Radio host Rush Limbaugh has agreed to a deal with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office to end the investigation into his “doctor shopping” prescription drug case. The investigation has dragged through the courts for the last few years, with the prosecution recently winning the release of some of Mr. Limbaugh’s relevant medical records, yet no charges have ever resulted. On Friday, however, Mr. Limbaugh appeared for booking, posted bail and was released. Limbaugh attorney Roy Black released a statement:

Settlement Agreement Ends State Investigation of Rush Limbaugh
April 28, 2006

Palm Beach, FL – April 28, 2006 – In response to media and other inquiries, Roy Black, Rush Limbaugh’s attorney, released the following statement today concerning a settlement agreement with the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office to end the investigation of Mr. Limbaugh:

"I am pleased to announce that the State Attorney’s Office and Mr. Limbaugh have reached an agreement whereby a single count charge of doctor shopping filed today by the State Attorney will be dismissed in 18 months. As a primary condition of the dismissal, Mr. Limbaugh must continue to seek treatment from the doctor he has seen for the past two and one half years. This is the same doctor under whose care Mr. Limbaugh has remained free of his addiction without relapse.

"Mr. Limbaugh and I have maintained from the start that there was no doctor shopping, and we continue to hold this position. Accordingly, we filed today with the Court a plea of ‘Not Guilty’ to the charge filed by the State.

"As part of this agreement, Mr. Limbaugh also has agreed to make a $30,000 payment to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation. The agreement also provides that he must refrain from violating the law during this 18 months, must pay $30 per month for the cost of "supervision" and comply with other similar provisions of the agreement.
"Mr. Limbaugh had intended to remain in treatment. Thus, we believe the outcome for him personally will be much as if he had fought the charge and won."

The actions taken today are as follows:

• The State Attorney has filed a single charge of doctor shopping with the Court. The charge is being held in abeyance under the terms of an agreement between the State and Mr. Limbaugh.

• Mr. Limbaugh has filed a plea of "Not Guilty" with the Court.

The formal agreement between Mr. Limbaugh and the State Attorney will be filed with the Court on Monday. The terms of the agreement are substantively as follows:

• Mr. Limbaugh will continue in treatment with the doctor he has seen for the past two and one half years.

• After Mr. Limbaugh completes an additional 18 months of treatment, the State Attorney has agreed to drop the charge.

• Mr. Limbaugh has agreed to make a $30,000 payment to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation.

Media coverage is naturally stilted, given that a conservative figure is involved. From the Palm Beach Post:

Limbaugh, booked and out of jail within an hour, will likely never have to darken the courthouse door or plead guilty to the crime, though.

The disappointment that Mr. Limbaugh is apparently “off the hook” seems to be seeping through. Of course, our Liberal friends have invested significant energy into the case, hoping beyond hope for a felony conviction to silence their political enemy. Perhaps now that the Palm Beach State Attorney’s crusade to clean up talk radio is drawing to a close he can turn his attention to Hollywood, popular music, or even Washington D.C., where drug problems and skeletons in the closet are regarded as resume enhancements instead of legal entanglements.

E-mail the author or leave a comment below.

Have a great weekend!

[Editor’s Note– representatives of St. Luke’s are being contacted and offered an opportunity to submit their perspective on this issue for publication on LST.]

UPDATE: The Chronicle gives more info. It looks like another meeting of doctors will be held on Tuesday to reassess her case, "including Dr. Matthew Lenz, a doctor of internal medicine identified by Texas Right to Life as a candidate to take over the case."

It is unclear what might come of the meeting - a short-term extension of Clark’s life support and care; the scheduling of a new ethics committee metting at which Lenz would advocate for Clark; or a complete revocation of plans to discontinue Clark’s care.

Previous LST postings with background here and here.

It seems that St. Lukes has stopped the transfer of Andrea Clark to the facility in Chicago.

According to Right Wing News, about 20 minutes before the transfer was to occur, St. Lukes informed the family the transfer was off. 

The date life support was to be pulled was on Sunday, since "reasonable notice" had been given.  Now St. Lukes will give the family until TUESDAY.

