Posted on 06/27/2006 2:29:14 AM PDT by Caipirabob
Rush Limbaugh was briefly detained Monday at Palm Beach International Airport when customs agents inspected the conservative talk show host's luggage and found Viagra that belonged to two Florida doctors, authorities said.
"He was not arrested," Palm Beach County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Pete Palenzuela said.
Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, issued a statement through a spokesman saying that agents found a "non-narcotic prescription drug, which had been prescribed by Mr. Limbaugh's treating physician but labeled as being issued to the physician rather than Mr. Limbaugh for privacy purposes."
Limbaugh, 55, of Palm Beach, and three others arrived on a private jet from the Dominican Republic to the General Air Facility at PBIA on Monday afternoon, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service said.
Agents searched the plane during a routine customs inspection and found a pill bottle that was not in Limbaugh's name, said Jennifer Connors, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman. Agents confiscated the medicine and called the Sheriff's Office, which took over the investigation.
"Mr. Limbaugh was cooperative. He gave a statement that he had a bottle in his possession and that it was Viagra," said sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller, who noted that the prescription was filled in Florida.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
What? Of course he will do his show....this whole episode is a joke....the media looks ridiculous.
The first report if you recall was that Rush was held up for having prescription drugs..AMOUNT Not illegal, but it does raise eyebrows in Customs..AMOUNG THEM VIAGRA. Giving the impression he had multiple drugs. It was a slander hit piece tohurt him...period.
I'm not as confident as you regarding the potential severity of this case.IMO,Rush has discussed this matter,in detail,with his lawyer who,I'm sure,has advised him regarding the severity.I think that the more worried his lawyer is about his dilemma,the more likely he is to not be on the air today.
Of course,this is just a hunch.I could be wrong.
This is a non-story, except that it highlights the personal indignities that we have to go through while flying in the post-9/11 era. I hate the way elderly folks are treated when going through these checkpoints, but I don't want to digress too much.
On the other hand, I know why liberals love this story. Next time I tell a liberal friend or co-worker that practicing homosexuals are living in sin, I know what the answer will be:
"What is an unmarried Christian man doing with Viagra on his luggage while traveling to a Caribbean resort? Is there any little chance that a conservative icon is also living in sin?
I know! It's HARD to believe it didn't!
He didn't do anything wrong....where do you get this severity thing?
If no law was broken, I have a BIG PROBLEM with this being leaked to the media. It reinforces the problem with privacy rights with medical issues as well as government leaks as the officials are government employees and this should ALL be private stuff.
I'll bet this is a Hippa violation and RUSH could sue.
Then Rush wasted a lot of dough on that fancy attorney.
Rush could have gotten the same deal with a public defender, since as you stated, he got the standard deal for first-time offenders.
I hope his attorney gives him clearance to speak about the incident on his show today.
If I experience an erection lasting more than 4 hours, I will not only tell my doctor, but every damn person I see!!!
Rush should leave that colony of New York expatriates and snowbirds and go to another part of Florida which is still conservative.
Better yet, he should go to Idaho or Montana which is still a part of real America.
The fact that U.S. Customs colluded with the local withc-hunters is despicable and heads should roll in that Federal agency. Their actions are reminiscent of IRS and its activities under Clinton.
If the beliefs I expressed and the assumptions I've made in post #106,138 and 157 are valid/correct then I very much suspect that you're wrong.However,I'm not a lawyer...or a physician...or a pharmacist,so I could very well be wrong.
Also,I wonder if anything that happened might be a violation (or be seen by the county prosecutor as a violation) of the "plea bargain" (my words) that he agreed to not long ago.
Thanks for the ping!
Rush probably was on a golf trip to DR; I understand some great courses are located there...as far as the Viagra, my guess is that he packs it to keep from .......er, from rolling out of bed at strange hotels!
"If I experience an erection lasting more than 4 hours, I will not only tell my doctor, but every damn person I see!!!"
If you have to TELL them, you may not want to admit it ;-)
C.S. Lewis had the number of the self-righteous better than anyone I know:
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under live robber barons than under omnipotent moral busibodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good, will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." ~ C.S. Lewis
I thought this would be a joke when I clicked on to your post, which I certainly agree with. For some reason, I am really livid about this latest hounding of Rush by the media. I hope he finds a way to retaliate. Is the public now to be informed of the medical findings in every persons luggage? Are we now entitled to know when female passengers with a similar sentence as Rush has are caught carrying prescription birth control pills? There is privacy for America's enemies and the MSM, but it is open season on private citizens. I want vengence!!!
I agree wholeheartedly with you. Criminal harrassment comes to mind.
Veddy intelestingggg.
"Pretty standard" isn't the same as "standard." There are good, smart, driven public defenders, but there are also lazy ones who will do the least possible work to get their check. It's a crapshoot. A lazy PD would have pushed for a plea bargain, probation with a record, rather than pre-trial intervention with no record.
As in most things, you get what you pay for.
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