- I was starting to get a little tired of being a one-track presidential critic, continually bashing W. for anything and everything associated with the war in Iraq in any way. Not that I was going to stop the verbal abuse, because let’s face it, there are so many facets of this war to be pissed off about that you can hit on something new every day. Still, I happily embrace the chance for another topic on which to verbally eviscerate our colossally crappy leader, that topic being his indefensible and horrifically unjust commutation of the 30-month prison sentence given to former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby for his role in the CIA leak that caused a national uproar last year. Personally I’d give him a 2 ½ years in the whole just for being a grown man with the nickname Scooter, but that’s just me. Still, after a jury found Libby guilty of obstructing justice in a probe into the leak of a CIA operative’s name and sentenced him to the 30 months in jail, how sleazy and despicable of W. to wipe out the prison time and leave a former member of his staff with only a $250,000 fine and two years’ probation. This is dirty, dishonest and underhanded politics at its utmost, and I wanted to reach right through the TV screen and pummel the president when he outright lied by saying that his actions “still leave in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby.” No, President Ass Clown, they don’t. A fine that amounts to a slap on the wrist for someone like Libby and two years probation aren't a stiff punishment, especially not when you’ll probably just pardon him again if he’s convicted of violating that probation. Also, whoever wrote the president’s remarks for him about the decision needs to use smaller words, because there’s no way I’m going to believe that W. had anything to do with a speech that uses multi-syllabic words such as “excessive.” How many months of this absolute bulls**t in the Oval Office do we have left again?
- No one who has watched even a small amount of professional wrestling could reasonably deny the existence of steroid usage among wrestlers. However, I don’t know if many people were aware of just how absolutely huge a problem that ‘roids have been, are and will continue to be in the world of the squared circle. If the details coming out about Chris Benoit and the amount of steroids he bought and used are any indication of the pro wrestling world in general (and from everything we’ve heard, including the inclusion of several wrestlers on the list of people purchasing ‘roids from an illegal online pharmacy a few months back), then this is an extremely, extremely big problem and one that demands immediate and severe action. It’s now being reported that Benoit was regularly purchasing a 10-month supply of injectable anabolic steroids from his doctor, Dr. Phil Astin. Every three or four weeks, Astin would sell the ‘roids to Benoit. Ironically, Astin hasn’t been indicted yet for any misconduct relating to Benoit, but Monday an indictment was issued which charges Astin with improperly dispensing painkillers and other drugs to two different patients. Assuming that Benoit wasn’t turning around and dealing the ‘roids (a reasonable assumption), then the fact that we was using up a 10-month supply in the space of three or four weeks is frightening. Yes, it has come out that he was injecting his own 7-year-old son with steroids because he believed the boy was undersized and needed to get bigger and stronger, but a large quantity of those steroids had to be consumed by Benoit as well. If even five percent of professional wrestlers are involved in the same type of ‘roid use as Benoit, then this is a huge problem that the WWE needs to address now. Going on a crusade against Astin might seem logical as well, but I’d argue what’s the point? There will always be doctors willing to do what he did, to prescribe drugs illegally to patients and circumvent the law. You have to go after the ones that do and prosecute them, but beyond that the right choice is to attack the problem from the other end, i.e. the user. Dealing with a culture like that of WWE, where steroid use is encouraged, if not promoted, is a much bigger priority and hopefully it can help in preventing the furtherance of an already alarming trend of pro wrestlers dying before they reach the age of 40.
