I thought we might be able to go a couple weeks without a congressional show trial. by Beatnik
(libertarian)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
I have a bad habit of listening to National Proletariat Radio on my way to and from work. I will probably need to stop soon. I haven't had a physical for a while but I'm sure it's not doing good things to my blood pressure.
This morning I was treated to a full five minute story on how the United States House Committe on Oversight and Government Reform has requested that the Justice Department investigate a charge of perjury against Roger Clemens, regarding his four-second statement on 4 February that he has never taken steroids or Human Growth Hormone.
Now before I get too far into this, let me state for the record that I do not care about Clemens, I do not care about baseball, and I do not care about steroid use. I didn't even know how to spell his name before researching this article. Sports in general do not interest me except in cases where it involves people beating the tar out of each other. Pay-per-view boxing, combined with subscription TV's stubborn reluctance to offer a-la-carte service, have pretty much killed the sportsfan in me.
What I do care about is my money, and what happens with the roughly 50% of it which never makes it into my possession. Perhaps if I had that money I'd be more interested in paying for a TV bundle that includes the Flower Arrangement Channel and the Open Heart Surgery Network. Frankly, the fact that my money is instead going toward this ongoing show trial instead of in my pocket turns me beet red.
Technically, I suppose one could make the argument that Article I, section 8 of the US Constitution allows congress to "constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court" and that this is legal for them to pursue. But that's not the question I have today. The question is, why bother?
It's bad enough that they went through this the first time, but now they're following up with a charge of perjury. Somebody tell me if the question of whether or not Clemens lied about not using steroids is really more important than the following questions:
-Is torture really something the US government needs to use in the "War on Terror"?
-Can we publically draw a tie between the actions of the President and Congress and the tanking dollar, and what can Congress do to prepare for the oncoming chaos?
-Do telecom companies that capitulate to government requests to ignore the 4th Amendment really get to go scott-free?
In short, when put in the balance, is this Clemens thing really that important? Doesn't the House of Representatives of the United States have something better to do?!??
"They also are investigating World Wrestling Entertainment, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance regarding about their talent wellness/ drug policies".
Now, I grant you, someone may have died from steroid use, and I am not marginalizing that. But we're talking about professional wrestling, for Pete's sake!
Oversight Committee members, please observe the size of your biceps and contrast it to the size of the average professional wrestler's bicep. Then have a doctor or loved one examine your entire body and confirm that the human body does not come equipped with a tire stem or other fill port where the epidermis may be inflated.
Something is obviously rotten with those groups! But do you really need to use money the federal government stole from me to verify it and clean it up? Can't we just let some state criminal case put someone in jail for a while and find out if that works?
If you want a list of who we can thank for this sort of thing, their names are here. As an 11th district Virginian, I've already contacted neocon Tom Davis and let him know I didn't vote for him, I'm elated to hear he's retiring, and the least he could do is conduct himself with some dignity and steer the committee toward some issues with more gravity.
Even though I don't watch sports, I know it's important to people whether one of baseball's best pitchers cheated. I know there is a strong argument against steroid use in sports as well. But I think it's time for us to let congress know that protecting fundamental rights and preventing war crimes are more important issues.
Or maybe we could take the polar opposite approach, and demand a house committee for the adoration of mom, and a house committee for the promotion of apple pie.
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Posted By: Walt Thiessen
Date: 2008-02-28 14:49:13
I sometimes wonder why Congress considers it illegal for Roger Clemens to lie (if he did) about steroid use, but it's not illegal for George W. Bush to lie about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when he had very good reasons to believe that they had none.
Then I remember that we live in the good 'ol USA where politicians are held to a lower standard than the rest of us.
I personally think that Congress should have been running professional baseball all along. Wouldn't you rather have them doing that than passing more laws violating civil liberties and pursueing perpetual war?
They should stick to regulating "games" and stay out of more serious matters.
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