Author Topic: Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War  (Read 2418 times)

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Offline Deborah

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« on: October 18, 2003, 11:47:00 PM »
For release: October 16, 2003
America owes talk host Rush Limbaugh
a debt of gratitude, Libertarians say

WASHINGTON, DC -- The entire nation owes radio broadcaster Rush Limbaugh a debt of gratitude, Libertarians say, because his ordeal has exposed every drug warrior in America as a rank hypocrite.

"One thing we don't hear from American politicians very often is silence," said Joe Seehusen, Libertarian Party executive director. "By refusing to criticize Rush Limbaugh, every drug warrior has just been exposed as a shameless, despicable hypocrite. And that's good news, because the next time they do speak up, there'll be no reason for anyone to listen."

The revelation that Limbaugh had become addicted to painkillers -- drugs he is accused of procuring illegally from his housekeeper -- has
caused a media sensation ever since the megastar's shocking, on-air confession last week.

As the Limbaugh saga continues, here's an important question for Americans to ask, Libertarians say: Why are all the drug warriors
suddenly so silent?

"Republican and Democratic politicians have written laws that have condemned more than 400,000 Americans to prison for committing the same 'crime' as Rush Limbaugh," Seehusen pointed out. "If this pill-popping pontificator deserves a get-out-of-jail-free card, these drug warriors
had better explain why."

Given their longstanding support for the Drug War, it's fair to ask:

Why haven't President George Bush or his tough-on-crime attorney general, John Ashcroft, uttered a word criticizing Limbaugh's law-breaking?

Why aren't drug czar John P. Walters or his predecessor, Barry McCaffrey, lambasting Limbaugh as a menace to society and a threat to
"our children?"

Why aren't federal DEA agents storming Limbaugh's $30 million Florida mansion in a frantic search for criminal evidence?

Why haven't federal, state, and local police agencies seized the celebrity's homes and luxury cars under asset-forfeiture laws?

Finally, why aren't bloviating blabbermouths like William Bennett publicly explaining how America would be better off if Limbaugh were prosecuted, locked in a steel cage and forced to abandon his wife, his friends, and his career?

The answer is obvious, Seehusen said: "America's drug warriors are shameless hypocrites who believe in one standard of justice for ordinary Americans and another for themselves, their families and their political allies.

"That alone should completely discredit them."

But there's an even more disturbing possibility, Seehusen said: that the people who are prosecuting the Drug War don't even believe in its central premise -- which is that public safety requires that drug users be jailed.

"The Bushes and Ashcrofts and McCaffreys of the world may believe, correctly, that individuals fighting a drug addiction deserve medical,
not criminal treatment," he said. "That would explain why they're not demanding that Limbaugh be jailed.

"But if that's the case, these politicians have spent decades tearing apart American families for their own political gain. And that's an
unforgivable crime."
****************************

And let us not forget the preferential treatment to the nephew of Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft, who received probation after a felony conviction in state court for growing 60 marijuana plants with intent to distribute.
http://dir.salon.com/politics/feature/2 ... index.html


OR
The president's niece accused of trying to use a forged prescription to buy Xanax and then was accused of having crack cocaine in her shoe while in drug rehab.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... bush_x.htm
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Offline Deborah

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2003, 02:20:00 AM »
What's up? Why do the Bushes have anxiety?

http://disc.server.com/=20discussion.cg ... tle=3DAPFN

The President's Drug Problem
Nov 2, 2003

"Our Man in Nirvana" is how the New York Times headlined an op-ed column (1/22/92) detailing the fact that President Bush has been taking benzodiazepene in the form of the prescription drug Halcion when he travels. Halcion is banned in England and three other countries. "When Halcion hits you," according to the Times column,
"it's as if an angel of the Lord appears in your bedroom and tells you that nothing is important, that everything you were worried about is happening on Mars and that nirvana, Lethe and the warm arms of mother are all waiting for you. People who have used heroin tell me Halcion is better than heroin for making bad thoughts simply
disappear. . . . It clouds judgment and forecloses careful analysis.
It makes the user alternately supremely confident and then panicky with an unnameable dread. It causes intense, truly terrifying forgetfulness, as well as a serene bliss about that forgetfulness."
This news was not picked up by the Associated Press or the mainstream media despite the warning in the penultimate paragraph that a "president with a chemical between himself and reality is the last thing America needs."

Journalists traveling with the president have expressed concern about Bush's zany behavior, irritability and difficulties in syntax, all of
which may be related to his drug problem. For example, the president complained to an aide over a microphone he thought had been turned off that he was tired of the snags that had embarrassed him at press conferences. His staff makes a list of questions to be asked by the audience and then hands him prepared answers. One question had been
asked out of order and the president later blew his top. "We've got to get this sorted out here," he said testily. "It happened last week, too. . .=A0 If I think it's going to be here [on the card with the answer] I don't listen to the question. I just look at this."