My Right Wing Conspiracy received an email from Andrea’s Clark’s other sister, Lanore Dixon:

This afternoon, twenty minutes before Andrea was due to be transported by ambulance to the airport, her doctor (or rather, the one filling in for her doctor who has gone on vacation this week–how VERY convenient!) came into her room and informed me she would not be transferred to the Chicago facility after all. After questioning the doctor I learned that someone messed up–I don’t know which end the foul up occurred, but this all goes to show the danger of being forced to choose a healthcare facility due to pressure of an ethics committee ruling… This so called LTAC was nothing more than a nursing home with dialysis machine in the basement. They had no ability to administer the medications Andrea requires.

Somehow, the blogosphere knew about the inadequacy of the LTAC before either the family or the hospital did–probably due to me posting the new mailing address where Andrea can recieve cards and letters. Don’t use the Illinois address, folks!

While we’re grateful that St. Luke’s halted the transfer before Andrea was moved, I cannot tell you the stress this has put on our family. We are exhausted from this effort, but we will continue to fight for our sister.

St. Luke’s has agreed not to pull Andrea’s life support at least until Tuesday. On Tuesday, a committee of doctors from St. Luke’s will meet to discuss how to proceed with Andrea’s case. Andrea’s new doctor–a doctor who shares our values about the sacredness of life–will take over her care on Tuesday and will fight for her right to live. Let us all hope and pray that the committee meeting on Tuesday is chaired by doctors who have a reverence for life and not a former abortionist like the St. Luke’s ethics committee chair.

Please pass this info on. I’m sending it to a few prolife blogs, but I’m using the computer in patient services and don’t have much time.

This is unbelievable!!!

I guess St. Luke’s thinks the whole thing will now go away since they almost broke their arm patting themselves on the preverbial back congratulating themselves for showing "compassion and the best interests of the patient" to the Houston Chronicle.

This cannot stand; this patient is a person.  This could be you or someone you love someday.

What you can do:

• Call St. Luke’s 832-355-1000
• Pray for Andrea and her family (they must be totally exhausted now)

More:

Melanie sent an email yesterday to Prolife Blogs.com to thank people for the help and prayers.  I think this is important for your to see:

As you know, I’m a Democrat, but one that is against abortion. I agree with the Republicans on that issue, at least. After this experience, though, I have to tell you: I am in absolute awe of the power that the right to life people generate. I, of course, first posted on Democratic Underground, and I have to give them some credit: they let my post stand against the rules about posting something like this under the wrong topic. They also let it stand, even though it had people’s (my sister’s and mine) personal numbers in it. And, of course, some people there forwarded it to other blogs. And everyone there was very supportive in their comments, as well.

But the pro-life people stepped forward and just absolutely ground St. Luke’s into submission on this issue. You have, without a doubt, saved my sister’s life. I want you to know that. Without the pro-life/right to life people stepping in from the very first of this fight for Andrea, we would have lost. I have never in my life seen such a centered, focused and energized group of people.

You used that energy and focus to do some good in this world and you didn’t care whether you were fighting for a Democrat’s life or a Republican’s. Now, that’s conviction.
There are not enough words in the English language to tell you how grateful I and my family are, for what you people have done. When we protested at St. Luke’s last Saturday, the strangers that showed up were people that had had relatives killed at St. Luke’s in much the same way that St. Luke’s had planned to kill my sister. These people hadn’t known any better, and they hadn’t known that there was such a powerful group of individuals out there, devoted to this one cause, that might be able to help them.

Because of the people in the pro-life movement, a light has been shown on the truth, for all of Texans; indeed, for all of the world to see. May God bless you for your works. And, please, do not hesitate to ask myself or my family, for anything that you may ever need in order to continue your fight for these precious lives. We are here for you and your cause, as you were here for us in ours.

We are making a difference.

Andrea is not out of the woods yet.  St. Lukes still has her and she is still in danger of having her life support removed.

We need to keep going and helping this famly.

I will update when I have more information.

