Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Monday, May 08, 2006

20060508 Kennedy Mills and Limbaugh


Kennedy Mills and Limbaugh


A Tale of Double Standards

May 8th, 2006

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Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In on Fraud Charges, Reaches Settlement

“Friday, April 28, 2006 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.Rush Limbaugh and prosecutors in the long-running painkiller fraud case against him have reached a deal calling for the only charge against the conservative commentator to be dropped if he continues treatment, his attorney said Friday.

“Limbaugh was booked on a single charge that was filed Friday, said Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County Jail. He left about an hour later, after Limbaugh was photographed and fingerprinted and he posted $3,000 bail, Barbera said.

“The radio giant's agreement to enter a diversionary program ends a three-year state investigation that began after Limbaugh publicly acknowledged being addicted to pain medication and entered a rehabilitation program.”

Read the rest at: Rush Limbaugh Turns Himself In on Fraud Charges, Reaches Settlement

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KENNEDY/RUSH DOUBLE STANDARDS

By Michelle Malkin May 08, 2006 09:43 PM

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What's in a Name? Plenty If It's Kennedy

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 8, 2006; C01

It's hard to imagine that Patrick Kennedy would have gotten elected to Congress a dozen years ago without his last name.

It's equally hard to imagine that the media would be going wild about his late-night car crash and prescription drug addiction if he weren't a Kennedy.

The only lingering mystery is why national news organizations didn't pounce earlier on the Rhode Island Democrat's long history of alcohol and drug abuse, depression and a series of downright embarrassing incidents.

The answer in large measure is that Kennedy hasn't been a very important House member. But given the journalistic obsession with the Kennedy family and its tragicomic soap opera, he does seem to have gotten an easy ride -- except in the New England press, which has chronicled his every misstep.

While Kennedy, the 38-year-old son of Ted Kennedy, was widely reported to have held a news conference Friday, it was nothing of the sort. He read a statement designed to elicit sympathy, saying he was going into rehab, and took no questions. This amounted to an age-old damage-control technique: changing the subject.

Read the rest: What's in a Name? Plenty If It's Kennedy

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Patrick Kennedy & Double Standards

05/05 04:37 PM

By Mark Levin on the Mark Levin Blog, National Review Online

“I don't wish anyone ill, except our nation's enemies. It's a good thing that Patrick Kennedy is going back into rehab. But I am very angry.

“For nearly three years we witnessed the persecution of Rush Limbaugh, who became addicted to painkillers resulting from back and neck problems. We witnessed leaks by prosecutors who spread lies about him being involved in money laundering, drug rings, and doctor shopping. But the media happily repeated them. Some mocked him.”

Read the rest at: Patrick Kennedy & Double Standards

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PATRICK KENNEDY SHOULD RESIGN

By Michelle Malkin May 05, 2006 04:33 PM

Nope, I didn't say it. Here's the call from a commenter at--yes, it's true--The Daily Kos:

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KENNEDY PRESS CONFERENCE

By Michelle Malkin May 05, 2006 03:04 PM

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The Baltimore Sun does not use permalinks. Pasted below is the entire article by Annie Linskey, which appeared in the Baltimore Sun on May 5th, 2006:

Ex-sportscaster Mills sentenced to house arrest


He pleads guilty to stealing prescription painkillers from neighbor

By Annie Linskey

Sun Reporter

Originally published May 5, 2006, 9:58 PM EDT

Former WMAR sportscaster Keith Ross Mills was sentenced Friday to nine months of house arrest for stealing prescription painkillers from his next-door neighbor in Linthicum, a woman with cancer.

Mills, 48, pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary before Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Joseph P. Manck.

At Friday's hearing, the neigbhbor, Ladye Parsons, testified that Mills' actions had disrupted her sense of security. "I haven't beaten cancer," she said. "I'd like to know that I can die at home and pain-free."

Afterwards, she said the sentence was "more than fair."

Mills, who has been battling addiction to prescription drugs for several years, apologized to Parsons in court, saying he did not mean to make her feel unsafe and adding: "If I need to move out of my house, I will."

After his arrest in January, Mills lost his job at Channel 2, where he had worked for 18 years. Addressing the judge Friday, he said: "I have been humbled by this experience -- embarrassed, humiliated, but humbled more than anything."

Drew Berry, WMAR's general manager, did not return repeated phone calls Friday.

Parsons went to the police in early January to share her suspicions that someone had been stealing money, jewelry and medications from her home since October 2003, according to charging documents.

Parsons said she initially dismissed her own concerns, believing that her treatment for cancer was making her absentminded. She has lost a breast and a kidney to the disease.

After consulting friends and family members, she had a surveillance camera installed in her home and on Dec. 6, 2005, the camera recorded Mills sneaking into the house, emptying pills from a bottle, leaving and the returning to apparently wipe his fingerprints from the bottle, ac cording to Assistant State's Attorney Scott Messersmith.

Police set up a sting, hiding in her bedroom on Jan. 25. They arrested Mills when he entered the house and took nine pills, including OxyContin.

Addiction to prescription pain medications is one of the fastest growing reasons for which abusers are seeking treatment in Maryland, said Bill Rusinko, research director for the Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration.

Almost a third of people seeking treatment for painkillers in Maryland come from Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, and 92% of those in treatment for abusing the drugs are white, Rusinko said.

Immediately after his arrest, Mills attended a monthlong drug treatment program at the Cross roads Centre, an inpatient facility located on Antigua. He is attending sessions at Partners in Recovery, an addiction center affiliated with the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital. He said he attends five Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week.

"I can't promise that I won't relapse. I can promise that I will work every day and every second to stay on top of this problem," he said in court.

His sentence also included a five-year suspended prison term, five years of probation, random urine tests and no contact with Parsons. Mills may leave his house to seek employment and attend counseling.

In September 2004, Mills was charged in Baltimore County with forging a prescription for a cough medicine that includes the narcotic Hydrocodone. Two months later he received a criminal summons from Anne Arundel County for obtaining prescription drugs by fraud. The cases were consolidated and a Baltimore County judge sentenced him to one year unsupervised probation.
annie.linskey@baltsun.com

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