- Today’s riot watch takes us to the Central American nation of Guatemala, where 1,500 angry villagers (and really, angry villagers are the best kind) rioted to protest the purported kidnapping of two children from their town. The rioters burned down the local police station and took the village’s mayor and another man hostage. The whole riot was sparked when police tried to prevent the angry mob from seizing an 18-year-old man they believe to be responsible for the kidnapping. The size of the crowd forced the outmanned police to flee, leaving the 1,500 angry citizens to burn down the police station and the home of a woman thought to have tried to buy the two kidnapped children. First, mad props to the rioters for the torching of the police station, because what better way is there to stick it to The Man than to burn down a place that symbolizes authority and repression of the common man? And while the villagers may be jumping the gun a bit with their attempt at vigilante justice, maybe would-be kidnappers will think twice when they look to snatch a child from this village. In the end, the true measure of riot quality is the aftermath, and I’d say one police station destroyed by fire, one home destroyed by fire, running off the police and taking two hostages, including the mayor, would qualify this as an A, riot. The only thing keeping it from A+ status is the lack of gunfire, explosives and the flipping over/burning of cars. So a tip of the hat to the Guatemalan villagers, you guys sure know how to throw a good riot………
- “Dear Parent, we are sending home this permission slip with your son/daughter _____________________ to ask your consent for administering regular drug testing to your child.” Most permission slips sent home from school are for field trips, class trips, participation in sports and similar school activities, but if Mexican President Felipe Calderon has his way, that sentence you just read will become a reality for the parents of thousands of Mexican public school students. The tests would be “a permanent monitoring of the students’ health so we are able to detect any addiction and immediately act,” Calderon said in a statement on Monday. While it is true that Mexico is besieged by drug cartels and is a major point along the route for cocaine, marijuana and heroin coming to the United States, I can’t get on board with this testing. The school isn't there to parent your kids or to be their family, it’s there to supply them with the education they need as they go throughout life. Presenting this testing as a measure not to punish, but rather help kids is simply disguising it and trying to sell it as a helping hand instead of the invasion of privacy it is. Parents should reject it and refuse to sign up for the program, because it’s not the school’s place to be testing their kids for drugs. If you suspect your child is using or may be experimenting, why would you push it off on the school to do the testing? Why not deal with it yourself? And if you don’t believe your child is involved with drugs, why would you subject them to the scrutiny and dehumanization of enforced drug testing? Besides, it would only teach these children another educational skill that up to now has been reserved for adults: how to beat a drug test. Leave the parenting to parents, Calderon, and stop trying to turn your public schools into the ultimate Big Brother.
- It turns out that the most exciting subplot of this year’s NBA Draft wasn’t the draft lottery to determine the order teams picked in, nor was it the night of the draft itself, when numerous trades took place and we got to see what team players would go to. No, as the fallout from the draft happens, the absolute best story is the standoff between the Milwaukee Bucks and the man they picked sixth overall, Chinese sensation Yi Jianlian. Before the draft, Yi and his flunkies did everything possible to discourage the Bucks from drafting the 7-footer, going so far as to refuse to allow the Bucks to attend Yi’s workouts. They made it known that he had no intent or desire to go to Milwaukee, but instead wanted to go to a city with a sizeable Chinese population. The Bucks took all of that in, weighed their options………and then gave Yi and his crew the ultimate middle finger by picking him anyhow. The team decided to pick the best player available to them, his objections be damned. Now, Yi is digging in his heels and refusing to have anything to do with the Bucks. He did not go to Milwaukee for the customary day-after press conference to be introduced in his new home city, he hasn’t negotiated at all with the Bucks or communicated with them in any way other than to ask to be traded. Instead, Yi has gone off to play with the Chinese national team in games he was already committed to play in anyhow. So here we sit, both sides refusing to budge and with one side, the Bucks, holding almost all of the power. They don’t have to trade Yi and they retain his rights unless they trade or release him, so if the team doesn’t change its mind, he can either play for them or not play at all in the NBA. It’s a tough position to be in, having your top draft pick refuse to play for you, but I give the Bucks big-time credit for staring down Yi and his representatives and saying in essence, “Screw you. You want to play in the NBA, you have to submit to the draft like everyone else and play with the team that picks you. You don’t get to dictate to us where you want to go.” Hey Yi, if you’re really that pissed about playing in Milwaukee, you can always go back to China and play there for the rest of your career, making a whole lot less and without experiencing the NBA and American lifestyle you’ve grown so fond of. Your choice, big boy………….
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