One day in New Hampshire he giddily referred to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band as "the Nitty Ditty Nitty Gritty Great Bird." He astonished reporters by responding to a question about his political problems with a non sequitur: "Don't cry for me, Argentina!" Asked about the possibility of extending unemployment benefits, he answered: "If a frog had wings, he wouldn't hit his tail on the ground. Too hypothetical."

Consider the shambles of the president's recent trip to the Far East. It began with an obscene and insulting gesture the president gave
demonstrators in the Australian capital as he drove by in his armored limousine-equivalent to the rude middle-finger salute in the United
States. It culminated in the humiliating scene when he vomited in the lap of the Japanese prime minister at a state dinner. The media placidly accepted the official report that he was suffering from "intestinal flu," although a Des Moines Register columnist pointedly asked "when was the last time you heard of anyone fainting from the flu? . . . Doctor friends tell me this is almost unheard of."
Researchers have reported that Halcion can cause anxiety, confusion, psychosis or seizures.

The president's press secretary revealed that Bush used Halcion "to fight jet lag" during his 12-day tour of Australia and Asia. The president's doctor says he will not exclude the possibility of prescribing Halcion in the future "if it is medically indicated."

It was the gossip columnist, Liz Smith-not our bland syndicated establishment-oriented editorial-page columnists or broadcast commentators-who had the guts to ask: "Can our Peerless Leader possibly be the victim of unwitting substance abuse?" Months earlier she had reported that Halcion was the "drug of choice" and was "being
taken in epidemic numbers on Air Force One by both an exhausted press and jet-lagged administration insiders." There are drug problems and there are drug problems, but the orthodox press picks and chooses the ones it wants to address-too often in inverse order of their
importance.
****************************

http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_02.1 ... ed0213.htm

All expressed concern about the terrifying side effects of Halcion -- bliss and supreme confidence followed by intense anxiety, hallucinations, amnesia, confusion, hostility and, in rare cases, violence. Some of the articles wondered whether the drug might explain Bush's extremely bizarre behavior and speech patterns during a mid-January trip to New Hampshire.

Now I'm also concerned about Brian Mulroney. We have seen an unsettling, obsequious harmony performed by Muldoon whenever Bush opens his yap. First there was George the Education President. Followed by Brian the Education Prime Minister. Then George the War on Drugs President (no jokes about Iraq and Halcion, please). Followed by Brian the War on Drugs Prime Minister. George the Get Thee Gone Sununu President. Followed by Brian the Get Thee Gone Norman Specter Prime Minister. Then George The Halcion President. Followed by ... two interesting columns from Toronto Sun columnist and former Muldoon flack Michel Gratton.

Gratton wrote on Feb. 8 and 9 about the Prime Minister's behavior at the Israeli Embassy in Ottawa. "The guests weren't so surprised by the PM's presence at a party for his former chief of staff and constitutional adviser as they were by his joviality. More than one commented they couldn't understand how he could be in such a pleasant mood when the sky is falling on his head." I don't know either, but Benjamin Stein wrote in the Jan. 22 NYTimes that Halcion, a "...chemical first-cousin to the tranquilizer Xanax, is in a class by itself for mind-altering effects. It is not a classic sedative, which basically just slow things down. No, benzodiazepenes are described by Halcion's maker, the Upjohn Company, as `anxiolytics,' meaning they literally cut the anxiety in your brain."

http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_01.3 ... ed0130.htm
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Offline Anonymous

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2003, 09:59:00 AM »
Why Such a long post, if we wanted to read the news we would have went to a news site. Anyways, it sounds like a left wing conspiracy to me.
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Offline Anonymous

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2003, 10:10:00 AM »
That's my feeling about it to anon. And there is the Open Free For All for posts of this nature.
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Offline Froderik

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #4 on: December 15, 2003, 10:12:00 AM »
Ooops, that was me..

That's my feeling about it too, anon. Too long, and this isn't a news site. Plus, there is the Open Free For All for posts of this nature...
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Offline Cayo Hueso

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2003, 12:32:00 PM »
I can understand the comment about this not being the thread to post that under...but Left Wing Conspiracy????....more like Right Wing Hypocrisy.

If All it takes is an infinite number of monkeys with type writers, then how come there's no Shakespeare coming out of AOL?
-- Anonymous

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t. Pete Straight
early 80s

Offline Anonymous

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2003, 06:26:00 PM »
Deborah, do you consider yourself a religious and political bigot? Anyone else have an opinion?
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Offline Deborah

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2003, 07:05:00 PM »
Neither. I dislike double standards.

