Levi Johnston's mom cops plea: addiction blamed on no health insurance

By GottaLaff

Hey Chuck Grassley, et al. Look what a health care crisis can do:

The mother of the man former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol had planned on marrying has reached a plea deal in her drug case.

Sherry Johnston pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of possession with intent to deliver the painkiller OxyContin. Five other felony counts were dropped.

I feel sorry for her, and I hope she gets treatment for her problem. However, I can't help but point and laugh a teeny tiny bit at this next part:

"That's pretty," Johnston said as a state trooper's pink handcuffs were placed around her wrists.

Okay, fun time over. Let's get to something that will most likely get overlooked elsewhere:

Although Johnston could receive 20 years in prison, her attorney and prosecutors agreed to a five-year sentence, with two years suspended, Butler said, considering the small quantities of drugs involved. [...]

Sherry Johnston has two pain pumps implanted in her body to deliver medication because she suffers a rare condition involving scurvy and chronic pelvic pain from prior medical surgeries, Butler said. She was receiving professional pain relief treatment but the problems arose when her insurer refused to pay for the medication, Butler said.

I'm sorry, what? Her insurer wouldn't pay for prescribed medication that her own doctor ordered for her? So they got between her and her physician? Isn't that called "rationing"? Was Ms. Johnston held hostage by her insurance company?

Would, say-y-y...a public option have helped prevent her drug abuse problems?

Nah, a government run program have just gotten in the way of her privately uninsured addiction, what with the Feds sticking their medical noses where they didn't belong and all.

Yeah, better to force someone to resort to committing felonies than to allow proper care.

"People want to think she was just a drug addict," he said. "She made a poor judgment choice. But what do you do?"

Why, you run a lying, corporate smear campaign to prevent Americans from getting the care they need, that's what! Silly question.

Assistant District Attorney Richard K. Allen said prosecutors considered Johnston's criminal-free background as well as her physical problems in agreeing to the mitigated sentence.

Levi didn't attend the hearing.

She really does need rehab. Let's hope she recovers and has no further drug issues... and that she has access to health care sooner than later... public health insurance... that she can afford.

Patrick Kennedy Enters Rehab Again

By GottaLaff

Long, tough road. I've known way too many people in Kennedy's situation:

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), "a public face of recovery from addiction since an automobile accident spurred him into rehabilitation three years ago, has entered an undisclosed medical facility for treatment," the Providence Journal reports.

"While close friends of Kennedy gave few details of what the congressman called a temporary 'step away from my normal routine,' they stressed that this chapter in his recovery was not prompted by any sort of accident, injury, or trouble with the law."

Obama Trying to Keep His Blackberry

I can't even imagine trying to wean yourself off that kind of communication. Via Taegan-

An excerpt of the Barbara Walters interview with President-elect Obama to air tomorrow night on ABC News:

WALTERS: How are you going to get along without your Blackberry?

OBAMA: (Laughs). This is a problem. I, you know, one of the things that I'm going to have to work through is how to break through the isolation, the bubble that exists around the president. And I'm in the process of negotiating with the Secret Service, with lawyers, with White House staff.

WALTERS: You might have a Blackberry?

OBAMA: Well, I'm, I'm negotiating to figure out how can I get information from outside of the ten or 12 people who surround my office in the White House. Because, one of the worst things I think that could happen to a president is losing touch with what people are going through day to day.

For background: Why Obama has to give up email.

Obama's E-ddiction

By GottaLaff

Obama's hooked. Is there a Blackberries Anonymous in his future?

"Hi. I'm Barack and I'm an E-oholic."

Hi, Barack!

Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.

Those are seven words President-elect Barack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.

For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry. The device has rarely been far from his side — on most days, it was fastened to his belt — to provide a singular conduit to the outside world as the bubble around him grew tighter and tighter throughout his campaign.

I bet he says he can quit any time he wants to. They all do.

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

I can see it now: He'll go cold turkey, because he's strong like that. He'll get the shakes... have cravings... suffer from extreme anxiety. And delirium tremens. One must never forget the DTs.

Maybe, just maybe, with proper medical treatment, some therapy, and a Blackberry patch, he'll have a successful recovery.

Oh no. He's already slipping:

Mr. Obama has not sent a farewell dispatch from the personal e-mail account he uses — he has not changed his address in years — but friends say the frequency of correspondence has diminished. In recent days, though, he has been seen typing his thoughts on transition matters and other items on his BlackBerry, bypassing, at least temporarily, the bureaucracy that is quickly encircling him.

You can do it, Barack! Will power!

Mr. Obama used e-mail to stay in constant touch with friends from the lonely confines of the road, often sending messages like “Sox!” when the Chicago White Sox won a game. He also relied on e-mail to keep abreast of the rapid whirl of events on a given campaign day.

He only goes for the pure stuff. He's hard core:

His messages to advisers and friends, they say, are generally crisp, properly spelled and free of symbols or emoticons.

How will he ever break the habit? Dealers are everywhere, ready to pounce:

He received a scaled-down list of news clippings, with his advisers wanting to keep him from reading blogs and news updates all day long, yet aides said he still seemed to hear about nearly everything in real time. A network of friends — some from college, others from Chicago and various chapters in his life — promised to keep him plugged in.

Even the strongest of us have weak moments:

Mr. Obama has, for at least brief moments, been forced offline. As he sat down with a small circle of advisers to prepare for debates with Senator John McCain, one rule was quickly established: No BlackBerrys. Mr. Axelrod ordered everyone to put their devices in the center of a table during work sessions. Mr. Obama, who was known to sneak a peek at his, was no exception.

It starts with sneaking a peek. Then right to typing a phrase. Then whole paragraphs... with punctuation. Before he knows it, Obama will have fallen right back into that deep, dark e-pit called Blackberrry Hell.

Maybe going into read-only mode will get him back on track? Not likely. He's a full-on junkie:

As his team prepares a final judgment on whether he can keep using e-mail, perhaps even in a read-only fashion, several authorities in presidential communication said they believed it was highly unlikely that he would be able to do so.

Tragic. So what's the answer? How will President Obama break free? Diana Owen, who leads the American Studies program at Georgetown University,, who has studied how presidents communicate in the Internet era:

“It’s a time burner. It might be easier for him to say, ‘I can’t be on e-mail.’ ”

Say it, Barack: "I can't be on e-mail." Say it, believe it, own it. Yes. You. Can.