Fun With Steroids

Here's a cool feature on NYT.com that filters for hitters, teams, etc.

Selig Throws MLB Under Bus

In what promises to be a bombshell, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell is going to release his findings on steroids and Major League Baseball today at 2 P.M. Eastern:

...the report would name more than 50 active and former major league players who are linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. The person who read the report said among those named would be the winners of Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards.

Word around the campfire is that among those named will be Roger Clemens, one of the most amazing pitchers ever to play the game. That is a crying shame.

I'm not saying this as a Yankees fan -- I would say the same if Greg Maddux or Cal Ripken, Jr. were implicated.

The idea that this is serving some sort of justice is a farce. Selig wanted to show that he was serious about this problem, as if he and the other owners didn't notice that half of baseball was suddenly peopled with giants, and thus decided to wreck the image of a generation of ballplayers instead of just putting this all behind them.

This report was not in the best interest of baseball and will do far more damage than good.

Expect mindless, embarrassing, career-ending and legacy-tarnishing Congressional hearings soon.

UPDATE: Here's the list:

Chad Allen
Manny Alexander
Rick Ankiel
Mike Bell
David Bell
Gary Bennett Jr.
Marvin Bernard
Larry Bigbie
Barry Bonds
Kevin Brown
Paul Byrd
Ken Caminiti
Jose Canseco
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jason Giambi
Jeremi Giambi
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Darren Holmes
Todd Hundley
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Gary Matthews Jr.
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
David Naulty
Denny Neagle
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
John Rocker
F.P. Santangelo
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Miguel Tejada
Ismael Valdez
Mo Vaughn
Randy Velarde
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Todd Williams
Jeff Williams
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

Update: Colorado Shooting

From the security guard who took down the killer in the Colorado church shootings:

[Security Guard Jeanne] Assam said, "I wasn't just going to wait for him to do further damage."

How much damage could he have done?

[Gunman/dead guy Matthew] Murray was carrying two handguns, an assault rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, said Sgt. Jeff Johnson of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

But gun control advocates would say that calling 911 and waiting for the police would be the prudent thing to do.

Tell that to the survivors.

Moon Shot?

Yet another person with a weapon stops a criminal from hurting people:

An off-duty SWAT team member is being called a hero Sunday after shooting an armed robber outside a Brevard County supermarket.

Investigators said it all began after a man went into the Winn-Dixie on Singleton Avenue with a shotgun Saturday night. He then fired a shot at an office door to get inside and grab money.

Cool. But what unit is he from?

A member of the Kennedy Space Center SWAT team walked in the store, saw what was happening, and then went back to his car to get his gun.

Why in the world does the Kennedy Space Center have a SWAT team?

Murderous Moron Killed By Church Security Guard

In the latest event of jackass-gone-mad with a gun, a downplayed portion of the story buried in the text:

The gunman was killed by a member of the church's armed security staff before police arrived, Myers said.

That's right. This guy was killed by a private citizen before the police could respond. Granted, I've never been to a church with an armed security staff, but it seems this particular sect felt (correctly) that God's grace wasn't enough to protect them. Does it not make sense that we shouldn't rely on God or the police to protect the rest of us as well?

I predict that gun control advocates will be remarkably silent on this instance of private citizens handling this situation before police could react. They cannot wrap their heads around the fact that 2nd Amendment protects the most basic and fundamental individual right to self-defense. If our rights mean anything, the idea that we are allowed to be responsible for the safety of ourselves and families must be respected.

More prominently placed in the article, and quite grotesque when you think about it, is this statement by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter:

"Violent crimes of any sort are tragic enough, but when innocent people are killed in a religious facility or a place of worship, we must voice a collective sense of outrage and demonstrate a renewed commitment to keeping our communities safe."

Because this would be less tragic if it were at a secular event like a symphony or football game or MALL SHOPPING? This putrid comment serves only to placate the religious people in his state while simultaneously lowering the value of life for non-practicing/non-believing citizens.

Given the timing, one shudders to think that he may be trying to one-up the victims in Omaha.

Take My Job...PLEASE!

In an extraordinarily disgusting op-ed in the NYT today, (entitled 'Help Me Spy on Al-Qaeda') DNI director Mike McConnell extols the virtues of throwing out the 4th Amendment for the purposes of making his job easier:

Before the Protect America Act was enacted, to monitor the communications of foreign intelligence targets outside the United States, in some cases we had to operate under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, a law that had not kept pace with changes in technology. In a significant number of these cases, FISA required us to obtain a court order. This requirement slowed — and sometimes prevented — our ability to collect timely foreign intelligence.

For the record, the FISA court acts like a secret grand jury of judges...if you want to spy on a ham sandwich, just say the word. But when the government's case is especially specious, they have been known to turn down a ridiculously low number of applications. But I digress...

Any new law should begin by being true to the principles that make the Protect America Act successful. First, the intelligence community needs a law that does not require a court order for surveillance directed at a foreign intelligence target reasonably believed to be outside the United States, regardless of where the communications are found. The intelligence community should spend its time protecting our nation, not providing privacy protections to foreign terrorists and other diffuse international threats. (Emphasis added.)

So, if I read this correctly, the government has to show (up to four months post facto) that it "reasonably believes" that the information it taps is of foreign origin, but can still be considered "regardless" of where it is actually collected.

No warrant. No judge. Our safeguards are reduced to the 'reasonableness' of our government.

Pardon me if I don't feel any safer.