The Inquisition starts at 10 am.
The truth has finally come to light. The declaration this morning by David Marin, a spokesman for committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis "No witnesses have been or will be granted immunity,’’ Are they after the truth, or is it going to be a witch hunt. What is the incentive to do anything but plead the 5th amendment? No one is going to incriminate himself before congress. Did you notice how much detail was revealed before congress in the Iran-Contra affair in the 80’s? If it wasn’t for Ollie North’s immunity deal in 1987 no details of the Iran-Contra affair would have ever come to light. The congressional committee on steroids, and the public want the tabloid details on the players. Who used steroids? When did they use them? Did they give them to anyone else? Why did they use them?
In an interview over the weekend a member of the committee wanted to take it a step further and ask the players under subpoena to renounce steroids and their use. This member felt they were sending the wrong message to kids. The message is that by using steroids you can become a better athlete than someone who doesn't use them, and as a result the fairness in sports is somehow irrevocably harmed now. Why do baseball players have to renounce steroids if California Gov. Schwarzenegger can sing their praises while hiding behind the fact that they weren't illegal when he used them? I find that to be the biggest double standard since separate but equal.
In case you forgot Schwarzenegger at one point was the head of the President's Council on Physical Fitness. The council has the same reach to children as baseball to promote physical fitness. The council helps set national standards of physical fitness in children. I just don't understand why a single staffer can get Schwarzenegger to keep his mouth shut on steroids. He just doesn't have any tact at all. I think its ridiculous that a movie star politician can make those statements in the press, and not be called in himself to talk about how rampant steroids were, or are in the world of bodybuilding. A few weeks ago Schwarzenegger went to the Arnold Classic bodybuilding tournament and still he was proud of his past steroid use. Has anyone noticed how enormous and ripped most bodybuilders are? I am not attempting to accuse all bodybuilders of using steroids, but not all baseball players used steroids either and now they're all under the spotlight.
Rep. Davis has publicly stated that congress can form a committee to investigate anything at anytime for any reason. You run the Government Committee on Reform and you overlooked many pressing business issues. What about President Bush's connection with Enron up to and including the use of their private jet during the 2000 presidential campaign? Rep. Davis were Halliburton's no bid contracts and obvious conflict of interest concerning VP Cheney's 400,000+ shares of stock that were never placed in the stock trust he claimed they were in not of interest? What about the fact that 5 major automobile lenders have settled out of court or lost class action cases involving the systematic overcharging of African American loan applicants? What about the rampant fraud that is commonplace at Citigroup, who is accused of hiding some of deposed Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's ill gotten gains, and involved in the sale of stocks and bonds for bankrupt WorldCom. Why not investigate the connections of all the corporations that had to restate earnings because of accounting fraud?
Moving on to things closer to Washington D.C. itself, why not look at Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, who have government charters to set national loan standards, yet they both hid massive accounting problems. Why aren't you looking into the gambling lobby funded trip of Rep. Tom DeLay? When DeLay got back from his trip he voted against gambling legislation. Aren't those the relationships your committee is supposed to investigate? DeLay is also being investigated for 2004 Presidential campaign fundraising violations for the republican party. Why not look into the practice of salvage title fraud that State Farm car insurance just settled with 48 state Attorney Generals? What about the complete intelligence failure on Iraq? The non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? What about the lack of affordable health insurance for US citizens?
Are steroids in baseball so important that it moves to the head of the class? This witch-hunt, chemical McCarthyism at taxpayer expense is unnecessary. Why not let baseball actually enforce the implemented 2005 policies on steroids. Congress has no place to decide on labor laws, or labor policies of MLB if they can't understand the agreement between MLB and MLBPA. The players who tested positive have been on the decline by MLB's own admission. At one point it was at 5%-7% in 2003, and 2% in 2004. The fact of the matter remains that cheaters are everywhere and that will never change, but is it congress’s job to enforce parity?
In an interview over the weekend a member of the committee wanted to take it a step further and ask the players under subpoena to renounce steroids and their use. This member felt they were sending the wrong message to kids. The message is that by using steroids you can become a better athlete than someone who doesn't use them, and as a result the fairness in sports is somehow irrevocably harmed now. Why do baseball players have to renounce steroids if California Gov. Schwarzenegger can sing their praises while hiding behind the fact that they weren't illegal when he used them? I find that to be the biggest double standard since separate but equal.
In case you forgot Schwarzenegger at one point was the head of the President's Council on Physical Fitness. The council has the same reach to children as baseball to promote physical fitness. The council helps set national standards of physical fitness in children. I just don't understand why a single staffer can get Schwarzenegger to keep his mouth shut on steroids. He just doesn't have any tact at all. I think its ridiculous that a movie star politician can make those statements in the press, and not be called in himself to talk about how rampant steroids were, or are in the world of bodybuilding. A few weeks ago Schwarzenegger went to the Arnold Classic bodybuilding tournament and still he was proud of his past steroid use. Has anyone noticed how enormous and ripped most bodybuilders are? I am not attempting to accuse all bodybuilders of using steroids, but not all baseball players used steroids either and now they're all under the spotlight.
Rep. Davis has publicly stated that congress can form a committee to investigate anything at anytime for any reason. You run the Government Committee on Reform and you overlooked many pressing business issues. What about President Bush's connection with Enron up to and including the use of their private jet during the 2000 presidential campaign? Rep. Davis were Halliburton's no bid contracts and obvious conflict of interest concerning VP Cheney's 400,000+ shares of stock that were never placed in the stock trust he claimed they were in not of interest? What about the fact that 5 major automobile lenders have settled out of court or lost class action cases involving the systematic overcharging of African American loan applicants? What about the rampant fraud that is commonplace at Citigroup, who is accused of hiding some of deposed Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet's ill gotten gains, and involved in the sale of stocks and bonds for bankrupt WorldCom. Why not investigate the connections of all the corporations that had to restate earnings because of accounting fraud?
Moving on to things closer to Washington D.C. itself, why not look at Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, who have government charters to set national loan standards, yet they both hid massive accounting problems. Why aren't you looking into the gambling lobby funded trip of Rep. Tom DeLay? When DeLay got back from his trip he voted against gambling legislation. Aren't those the relationships your committee is supposed to investigate? DeLay is also being investigated for 2004 Presidential campaign fundraising violations for the republican party. Why not look into the practice of salvage title fraud that State Farm car insurance just settled with 48 state Attorney Generals? What about the complete intelligence failure on Iraq? The non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? What about the lack of affordable health insurance for US citizens?
Are steroids in baseball so important that it moves to the head of the class? This witch-hunt, chemical McCarthyism at taxpayer expense is unnecessary. Why not let baseball actually enforce the implemented 2005 policies on steroids. Congress has no place to decide on labor laws, or labor policies of MLB if they can't understand the agreement between MLB and MLBPA. The players who tested positive have been on the decline by MLB's own admission. At one point it was at 5%-7% in 2003, and 2% in 2004. The fact of the matter remains that cheaters are everywhere and that will never change, but is it congress’s job to enforce parity?
