Thursday, December 13, 2007

Beltway BS

My first real post. I'm excited because this will encompass much of what I hope to write about in the future. Sports and politics. I'll probably sprinkle in some tasty pop culture and hope that it rises properly.

The Mitchell Report bores me. I think it is fairly obvious that baseball currently exists in a steroid era. Most casual fans could tell you that. Why MLB formed this committee, spent upwards of $20 million and approximately one year to compile data linking players to performance enhancers seems wasteful. This is what happens when you put a politician in charge of a program like this. This reeks of beltway BS. Modus Operandi on the hill: Lets form a committe, expend an exorbitant amount of resources/time and then point out a problem. Only very rarely will solutions come to the forefront.

Everyone knows Social Security is a massive problem. Everyone knows the clock is ticking. The president offered his idea of a solution. No D's liked it and many R's were uncomfortable with it. What happened? Months of pointing out flaws and tearing it down. Alternatives suggetsted: none. I predict that the country won't have a plan in place to deal with the crisis until the last possible moment. Just like the last change in Social Security policy. Democrats and Republicans may wrestle for control of Congress, but really the party of Procrastination reigns supreme.

With the Dems in control for the last year or so they have instituted longer legislative work periods. Is this a good thing? So many of the complaints lobbed towards politicians these days center around the fact that they are detached from the reality of typical Americans. Do you want your politicians creating laws 280 days a year. I hope not. There are only so many Post Offices to be named. I'd rather have them spending time in their districts or traveling to factories/farms/hospitals/foreign lands depending on their committee assignment.

And we're back.

Wouldn't the time and funds have been better spent searching for a solution to the problem? I'd like steroids out of baseball. How can this be achieved? Well, it seems that the science of detection rarely keeps up with the science of doping. I think the solution lies with the scientists moving the doping forward. Surely these men and women don't really care at all about the athletes, the records or the fans. They are probably motivated by their wallets. Wouldn't it behoove (http://www.elgaffney.blogspot.com) MLB to recruit these people to keep them apprised of the evolving world of doping. Surely they could have used that $20 million to entice a few of them to turn on each other. Its not like they have strictly kept morals. They are, after all, breaking the law. This is very much like the situation in a very average movie, "Catch Me if You Can". If its good enough for the FBI, surely its good enough for baseball.

I haven't written anything except for funny emails in the last few years and would greatly appreciate feedback regarding style, grammar, content, etc.

2 comments:

Matt.Johnson said...

totally agree... this mitchell business makes me yawn. the games aren't more or less fun to watch if the players are juicing or not juicing. everyone needs to move on.

Cooper said...

Jake, love the blog. I've already bookmarked it so I can check it daily, along with Scott Adams' blog and Basic Instructions. Great idea to blog on your two great loves. Conte for President!