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Taste of his own medicine
NY Times via Kansas City Star ^ | May 09, 2006 | JOHN TIERNEY

Posted on 05/09/2006 5:18:22 PM PDT by neverdem

Now that Rush Limbaugh has managed to keep himself out of prison, the punishment he once advocated for drug abusers, let me suggest a new cause for him: speaking out for people who can handle their OxyContin.

Like Limbaugh, Richard Paey suffers severe back pain. Also like Limbaugh, he was accused of illegally obtaining large quantities of painkillers. Florida authorities zealously pursued them for years.

Unlike Limbaugh, Paey went to prison. He’s serving the third year of a 25-year term. His wife told me that when he heard how Limbaugh settled his case last week — by agreeing to pay $30,000 and submit to drug tests — Paey offered a simple explanation: “The wealthy and influential go to rehab, while the poor and powerless go to prison.”

He has a point, although I don’t think that’s the crucial distinction between the cases. Paey stood up for his belief that patients in pain should be able to get the medicine they need. Limbaugh so far hasn’t stood up for any consistent principle except his right to stay out of jail.

He has portrayed himself as the victim of a politically opportunistic prosecutor determined to bag a high-profile trophy, which is probably true. But that’s standard operating procedure in the drug war supported by Limbaugh and his fellow conservatives.

Drug agents and prosecutors are desperate for headlines because they have so little else to show for their work. The drug war costs $35 billion a year and has yet to demonstrate any clear long-term benefits — precisely the kind of government boondoggle that conservatives like Limbaugh ought to view skeptically.

Yet conservatives go on giving more money and more power to the drug cops. When critics complained about threats to civil liberties in the USA Patriot Act, President Bush defended it by...

(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: dea; rushlimbaugh; wod
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To: neverdem
Yeah, but what has this Paey guy ever done about the
BORDERS???

< \THREAD HIJACK>

21 posted on 05/09/2006 5:53:01 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat ((I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!))
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To: dhs12345

"Sounds like he was more than just a user.'

Post 12 "Paey is serving prison time for drug distribution not because he's guilty of actually distributing drugs — the state admits as much"


22 posted on 05/09/2006 5:54:02 PM PDT by jwh_Denver (Illegal immigration 24/7, the GOP ain't making it 24/7, Oil 24/7)
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To: Paladin2

Feudal Lord Vincente whose drug traffic profits would be severely curtailed doesn't want border security ... hint, hint, hint


23 posted on 05/09/2006 5:58:01 PM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: Fred Nerks
There's got to be something rotten in Florida IMO.

I'm afraid it's just petty, vindictive bureaucrats in Florida's Dept. of Corrections. Thanks for posting the story.

24 posted on 05/09/2006 6:01:49 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: mhx
One clue is in the article- he apparently mouthed off that he "had a right" to do what he did. Fits in with his rich-poor Trotskyite talk.

Judges and juries frequently are swayed by shows of remorse, admissions of guilt, and promises not to do it again, and plea bargains are another good way to get out of doing time (and a plea bargain includes an admission of guilt and an monitored promise to not do it again called probation). "Repent and sin no more" comes to mind as a lesson in forgiveness.

Judges and juries are frequently not impressed with defendants who refuse to admit guilt (claiming a right is salt in that) and who are unrepentant and unremorseful.

Now, that may not be just or moral but I've been in enough courtrooms to see the dynamic. A judge in LA handed a six month sentence to a gang member who huffed, "So?" and the judge changed it to eighteen months on the spot. The gang banger was silent at that point.

And the unknown part of the story may lie in the "distribution" statement, which may simply be a statutory requirement based on quantity, a la possession with intent to distribute, or maybe more, I can't say.
25 posted on 05/09/2006 6:04:09 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: neverdem
Limbaugh objected when prosecutors, unable to come up with enough evidence against him, demanded to be allowed to go through his medical records in the hope of finding something. He managed to stop them in court, but other defendants can’t afford long legal battles to protect their privacy.