Don't bother with the "other" opinions. If you're wondering how many others share your opinion on this topic (which you didn't bother to share), take a poll.

Are we to assume that it is just hunky dorey with you that we have thousands of folks in prison for non-violent, drug "crimes", yet folks like Ashcrofts nephew, Jebs daughter, and Limbaugh get their hands slapped? And that we had a president taking mind-altering drugs equivalent to heroine? It's all good though, cause it was "legal" mind altering drugs, correct?

"Republican and Democratic politicians have written laws that have condemned more than 400,000 Americans to prison for committing the same 'crime' as Rush Limbaugh," Seehusen pointed out. "If this pill-popping pontificator deserves a get-out-of-jail-free card, these drug warriors
had better explain why."

Okay with double standards? How would that classify you?
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Offline Anonymous

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2003, 07:48:00 PM »
Deborah,

I have seen several statements made by you that could make you appear as a bigot. Maybe your not, anyone else seen similar statements? If you don't mind discolsing your Political stand- Democrate, Republican, Liberal, Conservative and your Religion we may understand better.
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Offline Antigen

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2003, 09:29:00 PM »
reconsiDer: TIDBIT  
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This decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will, no doubt, be appealed to the Supreme Court by Ashcroft but as it now stands it is a major defeat for U.S. drug prohibition. An interesting ruling though... As Cliff Schaffer, host of the wonderful Schaffer Library (http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/index.htm) noted in a  post following the decision: "It is interesting that the dissenting judge argues that personal production of medical marijuana is commercial in that it could affect the black market. It might reduce the size of the black market and, therefore, the Commerce Clause applies. In other words, the purpose of the CSA is to protect the size of the black market in marijuana. What these people should be doing is buying their medical mj on the black market, in accordance with the law. Huh?"

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click here for this article's associated links
  A Landmark Victory

  Court Shoots Down Ashcroft on Medical Pot

By ANN HARRISON

Medical marijuana patients won a landmark legal victory December 16th
when the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal
government has no constitutional authority to prosecute two California
women for possessing and growing marijuana for their personal medical use.

Federal prosecutors have long argued that California's 1996 medical
marijuana law, Prop. 215, was superseded by the federal Controlled
Substances Act which outlaws the use or cultivation of marijuana for any
purpose. Law enforcement agents have used this reasoning to raid and
arrest medical marijuana patients and their caregivers. But in a 2-1
decision, the court found that if the marijuana is not purchased,
transported across state lines or used non-medically, the federal
government has no jurisdiction. The ruling covers the seven states in
the Ninth Circuit that have passed medical marijuana laws including
Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
California just passed another medical marijuana law, SB420 which goes
into effect next year.

The appeals court ruling was prompted by a lawsuit filed in October
2002, by medical marijuana patients Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson
plus Raich's two anonymous caregiver growers. It charged Attorney
General John Ashcroft and DEA Administrator Karen Tandy with exceeding
their authority by embarking on a campaign of seizing privately-grown
intrastate medical cannabis from California patients and caregivers. The
complaint charges that defendants harassed, arrested or prosecuted
patients, mounted paramilitary raids against them, and targeted patients
for other civil or administrative actions. In its ruling, the Ninth
Circuit remanded the case back to federal district court with
instructions to issue a preliminary injunction. The parties in the case
have several weeks to appeal the ruling.

If the case is not appealed, the district court will issue the
preliminary injunction which protects Raich and Monson from arrest by
federal agents. The two women argued that their use of marijuana
constituted a medical necessity. Raich says she has an array of serious
medical conditions including an inoperable brain tumor and a life
threatening wasting syndrome. Monson suffers from a degenerative disease
of the spine. Their situation is now similar to the six patients who
already receive medical marijuana from the U.S. Government under the
FDA's "Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program." Raich says she
hopes the ruling in Raich v. Ashcroft sends a message to Attorney
General John Ashcroft and DEA agents that their harassment of patients
is unconstitutional.

"I am totally ecstatic about what this decision will do not only for me,
but for hundreds of thousands of patients across the country," said
Raich who hopes it will help other patients with cases pending in
federal court. "Not too many people get to come up against someone who
is as evil as John Ashcroft and actually win and that feels very good. I
have the truth on my side, and it was nice to see the justices of the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals care about my life."

The ruling was also a sweet victory for Monson whose Oroville,
California home was raided in August 2002 by federal officials who
seized six of her medical marijuana plants. "Diane feels vindicated as a
person who suffered through a raid. This is a source of considerable joy
to her," said plaintiff's attorney Robert Raich who is also Angel
Raich's husband.