UPDATE II: Pro Life Blogs is reporting that a Cease and Desist Order/Motion is being filed on Monday.  This will attempt to stop St. Lukes from any further movement to cut off Andrea’s life support.

Hattip: My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

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It’s time for the April stop on the LST Barblogging Tour. It will be held TONIGHT, Friday, April 28th, starting at 6:00 p.m.

By popular demand, this one is going to be up in the Cypress area, at Sports N More, located at 9740 Barker Cypress. It’s less than a mile north of West Road. Here’s a map. Sports N More is a cool place with a big granite bar, lots of tables and a bajillion TVs, including one significantly larger than my house. It’s also owned by an LST reader, who assures me that his establishment has the coldest beer in town.

Here’s the kicker. I’ll also award the title of Honorary LST Brewmaster to Buddy, who was the highest bidder. Buddy will receive:

• Dinner
• Booze
• An engraved memento, suitable for display in place of his wedding photo album
• A 22-oz. beer stein emblazoned with the famous LST "ranger badge" logo. Perfect for your morning "coffee."

And the best prize of all: POWER. That’s right, Buddy will officially announce the date and location of the May Barblogging Tour Stop.

Want to know why LST was down this morning? Our excellent web hosting company, Hosting Matters, was struck with a major denial-of-service attack, knocking several high-profile conservative blogs offline.

Michelle Malkin reports that the culprits have been traced to Saudi Arabia. The attack was targeted at Aaron’s CC blog, which dared to post controversial images about Islam.

My RSS reader was spattered with red text, indicating sites that are unavailable. Lists are available at my blog and at Michelle’s

It looks like most of the affected sites are back up and running now. The key exception is Aaron’s CC, which has been moved in an attempt to isolate the attack and keep it from affecting other Hosting Matters customers.

We stand in solidarity with our blogospheric brothers, and we’d like to address a statement to the cyberjihadis behind these attacks:

Dear punks,

Kiss our infidel asses.

Love,
Civilization

A new threat in the War on Drugs has emerged… but it’s no match for our proven success strategies!

Teachers are finding a growing number of students using a cheap, heroin-laced powder that can be packed under fingernails and discreetly taken during class, school officials said Thursday.

"Cheese," a combination of trace amounts of heroin and over-the-counter cold medicine, began appearing in Dallas high schools and middle schools in August. The tan, crumbly drug sells for as little as $2 and can become addictive after as few as three times, Dallas ISD spokesman Donald Claxton said.

[Courtesy AP, via the Houston Chronicle; emphasis added by LST]

Success strategy to defeat this challenge:

1. Make it illegal.
2. Tell young people doing drugs is stupid.
3. Get tough on the punks producing this junk.
4. Just sit back and wait for The Victory to arrive!

I estimate we should have this problem cleaned up in a few months… a year, tops.

The movie, United 93 opens on today.

It is the movie about the 4th hijacked flight on 9/11 which ended in a field in Shanksville, PA instead of the intended target in Washington D.C. (The intended target is thought to be the U.S. Capitol). All persons on board were killed.

This will not be an "easy" or "entertaining" movie. It will not make you forget the world; if anything it promises to re-focus it.

My 14 year old daughter has told me she wants to see it; frankly, I don’t. I watch the trailers and get teary eyed.

But I almost feel it is a "duty" to see this film and support it.

For the most part, the reviewers have given it great reviews. But, as usual, there are some criticisms, such as:
• It is not a "true" film in that we will never know exactly what happened on that flight (as if that has stopped Hollywood before);
• It is propaganda;
• The film is making money on the tragedy of these people, i.e. exploitive (again, as if this has stopped Hollywood before);

Frankly, I think every passenger and crew-member on United 93 should be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.  To me it is a travesty that more has not been done, officially and otherwise, to honor this first group of individuals to report and fight in what has been termed "The Global War on Terror".  They were the "United 93 Militia".  They reported for duty and fought heroically and honorably. They did so faster than any of us were able comprehend the events of that day, let alone get into the action. They utilized their wits, bodies and whatever object they could fashion into weapons.

