Shabbat Shalom 5 Tevet 5768

Baseball Doped UP
Here comes government to the rescue

Unless you have been living under a rock or one of Barry Bonds pectoral muscles, you have heard the results of the Mitchell Report. The conclusion simply put, Major League Baseball has a drug problem.

Here comes the government to the rescue. Within hours of yesterdays press conference announcing the findings, California Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman and Virginia Republican Rep. Tom Davis, who led the panel that originally heard steroid testimony in 2005, want to hold hearings to find out if Major League Baseball will be implementing the recommendations of the Mitchell investigation.

Yeah! The government will save us all.

When former senator George Mitchell announced his findings yesterday, it was a sad day for baseball and America. The players on his list of performance enhancement users is a who's who of the greatest players of the game over the past twenty years. These athletes have whored themselves for money, endangered their health and destroyed the innocence of our nations national pastime. Baseball will never be the same.

With all that said, the last group of schmucks I want getting involved with the problems of this private organization is the United States Congress.

The fact is that the problems of baseball or any private business are not for the government to interfere with. If law enforcement wants to begin investigating and or prosecuting citizens for breaking the law, that is for them to decide. That is the only role government should play in this fiasco.

In January a congressional subcommittee will hold a hearing relating to steroid use in professional sports. The key words here are "professional sports." Government bureaucrats are going to look at football, basketball and every other private sports league they can drag to a hearing. Once again, Uncle Sam sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.

So what do our idiotic leaders intend to accomplish? Nothing of substance (no pun intended). They will get free airtime as their congressional reelections campaigns kickoff, get themselves quoted in the newspapers and have their soundbites aired on the cable news channels. However, what can they actually do? Nothing.

Professional sports are private enterprises and government regulations has no place among them. It is up to these businesses to set their own rules and enforce them. Personally your brilliant blogger can careless if athletes want to abuse their bodies with performance enhancing drugs. If sports leagues want to permit it or not enforce the rules, that is their decision. I do believe it would ruin these sports, especially after these great athletes start dying of heart attacks on the field or get cancer before they are in their fifties.

Government interference in professional sports would have the same affect as it has in others areas such as education, only make it worse. Keep our politicians off the baseball diamond and hopefully baseball can keep their players off the juice.


Great GOP Debate
Who let Keyes on the stage?

Wednesdays Republican debate can only be described as excellent. Even though the moderator, Carolyn Washburn, reminded me of Nurse Ratchett, was undoubtedly out of her league in such a high profile forum.

To the credit of the debate sponsor, The Des Moines Register, the idea of discussing issues outside of Iraq and Immigration was very refreshing. Lets face it, we know where all the candidates stand on these issues. Credit Fox News for running a reaction meter to see how Conservatives and Moderates reacted to candidate answers. It was very telling to say the least.

So why does a Republican leaning Libertarian such as your brilliant blogger feel it was an "excellent debate?" Simply put it has to do with what was said. Now I understand that words are cheap and action is the only true measure of a person, but when it comes to voting for a candidate, all we have to go on is their words and past action. What dominated the debate was the ideals that made me start voting Republican in the first place. Limited government, fiscal responsibility and less taxation were the dominating themes Wednesday afternoon. Add unanimous support for school choice and many candidates supporting the idea of eliminating the department of education, lets just say I was turned on.

I do have one question. Who let Alan Keyes on the stage? This guy had his time in the spotlight when he did OK in a few primaries back in 1996. Today he is a circus clown who causes the GOP great harm. The media loves to showcase him because he is who they want America to think of when they hear the word Republican. Granted the Democrats have Dennis "I see UFOs" Kucinich, but he is kept around because he makes those wonderful chocolate covered graham cracker cookies with his fellow elves. Seriously will someone please show Dr. Keyes the door or better yet a rubber room.

I did see portions of the Democratic debate, but after throwing stuff at the TV, I knew it was dangerous to continue watching. These Socialists and Socialist wannabees only want to tax, tax and tax the American people and create greater government control and regulation. As disappointed and angry I get at the GOP sometimes, the Democrats always remind me why they are not even an option worth considering. These guys still can't even admit that a threat from Islamic extremism exists.

Sometimes I think voting Democratic is no different than a suicide pack. I only hope that the GOP candidates will do what they say, not get elected and become Democrat light.

Paulie