The rumors were correct--Rush Limbaugh has retained famed Miami criminal defense lawyer Roy Black to represent him in connection with the Palm Beach drug investigation into his alleged purchases of painkillers.

The Palm Beach Post confirms our suspicion that Rush Limbaugh's housekeeper was granted immunity from prosecution for her role in selling narcotic painkillers to him.

Here's what the Palm Beach Post reports today:

The Drudge Report has this developing exclusive report:

President Bush expressed support of radio star Rush Limbaugh in conversations with top staff on Thursday, a senior administration source told the DRUDGE REPORT.

"Rush is a great American," the president said of the beleaguered host, who has championed the conservative movement for decades. "I am confident he can overcome any obstacles he faces right now."

Update: ABC News has confirmed that Rush Limbaugh is being investigated for allegedly buying illegal prescription drugs in the Palm Beach area.

Buzzflash interviews David Corn, Washington editor of the Nation, on CIA leaks in the Wilson-Plame affair--a story Corn broke. Here's a snippet of the interview about what Buzzflash calls "Treason Gate."

DAVID CORN: So say the reporters who have covered him over the years. Let's be fair to Karl Rove -- even if he isn't to his opponents. (Just ask John McCain!). He may or may not be involved in the leak, but he has a past record of engaging in below-the-belt politics. So if now he is a chief suspect, well, he brought that on himself. What goes around comes around. But the attacks on Wilson have been shameful. What a surprise, he's a Democrat! He also was widely praised -- by Bush the First, by Evans and Novak -- for his courageous stint as the last acting ambassador in Iraq before the first Gulf War. This is, as you know, not about Wilson. The only relevant issue is whether Bushies leaked sensitive information as part of a political hit job.

Of course, Wilson is mad. Wouldn't you be? Of course, he wants to raise a stink. But this is a campaign of blaming the victim. The strategic point here -- and there is one -- is for the GOP'ers to make this scandal look like another one of those nasty partisan mud-wrestles that the public never likes. Turn it into a political controversy, not a criminal one. Then it all comes out blurry and muddy in the wash. (Bad metaphor, I know.) But that is the intent: to fuzzy up the picture and cause people to shrug their shoulders and say, "it's just politics."

Little has been written in the press about the substance of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. We may have been too hasty in endorsing those who criticize the Act. Sometimes reform has to begin with small steps. Here are some of the beneficial provisions, according to information we have received:

The bill authorizes $40 million in rape prevention grants, establishes at DOJ a review panel with subpoena power to call to Washington prison and jail officials who run facilities with high incidences of prison rape, and establishes an independent national commission (not a Justice Department Commission) with the power to promulgate standards on prison rape that will apply to the overwhelming majority of prisons and jails in the country.

Smoking Gun has the search warrant that outlines the drug investigation that has embroiled Rush Limbaugh:

OCTOBER 3--Meet Louis Beshara and his wife, Gloria Rodriguez. The Florida couple are at the heart of the drug scandal now enveloping radio superstar Rush Limbaugh. Investigators allege that the duo illegally sold hundreds of thousands of prescription painkillers from a Palm Beach-area pharmacy they owned. According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff's search warrant affidavit, Beshara provided Hydrocodone, the powerful and addictive painkiller, to middlemen drug dealers like Joseph Coppola who then resold the pills to users. It has been reported that Limbaugh scored some of the Beshara pills via Wilma Cline, a former maid at the radio star's West Palm Beach mansion. Beshara and Rodriguez, who each face two felony drug trafficking charges, are free on bail, though Beshara is under house arrest. (8 pages)

WPTV, a TV station in West Palm Beach, has reported Rush has retained Roy Black, Miami's justly famed criminal defense attorney. Great choice.

As we said yesterday, you won't find much Rush-bashing here, although commenters are free to post their thoughts on him, his hypocrisy and his politics. We'll try to stick to details about the criminal investigation. Now that Rush is a subject of a criminal probe and may have some criminal liability, the issue to us becomes the misguided drug war that jails people for addiction and dependency problems.

If Limbaugh was overusing painkillers, we think it's a medical issue and we're not going to trash him for it. Drug dependency is a medical condition. It should not be a crime. If he is in legal trouble for it, we hope he gets the best legal help possible.

Yesterday we reported on Judge Lonnie Brinkema's order preventing the Government from seeking the death penalty against Zacarias Moussaoui as a sanction for the Government's refusal to comply with her prior order directing it to make 3 captured al Qaeda members available to Moussaoui to interview.

Actually, her order goes much further and bars all 9/11 evidence:

Exacting punishment for disobeying her orders, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Thursday barred the government from introducing any "evidence or argument that the defendant was involved in, or had knowledge of" the suicide hijackings.