I am not upset that this movie was made.  If anything, I’m sorry more have NOT been made. I just don’t know if emotionally, I can handle it, which is embarrassing to admit. (Tears are spilling onto my keyboard as I write this.)

I will be a basket case in the movie itself.

I’m interested in what the readers of LST think.

More info on the movie here.

Kristen Mack in today’s Houston Chronicle:

Republican nominee Dan Patrick, the odds-on favorite to win the District 7 state Senate seat, won’t take office for another eight months. Yet he’s already trying to exert his influence in Austin. [snip]

House Speaker Tom Craddick was counting on the vote of Houston-area lawmakers to pass a new business tax proposed by Gov. Rick Perry as a way of meeting a court-imposed deadline for changes in the state’s school finance system.

But they came home over the weekend and got nervous when they had to face opposition up close and personal from constituents who had heard Patrick’s commentaries against the tax plan. [snip]

Patrick called out the Houston-area Republican representatives who voted for the tax bill. It wasn’t personal, he said, just policy. [snip]

"We said if we won, we would be going to Austin to stir things up," Patrick said."We’ve already started and it’s not even January."

 

One solution to high gas prices…
Persuading a drunk German to drag
your car around by his ear…

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According to Reuters this coming May 1st could bring another round of illegal immigrant marches in streets across America.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pro-immigration activists say a national boycott and marches planned for May 1 will flood U.S. streets with millions of Latinos to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants and shake the ground under Congress as it debates reform.

"There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We’re going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it debates the issue.

"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez said. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1."

"This is going to be really big. We’re going to have millions of people," said Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the Latino Movement USA. "We are not concerned at all. We believe it’s possible for Congress to get the message that the time to act is now."

They vow that America’s major cities will grind to a halt and its economy will stagger as Latinos walk off their jobs and skip school.
[Emphasis added by LST]

No mention of what flag-flying policies will be employed during these marches, but we have already witnessed the Mexican sympathies of previous demonstrations. And since most of our elected representatives have all but abandoned the concept of enforcing the country’s borders, it is left to private citizens to speak out.

"It’s intimidation when a million people march down main streets in our major cities under the Mexican flag," said Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman volunteer border patrol group. "This will backfire," he said.

It is galling enough that millions of persons feel perfectly at ease crossing illegally into a nation then demanding amnesty for flouting the law, yet the sting of elected representatives seemingly more responsive to illegal aliens than their own citizens bites deeper still.

HPD Chief Harold Hurtt’s proposals for new gold badges and TaserCams haven’t done much to stem the tide of violence in the Bayou City, so the Chief is bringing out the big guns.

Citizens of Houston, behold the Winnebago of Justice:

Officers will dispatch a mobile command unit into the areas which need it the most and they’ll make arrests all night and all day.

Cops arresting bad guys? Even at night? It’s just crazy enough to work! Of course, it’s unclear where the officers will come from, considering HPD’s manpower shortage, but that’s a minor detail now that we have the Winnebago of Justice.

Channel 2 has more about the fearsome crime-stomping vehicle:

U-net, which stands for Unified Neighborhood Enhancement Team, is a police station on wheels where officers can access information and process criminals.

Officials said the mobile command post would direct logistics for more efficient crime fighting in three southwest Houston police districts that have experienced the largest rise in violent crime.

Gosh, how did this town ever function without the Winnebago of Justice? I shudder to think of the Dark Ages when we put actual cops on the streets, armed only with their wits, police cruisers, sidearms, shotguns, Tasers, handcuffs, batons, radios, computers and bulletproof vests.

[Hat-tip: blogHOUSTON]

[Editor’s Note– representatives of St. Luke’s are being contacted and offered an opportunity to submit their perspective on this issue for publication on LST.]

UPDATE: I have received an email from Andrea’s sister, Melanie, as well as talked with her on the phone.

I asked Melanie if the "deal" St. Luke’s offered in terms of paying for Andrea’s transportation to Illinois was correct. She wrote to me:

Yes, it’s true.  We don’t want Andrea to be moved so far away from her family in Texas, but we are so frightened that another Texas hospital will start the futility process on her again, I think we have no other choice.