According to Robert Raich this is the first time the Controlled
Substances Act has been ruled unconstitutional. He says the court based
their decision on an interpretation of the Commerce Clause which governs
the federal government's ability to control interstate commerce. The
court found that the federal government lacked the power under this
clause to impose the federal law on plaintiffs.

Writing for the majority, Judge Harry Pregerson found that "The
intrastate, noncommercial cultivation, possession and use of marijuana
for personal medical purposes on the advice of a physician is, in fact,
different in kind from drug trafficking." The court further noted that
"this limited use is clearly distinct from the broader illicit drug
market, as well as any broader commercial market for medical marijuana,
insofar as the medical marijuana at issue in this case is not intended
for, nor does it enter, the stream of commerce."

But the dissenting opinion, written by Justice C. Arlen Beam, who was
visiting from the 8th Circuit, equated the actions of the plaintiffs
with those of a wheat farmer named Filburn. Beam felt constrained by the
1942 war-rationing decision in Wickard v. Filburn, which said that any
wheat grown anywhere, even for home use by the farmer who grew it, can
be regulated by Congress under the Commerce Clause. This dissent means
that the Supreme Court may have to revisit Wickard, which could
significantly reduce federal power to regulate local activities.

The plaintiffs had also argued that the federal Controlled Substances
Act violated state's rights and their right to be free from pain and
suffering under the 5th and 9th Amendments. But the court did not
address those arguments, nor did it consider the distribution and sale
of marijuana. The court is still considering these questions in another
appeal brought by the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana and the
Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative.

Robert Raich says it remains to be seen how the Ninth Circuit will use
this ruling as it fashions future decisions. "I would hope that the
court would use it as a springboard to provide additional ways for
patients to legally, under federal law, have access to their medicine,"
said Raich. "Now that we have secured the right of patients to possess
and use their medication, it is just another step to recognize that
patients have to be able to obtain it from somewhere."

Dale Gieringer, coordinator for the California branch of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, believes that an appeal
by the U.S. Justice Department to the Supreme Court appears certain.
"Nonetheless," said Gieringer in a statement, "Medical marijuana
supporters are optimistic of victory, due to the fact that the Ninth
Circuit's reasoning was based on recent Supreme Court precedents by the
court's' conservative majority restricting federal powers under
interstate commerce."

Angel Raich, who credits cannabis with getting her out of her
wheelchair, said she wants the Supreme Court justices to understand that
she doesn't have any other method or legal alternatives with which to
fight her illnesses. She says she is enormously grateful to her
physician, Dr. Frank Lucido, for having the courage to stand with her
and give a declaration under oath that states her medical conditions.
"If the cannabis were taken from me, not only would I die of starvation,
I would become crippled and die a torturous death and that is something
that really scares me." said Raich. "If they appeal the decision, I will
continue to fight this battle with every ounce of breath in my body."



----------
Associated links:
http://www.counterpunch.com/harrison12182003.html

*Ann Harrison* is a freelance reporter working in the Bay Area. She can
be reached at *ah@well.com *


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Offline Deborah

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2003, 11:36:00 PM »
I have seen several statements made by you that could make you appear as a bigot. Maybe your not, anyone else seen similar statements? If you don't mind discolsing your Political stand- Democrate, Republican, Liberal, Conservative and your Religion we may understand better.
*****************

While we're calling names, isn't there one for people who request personal information from someone without divulging anything about themselves? Sounds kinda like the double standard I so detest.

The only thing you need to "understand" is that you either agree or disagree with my opinions and imaginings. I imagine you disagree and rather than voicing your opposing opinions, you'd rather initiate an organized attack- "Anyone else"?

Get honest anon. Would it please you if I stopped posting, or, better yet, adopted "your" personal, passionate beliefs. Would you feel at peace then? Damn, wouldn't that make YOU a bigot?

PS An afterthought. IF the law applied to everyone equally despite social class or status, I imagine we'd see a real quick-fix to more reasonable laws, and the doing-away with many.  


[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2003-12-18 20:54 ]
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Offline Deborah

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Limbaugh- Double Standard in Drug War
« Reply #11 on: December 22, 2003, 09:26:00 AM »
http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?to ... &forum=9&3

Al Gore's Son Arrested for Pot Possession
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 20, 2003; 9:40 PM

Apparently not his first "offense"
http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml ... 1/18/13400
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gt;>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Hidden Lake Academy, after operating 12 years unlicensed will now be monitored by the state. Access information on the Federal Class Action lawsuit against HLA here: http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?t=17700