The Government's options are now:

Ask the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., to restore the prosecution's full case.

Move the trial from a civilian court to a military tribunal, where rules might help the prosecution.

Proceed in Brinkema's court without the Sept. 11 evidence.

You can read the Judge's order here.

We received this from Dan at 5280, Denver's excellent glossy monthly magazine:

Bruce has been making similar statements for some time now, including at his recent show here in Denver.

The first comment (about impeaching the president) is a joke that he makes during the band introductions -- he offers up sax player Clarence Clemons as Bush's replacement, as well as "Emperor of Colorado" (or wherever they're playing that night). He's done similar schtick for years, during administrations of both parties. So, while I'm sure Bruce is no Bush fan, I don't think it's entirely accurate to say that Springsteen is calling for the president's impeachment.

The comments about holding our leaders accountable, however, are obviously made in all seriousness. At other shows (yes, I'm a bit of a fan), he has introduced the oft-understood "Born in the USA" as a "prayer for peace." Prior to the invasion, he opened a number of shows with Edwin Star's "War" ("what the hell's it good for? absolutely nothing").

What was new at the Shea gig were the pre-recorded soundbites of Bush
talking about WMDs. They preceded the show's opening number, a song called "Souls of the Departed," that was written after the first Iraqi war:

On the road to Basra stood young Lieutenant Jimmy Bly
Detailed to go through the clothes of the soldiers who died
At night in dreams he sees their souls rise
Like dark geese into the Oklahoma skies

Well this is a prayer for the souls of the departed
Those who've gone and left their babies brokenhearted
This is a prayer for the souls of the departed

That, I think, is a perfect demonstration of where Bruce's heart and art have always been focused: On the regular folks who are left to clean up the messes created by those in power.

The Boss gets political in his closing concert at Shea Stadium:

Springsteen wove strong criticism of the administration of President Bush (news - web sites) into the first of the final three shows at Shea Stadium on Wednesday night, playing a recording of Bush talking about weapons of mass destruction, questioning America's motives for the war in Iraq (news - web sites) and calling for Bush's defeat as he seeks re-election next year.

"It is time to impeach the president and put in somebody that knows what they're doing," the musician, known as "The Boss," told the crowd.

Heading into the hit "Born in the U.S.A.," he said: "The question of whether we were misled into the war in Iraq isn't a liberal or conservative or Republican or Democratic question, it's an American one.

Demanding accountability from our leaders is our responsibility, our job as citizens," he said.

[link via Hamster]

Democratic presidential contender Bob Graham may drop out of the race. We think he should. He's never gained traction and he would serve the cause better by throwing whatever support he has to one of the top contenders. [thanks to Atrios for the heads up.]

Update: Graham's Communications Manager quit today.

Key rulings came down in the Kobe Bryant case today:

The Judge will not allow the defense to call the accuser at the preliminary hearing. The Prosecution has agreed not to introduce the accuser's videotaped statement.

The preliminary hearing will be open. However, the Judge will entertain motions to close parts of it. The parties will meet with the Judge just before the hearing to discuss this.

The Judge refused a defense request for the accuser's prior medical records, saying the request should be made later before the trial judge. (This judge loses jurisdiction over the case once it's bound over for trial after the preliminary hearing or waiver of preliminary hearing.)

The Judge also set a telephone status conference two days before the preliminary hearing. We suspect that is for the defense to advise the Court if they still wish to go forward with a preliminary hearing. Without the accuser's availability for cross-examination, we see no benefit to a preliminary hearing. We think the defense will waive it. Or seek a stay while it appeals today's decisions to a higher court.

We will be discussing these developments tonight with Dan Abrams on MSNBC's Abrams Report (9 - 9:30 pm ET.)

[comments now closed]

Excellent article in Slate today about why no one really cares about prison rape. The authors note that the recent Prison Rape Elimination Act that passed Congress merely provides for a study on the issue--not to do anything about it. The authors, have some suggestions:

Perhaps while this federal study is under way, there are other, more honest ways of acknowledging what the American prison system has created. Perhaps every sentencing judge should require that a defendant headed for prison be given extensive "pre-rape counseling" in the hope that he or she can take some small personal steps to reduce the risk of attack. Or perhaps we could require judges to demand data about the differential risks of rape and assault for different types of prisoners in different prisons and begin to factor such data into any sentence. "You committed murder, so let's send you somewhere where you're really likely to be raped." In that way we will be at least as brutally honest with ourselves as we are literally brutal with our prisoners.

[link via Instapundit]