This is
Justice ?
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Barry Bonds indictment-Priorities?
Photo by Mike Zarilli-Getty Images
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Kucinich, Biden,
Richardson and Clinton
Photo By Scott Applewhite-AP
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by Jimmy Russotto
11/16/07
Just
when we thought we had seen the last of Barry Bonds, and had rejoiced
at not
seeing the big head, the arrogant sneer anymore, here he comes
again.
This time, of course, not for any prodigious home run, or for his
retirement
from baseball, but because the U.S.
has decided to indict him for perjury and obstruction of justice.
After
first hearing about the indictment yesterday afternoon, I had the
opportunity
to watch the Democratic debates on CNN last night. It
crystallized for me
how many problems this country now faces, and how many of them are
being
ignored by the Bush Administration, ignored at best, managed badly in
more
cases than not.
There
are some fine candidates too, candidates with experience in dealing
with either
some or all of the problems facing us today. Energy? Bill
Richardson was the U.S. Secretary of Energy. Foreign
relations? Joe
Biden is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Hillary Clinton
was of
course the First Lady for eight years and Senator from NY for six
years.
Christopher Dodd is Chairman of the Banking Committee. John
Edwards,
maybe the least qualified of the group, was a former U.S. Senator from North Carolina
and of
course the Democratic nominee for Vice President with John Kerry in
2004.
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All the candidates expressed a great deal of concern for the problems
facing
this country. The Iraq war and debacle, foreign relations with
Iran,
China and Pakistan, immigration, energy, women's rights, Social
Security and the
huge national debt. Jobs.
And what are our courts
concerned about? Steroid use
in baseball? They'll waste our time and resources trying to nail
Bonds to
the wall, proving that he KNOWINGLY took steroids, trying to make
absolutely
sure that he won't make the Baseball Hall of Fame?
What a travesty ! This is just one more deception by the Bush
Administration. Let's take America's mind off what is
really
wrong in this country. Why should people be thinking about their
sons and
daughters dying in a pointless and ill-conceived war? Why should
we think
about the billions being paid to mercenaries? And mercenary
countries and
allies.
It's better that we divert them with something they really care
about.
Baseball. Let's focus everyone's attention on the single most
hated
American since O.J. Simpson, sneering Barry Bonds, the bad guy who took
steroids, never talked much with his teammates, lied to a grand
jury and
let a friend of his rot in jail for not turning against him.
Is Barry a bad guy? I would say that absolutely, he is. But
how
bad? In comparison to the rest or our problems, how bad is he
really? Do our courts have no other villains to pursue?
Lying? Lying? Bush has been the biggest liar in the country
for
about seven years now, big lies, lies costing us trillions of dollars
and too
many lost souls, not just the dead, but the 60,000 injured, lost arms
and legs,
mental illness....and on and on. Our
prestige in the world is in the dumper, our image tarnished by
torturing
prisoners and having to fight Bush and Cheney at every turn in order to
protect
our rights as U.S.
citizens.
Oh, and let’s not forget about the
dollar ! There’s been a 35
per cent appreciation of the pound against
the dollar and a 45 per cent rise of the euro in the past five years. So not only are good jobs hard to find, but
those you do find will be worth about ½ as much as they were
before too
long. I recently read that Gisele
Bundchen refuses to be paid in dollars anymore, she wants Euros at the
very
least. (Guess what, Giselle.
You just got a lot uglier. I
see your face, I turn the page, I boycott
the product, much as I punch that remote when Bush or Cheney or
Condoleeza
appear on the screen. Talk about a
sneer, Barry’s got nothing on Cheney.)
So yes, absolutely, divert us from
reality. Reality’s too
painful.
Bush is an old-time baseball guy. To him, it was bad enough when Roger Maris
broke the single-season home run record in 1961, 61 in ‘61. And, when Hank Aaron made a shambles of
Babe’s career home run record, we could at least hang on to that
asterisk and
have to at least admire, if not like, Hank Aaron. He seemed to be a
decent
human being and fine ball player in all respects. His
teammates liked playing with him and his
managers liked having him play for him. But
Barry Bonds, now here is a true villain, the
perfect foil to get
America’s thoughts off Iraq, mercenaries, torture, privacy, abortion,
the
dollar, the decline of the middle class….
Wake up, America.
Write your congressman, your Senator. Find
out who they are. Let them know what you
think. Should we be wasting our time and
money
(well, at least it’s just dollars) on so trivial an issue?
Who really cares? Is
there no white-collar crime you can be
chasing? Or, better yet, are there no laws
this administration has broken these past miserable seven years?
I’ll be changing channels quite often
for the next several
months. This trial is bound to be the
biggest thing since the O.J. trial. I
hope some of you will change channels too. Follow
the football and the basketball, the hockey,
ice skating,
weightlifting, whatever. There are
certainly enough worthy players and contests there.
Free agency, big-name players changing
allegiances for big dollars, um, I mean, Euros.
Remember when the Canadian teams had
trouble attracting good
players because of the Canadian dollar? Don’t
look now, but one dollar now buys you .97 of a
Canadian
dollar. Scratch Canada
off your
vacation itinerary too. Try to forget
any of those European countries, they don’t like us anymore anyway. But most of all, ignore this latest insult to
our intelligence. Write your Congressmen
and newspapers. Change the channel.
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