Think about that folks, the family is FRIGHTENED to have their sister in a Texas Hospital.

So, here we are, in Texas, having to move our sister to a hospital across the country.  One way or another, I guess, this will break our family.  What a horrible decision to have to make.

This should bring a chill to everyone’s spine. 

The family will probably end up taking "the deal" and have Andrea transported to Illinois at St. Luke’s cost.

I hope my family fights for me like Andrea’s family has fought for her.

According to Melanie, Andrea does come out of her drug induced slumber from time to time and "mouths" to her family that she is "scared", "I love you" and "I miss you"!

I don’t know about you, but my heart is just breaking for these people………….

There is Breaking News in the Andrea Clark case, in which I wrote about here the other day.

Hyscience has the tip:

We’ve just received breaking news from a representative of the family of Andrea Clark about incredible and reprehensible actions underway by St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas.

The family learned of a facility in Illinois that is willing to accept Andrea and offer her the opportunity to live, an expensive move that would require Andrea to be far removed from her family.

However, placing corporate greed ahead of all patient interests and the interests and wishes of the family, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital has just notified the family that they are willing to pay the almost $17,000 to move Andrea to Illinois if they will immediately - that’s TODAY, move Andrea out of St. Lukes to the Illinois facility. If the family waits until tomorow to decide, St. Lukes will only pay half. And if the family can’t make a decision by tomorow, the hospital may consider to pay absolutely nothing. In other words, the hospital is attempting to force Andrea out of the hospital in order to stop the financial drain of the cost of her care.

Meanwhile, the family is struggling to find a facility in Texas that will accept Andrea, who has insurance, but is being squeezed also by the insurance company. Is this fair?

The family needs time to make such a momentous decision, one that places their mother and sister far away from them and a patient that needs her family far removed from home. Although moving Andrea to Illinois is better than the alternative - essentially being euthanized by St. Lukes Hospital in Texas under an incredible law that encourages murder for profit, the family deserves time to descide.

Please call St. Luke’s: 832-355-100; tell them how you feel about this (politely and calmly).

Then pray for Andrea and her family. They need it.

I am trying to get more information in the meantime.

Please make sure anyone that has been interested in this story gets this information.

Thanks to Rorschach for the tip!

UPDATE: National Review weighs in.

Here is more information written by Melanie, Andrea’s sister, from a post in the DU.

LST’s crack research staff has been following this one with interest:

Vice investigators could not find obvious signs of sexual contact depicted in a video of a Valentine’s dance sponsored by Madison High School, police said on Wednesday.

"By looking at the tape, you can’t make any conclusions that there was obvious lewdness, but you might have parents and others say that some actions might have been inappropriate," said John Cannon, a Houston Police Department spokesman. -snip-

HPD was unable to conclude whether one particular couple engaged in especially raunchy dancing made sexual contact.

[Hat-tip: Houston Chronicle]

The solution here seems simple– release the tape!

We’ll host it here on LST, and let our regular commenters decide.

Courtesy the Chronicle-Herald of Halifax, Nova Scotia:

A Cape Breton woman whose son survived a fall from a sixth-floor balcony in Mexico says doctors there won’t set his broken bones without cash up front.

Carol Campbell says her son, Jason Campbell, broke both legs and his pelvis in the fall last Wednesday at a Mexican tourist resort in Puerto Vallarta, where he remains in hospital.

His mother says since then, the 25-year-old has been given only pain medication and antibiotics.

"My son is still laying there with broken legs, broken pelvis, bones coming out of his legs," the woman told Global News on Monday in Sydney.

"His legs are swelling worse than balloons, his eye, I don’t know what state his eye is in, his teeth, he’s bruised everywhere."

Jason Campbell was in Mexico with friends. His family admits he had been drinking before he fell.

His father, Wallace Campbell, says "all I know is, from the doctors down there, is he is going to be paralyzed for the rest of his life and as far as internal bleeding, they won’t let me know anything."

The family says doctors are demanding up to $40,000 to treat Campbell’s broken bones.

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