

It's a good point, paperdragon. I realize that Customs has the right to check prescription drugs -- when traveling to the UK, I always carry my pills in the original prescription bottles for that reason. But what do you think they would do if they found that one of my prescription bottles contained a few pills of a non-illegal, non-schedule, non-addictive drug? Would they call the Sheriff and alert the media? Or would they simply confiscate the bottle and give me a receipt?

And none of this is even considering the reason behind this kind of search. What public interest is being served by having Customs inspectors checking every pill bottle carried by a traveler? If I had a legitimate bottle with a legitimate prescription label and I had a few prohibited pills in the bottle, how would Customs inspectors know there was a switch when even a pharmacist would need to check in reference books or chemical assays to determine what a particular substance is?

Sure, there's a certain amount of schadenfreude at seeing Big Mouth get hassled, but what if it was you or someone you know?

Google is the source of all knowledge. :) But do customs agents have access to Google at inspection points? And what if I had a prescription bottle for Zithromax but it had 10 of your MOVA 500 pills in it? Are the Customs agents going to be able to tell that there is something wrong? And are they checking every pill against Google or some other reference and then against the pill bottle and then against the passenger's name? With all the prescription and non-prescription drugs Americans take, the effort and the expense would be insane.

"I'd like to report, Mr. President, that although there wasn't enough budget and inspections manpower to keep the terrorists from bringing in and detonating that nuclear suitcase from a cargo ship in New York Harbor which killed hundreds of thousands of people, we did manage to save the lives of 917 unborn children this year by confiscating birth control pills from women who weren't carrying their prescription with them when they entered the country." "Heck of a job, Brownie!"

I think you're totally right evano.

Am I the only person who read this part of the article?

It is generally not illegal under Florida law for a physician to prescribe medication in a third party's name if all parties are aware and the doctor documents it correctly

Oh, it is funny. Part of what is funny is how the left is grasping here. Hoping beyond hope that perhaps this will be a problem for Limbaugh. Is the left that desperate to get him off the air?

Personally I think it is hilarious that after going through the trouble of having it prescribed in his doctors name for 'privacy' it is now public knowlege. Additionally it has to make you wonder just what was going on down in the Dominican Republic. (eye wash please. Didn't mean to bring up that image).

And I am a fan of Limbaugh. Doesn't mean I can't find the humor here, but I also don't see this as the big issue that some seem to think it is.

Humor doesn't have to have a point other than its own propagation.
See my last 2 lines for added emphasis.
Incidental I am addressing you simply because the placement of your comment and it's question mark leaves me duty bound to respond.
Your question teeters on preceding statements made by you concerning those who you, completely and utterly unqualified, choose to, for your own transparent purposes, represent.
I will apologise and admit to being a hypocrite in as much as I was relying on my own interpretations to what a Limbaugh fan might be.
But where we differ is that I would not risk or dare for the sake of any argument to presume to know what another is thinking or feeling (or in your case, 'grasping', or 'hoping against hope')
I've always found literary omnipotence an asset in fiction rather than discussion but styles differ.
You being a Limbaugh fan and I most certainly not that difference in style would usually be but a pebble on a beach of differences that would stretch long enough to illustrate the earths curvature .
Yet here we are.

Interesting place.

Oh, it is funny. Part of what is funny is how the left is grasping here. Hoping beyond hope that perhaps this will be a problem for Limbaugh. Is the left that desperate to get him off the air?

I will use whatever language (literary or otherwise) I choose when I am interpreting how I feel someone is reacting.

A more interesting question for me is what you are talking about here.

Your question teeters on preceding statements made by you concerning those who you, completely and utterly unqualified, choose to, for your own transparent purposes, represent.

And why rather then addressing the question or the topic you choose to instead attack my. Seems strange considering the CoH

Lets settle your/or my misunderstanding right here.
Would you consider yourself a right or left wing individual.
My point (that I think you may have missed)
Is that you, (I'm saving you time unless you wish to convince me of the two choices you chose left) are ill qualified to read the minds of people you share little with.
Now if you must, continue making pointless noises about the code.
Or argue that you in fact are qualified (not able to, qualified) to speculate in any way that is not simple a transparent tool of your own devise, into the minds of others.

In addition I didn't answer your question because I crumbled the foundations upon which it was built rendering it not valid as a question directed by its placement, at me.

LOL, I will give you this: You are funny Winsome. Fancy talk aside tho, you make no sense. What is Newsvine? A place for people like you and I to both seed news articles and write articles and then to comment on them expressing our views. You are not required to accept or agree with my views and I am free to give my views as much or as little as I wish. I do not have to 'qualify' myself in any way shape or form. I think to say that I could only be 'Left Wing' or 'Right Wing' is stupid. I am conservative in many ways but not all ways. I am sure that in your mind I am 'Right Wing'. but then I imagine (note I do not say I know, just like I did not say I know in my statement earlier that has you in such a tizzy) you think that NBC, ABC, and CBS news are 'Middle of the Road' politically. I have seen a number of your posts around the vine and I have not been particularly impressed with them. This exchange is not changing my views either.

Well I'm sorry to hear that daweb because as you know your opinion means so very much to me.

Is the left that desperate to get him off the air?

I think to say that I could only be 'Left Wing' or 'Right Wing' is stupid

I'm not saying what you could be.
Where did you choose to find that impression?
I am merely pointing out that your initial statements

Part of what is funny is how the left is grasping here. Hoping beyond hope that perhaps this will be a problem for Limbaugh.

are self evidently not of your viewpoint and moreover are conceits or fabrications of what you believe the Left
to be thinking, leading you to ask the question

Is the left that desperate to get him off the air?

Which on your part is a wildly ambitious effort because as I keep pointing out over and over again and which you choose to see as either me attacking you or 'fancy' a question built on two false premises is not in fact a question anyone would wish to answer. It self evidently reinforces your flawed premises.
Being that regardless of how you may think about other topics in terms of yourself being left or right. In this instance you are right speaking speculatively of the left and basing your question entirely on those speculations.
Am I making myself understood? Do you in fact follow what I'm trying to communicate with you? Or is that asking you to qualify yourself?
Thanks for your outline of what newsvine is and my requirements or lack of regarding acceptance of your opinions. Enlightening.
And also the word 'tizzy' Condescension 101, ahh the memories

Sheesh, it's a bit odd to see two people who are my newsvine friends bickering so. winsomecowboy, you did rather invite this with "Knock yourself out defending him". Them's fightin' words IMHO. You never followed through on your promise of humorous poking fun either :( I feel gypped.

I think everyone can admit that partisans on both sides often take ridiculous amounts of glee in the downfall or embarrasment of someone on the other side. I find it distasteful when applied to Clinton or DeLay or anyone in between. Except Rick Santorum, I just don't like that guy and wish he'd take a dramatic fall for my own personal amusement.

Nice Brian, I did enjoy your comments. :-)

Thank you also Brian, I had to run away scared for a couple of hours from the monster I had become. I see now also the cunning design of interwoven friends as a moderating influence and will use it gratefully to temper further snidefests.
daweb I celebrate your natural right to find me unimpressive.
I am however humbler than you.

Dang, Winsome! You're even competitive in your humbleness! :)