Actually, I think the prosecutors did get to see Limbaugh's medical records. If there was anything in them that they could have used against Rush, I believe they would have.

26 posted on 05/09/2006 6:06:56 PM PDT by knuthom
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To: Cecily
The 25 year term that Richard Paey got is a travesty.

That doesn't seem right to me either. Could be more to it, maybe he's a repeat offender or the drugs were harder.

27 posted on 05/09/2006 6:09:42 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: DBrow

Well, 25 years in jail for a disabled man with a legitimate need for painkillers ought to show him real good!

Jebby needs to spring this man ASAP.


28 posted on 05/09/2006 6:11:59 PM PDT by Cecily
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To: Fred Nerks

Looks like they were making an example out of him for not taking a plea bargain. 25 years is way out of line unless he had prior convictions.


29 posted on 05/09/2006 6:12:42 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: neverdem

This guy seems to have a problem with Rush skating. I wonder how he feels about Patches.


30 posted on 05/09/2006 6:17:48 PM PDT by sgtbono2002
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To: neverdem
And?

If there were a case against Rush Limbaugh the prosecutor would not have agreed to the "plea".

Case closed.

Get a life, Mr. Tierney.

31 posted on 05/09/2006 6:22:07 PM PDT by manwiththehands
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To: neverdem

This post is pretty lame, which is it ,Limbaugh or the drug cops you after or will any ole' conservative do.


32 posted on 05/09/2006 6:48:27 PM PDT by lonedawg (why does that rag on your head say holiday inn?)
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To: Reaganwuzthebest

Me thinks! the whole story hasn't been told>


33 posted on 05/09/2006 6:50:38 PM PDT by lonedawg (why does that rag on your head say holiday inn?)
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To: neverdem

The wealth and the powerful hired big shot legal talent and spend millions to fight the system. It has NOTHING to do with anything other then the basic corruption of our legal system. Justice may be blind, she is also a hooker available to the buyer who can meet her price.


34 posted on 05/09/2006 7:11:36 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (Third Party Freepers: Rebels without a clue.)
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To: lonedawg
the whole story hasn't been told

Probably, he should appeal it.

35 posted on 05/09/2006 7:25:56 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: neverdem

The sentence this guy got handed to him is insane! Unless there is more that's unknown here, be basically got sent to prison for 25 years for trying to get his pain relieved. Unless it's a pain clinic, doctors almost never prescribe anywhere near enough medicine to help a patient deal with such things, I know this from experience. Sometimes it seems they are more concerned with liability issues than helping people who really need it.

Justice wasn't served in this case. No one was harmed. This guy may have violated some man made laws, but I don't see how he can go to prison longer than most child molesters and many murderers.


36 posted on 05/09/2006 7:36:31 PM PDT by KoRn
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To: traviskicks

WOD insanity ping.


37 posted on 05/09/2006 7:38:18 PM PDT by KoRn
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To: LADY J

The Salvation Army is a great source of free rehabilitation and after placement programs.

If the guy truly needed pain medication then I don't understand his logic that he needed to go to rehab that he could not afford. How did he afford the drugs from the pharmacy or was he buying them off the street?


38 posted on 05/09/2006 8:02:56 PM PDT by not2worry (What goes around comes around.)
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To: Recovering_Democrat
Yeah, but what has this Paey guy ever done about the BORDERS???

About as much as George Bush...

39 posted on 05/09/2006 8:03:16 PM PDT by Iscool (You mess with me, you mess with the whole trailer park...)
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To: Howlin
Wow, a border hijack attempt and Terri Schivao hijack attempt all in the same thread.
40 posted on 05/09/2006 8:05:07 PM PDT by COEXERJ145 (Real Leaders Base Their Decisions on Their Convictions. Wannabes Base Decisions on the Latest Poll.)
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