Congressman Bill Janklow Improves Congressional Ethics

"BB" wrote in news:u6qBb.5922$ snipped-for-privacy@nwrddc02.gnilink.net:

It's my understanding he acquired the large quantities of these drugs that he was using from sources other than doctors.

And regardless of the source, what he did is still drug abuse, and it's still illegal.

len.

Agreed. For his sake, I hope his lawyers are as effective as the Kennedy's.

BTW, you said he was getting off scot-free. I'll wager 5 to 1 he doesn't....

Now there's a weird case... I don't think anyone would have held it against him nearly as much, that he was dependent on opiates for relief of chronic pain, if he hadn't been making such a fuss about how "drug addicts ought to be in jail"...

I guess he was playing for cheap respectability points by "taking an anti-drug position", and it worked to his embarrassment when it became evident that he was preaching something different from what he practiced!

-dave w

No. He knew he had a medical condition that if ignored would put him and others at risk while driving, and drove anyway. IMHO driving under the influence of [lack of known medication] is jsut as bad as regular DUI. ANd should be a capital crime if it results in death.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Nope. Can't have one.

The gun range doesn't permit anything but paper targets.

Zooty

(Just as well. I'm out of wind-up Smurfs.)

My parents would have had more sense. A friend of mine with severe Crones disease got himself into a special program. As soon as the problem cropped up, he got help. He didn't go doctor shopping. He corrected the problem. He didn't buy drugs from his housekeeper.

He got help because he saw he needed it. Not because someone went to the press with a story about him.

Zooty

Some are, the way they handle narcotics.

That's one thing I never understood. Some doctors can get away with prescribing tons of heavy-duty painkillers to people who don't have significant problems.

Other doctors who treat terminal patients have the government go after them for treating pain properly in people dying from agonizing diseases.

Mostly, it seemed to do with how much money and how important the patient was. If you were rich and powerful enough, you could get what you wanted, even if you didn't need it. I'd say "Especially if you didn't need it" but that would be cynical. Oh, wait. I'm cynical.

(BTW: In case there's a narc reading this a) I already reported this to the police years ago - they yawned and b) limitations - my info's too old to do any good.)

Zooty

In Rush's defense, it is easy to get trapped, especially when the medicine is prescribed originally for a legitimate reason.

I can't say I understand it. I have a weird problem that opiates don't seem to work on me - Motrin's far more effective. But in talking with drug addicts, the stuff seems to screw with your ability to reason. The drugs become important. Once you're addicted, missing a dose hurts, and you get some rapid Pavlovian training. The brain lies to itself, making excuses, confabulating, doing whatever it takes to justify the next dose.

I don't really want to see Rush thrown in jail. I just want him to face that he's as much of a drug addict as the dude lying in the weeds by the river breathing once or twice a minute (if he's lucky).

Unless he confronts it, Rush will wind up back in the spin-dry. If he doesn't wind up lying in the weeds breathing once or twice a minute (if he's lucky).

Look, I've seen too many medical professionals screw up their lives because of drugs. They all seemed to think they could handle it. Well, they handled it all right. Two of them that I know did such a great job "handling it" that they're dead. A couple others might as well be.

Freaking waste. And it will be a freaking waste if Rush dies, too. I don't like the guy and I disagree with him a whole lot, but at least he's trying to rub the neurons together to generate a spark.

We'll all agree that attempting to think is too damn rare. It honks me off.

Just guessing, but I figure it's going to take at least one or two more rounds in the spin-dry before he gets off drugs for good. I hope I'm wrong.

Zooty

Bob, I agree. I just should have a put a in there to show sarcasm, sorry. (I'm especially 'impressed' by the fact that he was 'proud' of his lead-foot reputation, as the former chief law-enforcement officer of his state, and that he had so many previous speeding items on his record...)

David Erbas-White

I'm not a Limbaugh fan, but there's really NO comparison between his situation and Ted Kennedy's -- or even Bill Janklow. The latter two intentionally broke the law, resulting in the death of an innocent person (and one of them fled the scene to boot). Rush was taking doctor-prescribed medication for treatment of an injury and became addicted to it. Obtaining and using that drug illegally was definitely wrong but not even in the same category as Kennedy or Janklow's crimes.

Yep. That guy that got killed would have to have been driving a dumptruck to escape without death/serious injury.

Good thing caddys aren't usually blowing stop signs at 70+ mph. The chances of cashing in like that are about like winning the lottery...not very likely.

"BB" wrote in news:1OqBb.1396$ snipped-for-privacy@nwrddc03.gnilink.net:

No, I didn't. I made an analogy. he has, however, not been arrested or charged. I'm sure if some "ordinary" person had been caught like he was they'd be in jail now.

len.

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (RayDunakin) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m29.aol.com:

The intent of my comparison was with the knee jerk liberal smearing, not Kennedy specifically. I think Kennedy-worship is an embarassment to liberalism.

len.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Look at the case of Robert Downey Jr., for example. He was tried and convicted more than once, but I believe it was more because of "being a danger to self and others" than his simply using drugs. I think in Rush's case (and I'm not a fan of his by any stretch), the fact that he didn't cause any harm to himself or others, is, in MY mind, a major reason why it isn't 'necessary' to charge him with anything AT THIS TIME.

David Erbas-White

A personal, totally irrational prejudice I have is that all Cadillac drivers are to be considered menaces to life and limb.

And yes, when I drive a Caddy, this applies to me.

I'm sure there's good Caddy drivers out there. I'd bet that Caddies aren't terribly statistically over-represented in MVAs.

If anything, it may have more to do with the age of Cadillac drivers and the adequacy of their vision and reflexes at that age. I'm sure not being able to see over the steering wheel has something to do with it.

The concept of a Caddy SUV, however, strikes fear into my heart.

Totally irrational. It's one of my quirks, like watching airplanes as they fly by so that I can see the crash when it happens.

Zooty

You'd think he'd see the light and start arguing for relaxation of the silly anti-drug laws. Dependency on pain medication should be considered a bio-medical predicament, not a criminal matter.

I don't think anyone deserves to be "caught" and treated as a criminal for that... what I do feel scornful of Rush for, is that he was advocating "strict punishment for 'drug law violators'" while he was in the same damn situation himself. (I guess that "an anti-drug stance" was what he thought his audience expected of him - it's a Good Conservative Position, don't ya know...)

-dave w

I'm still waiting for "soma"

- iz :)

David We> You'd think he'd see the light and start arguing for relaxation

Why is getting drunk, driving while drunk, and then killing someone not premeditated murder. It's certainly a forseeable outcome of illegal actions.

Or driving while failing to take necessary medicine.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

The ones more interested in pushing pills than actually finding out what is wrong with paitents certainly are. I've had encounters with a few of them recently. They hand out pills and prescriptions like candy on Haloween.

I've bought syringes and needles for the past 12 years, and the only question I've ever been asked is if I'm using them on farm livestock. [mixing epoxy doesn't seem to be on their short list of applications]

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!