Rush Limbaugh is in trouble again. Apparently he was stopped in an airport because he possessed a bottle of prescription medicine that was in his physician’s name (for privacy) rather than his and detained for three hours. The fact that it wasn’t in his name isn’t the problem. The problem is that under the terms of his probation-that-we-aren’t-supposed-to-call-”probation,” he’s supposed to clear all prescription drugs with his non-probation officer. Another round for the late-night comedians.

Photo from MYDD.

Update: Just borrowed the following Al Franken line from Tenzil Kem, who has posted here a couple of times.

“From what I understand, if you cut out all the passages in the Bible where Jesus talks about the poor, about helping out the least among us, you’d have the perfect container to smuggle Rush Limbaugh’s drugs in.”

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In a letter to the Eureka Reporter one William Langely is worried that if the Arkleys won’t buy the balloon track, nobody will. He says that Arkley wants to make it a “very beautiful place.”

Meanwhile, local historian Ray Hillman would like to see the Balloon Track preserved as a “cultural resource.”

And Times Standard columnist notes that tensions are high on the Eureka City Council over the Balloon Tract, particularly between Chris Kerrigan and Jeff Leonard.

Note also that the TS says “tract” while the ER says “track.” As a rural SoHumer so confused by those big city politics up there, can somebody tell me which paper has it right?

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Once again, 3 Strikes is under some negative scrutiny, as the governor pushes for more bonds to build even more prisons to accomodate the increased inmate population. Cited in the Calitics article linked above are the following points:

According to a 2004 report, 3 strikes accomplishes very little but costs a great deal. A summary of the 3 part report that the Justice Policy Institute Published:

1. 3 Strikes has significantly contributed to an increase in California’s prison population. (Still Striking Out)
2. Nearly two thirds of the second or third strikers were incarcerated for nonviolent crimes.
3. California had four times as many people incarcerated under Three Strikes as the other 21 Three Strikes states for which there were data.
4. There was no substantial link between the use of Three Strikes and declines in crime.
5. 3 Strikes disproportionately impacts African-Americans and Latinos on a statewide basis. (Racial Divide)

In fact, according the article, there are now 3 times more black men in prison than in college. Basically, many conservatives – the same people who would join the tax posse in opposing bonds for schools or libraries – will vote to spend exhorbitant amounts of money to build even more prisons in the state which has the highest percentage of its citizens behind bars – a reality that reflects the rule of conservatives thanks to Orange County bloc voting for about 15 years.

This issue brings new meaning to the phrase “if you build it, they will come.”

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And the Confusion Hill bypass construction is finally under way!

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The Redwood Times also features a nice story on the latest business venture of Holly Sweet and Jill McClure.

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Robert Scheer of the San Francisco Bay Guardian revives a decades old story about journalists who were charged with sedition for alleging that the US military used germ warfare in Korea. The surviving member of the group still believes it’s true. The case was dismissed because the prosecutor misunderstood a basic element of sedition law. The story was revived again a couple of decades later after the journalist using the Freedom of Information Act squeezed some interesting documents from the government. A fascinating story either way.

I wonder though if this is the same Robert Scheer who once lobbied Pete Seeger to back off of supportive statements about Solidarity, the Polish Trade Union on the basis that it was the creation of a CIA plot. Stalinism isn’t dead yet.

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And the librarians still have it in for President Bush.

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My wife is watching the news and just informed me that Jim Steinberg will be stepping down as Public Defender. I assume it’ll be the hot topic in our competing dailies tomorrow morning.

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