Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Nothing Better to Do?

1) Its seems to be a growing/continuing refrain of politicians getting involved where they don't belong. At the very least where they should NOT be spending a lot of time/tax payer dollars. Its called Grandstanding: Taking on a meaningless issue, but one that garners significant interest/press coverage.

2) The most recent example of this is the idiocy which came from Pennsylvania's liberal Republican senator, Arlen Spector. (Pictured above) Yesterday he held a news conference. No, not to discuss any pending legistlation or an issue which might affect his constituents or any one in the country. No, he wanted to know why NFL destroyed the Patriots spy tapes .

3) You heard us correctly. A Senator NOT from NY or Massachusetts (the teams involved in that long ago resolved issue) wanted to know what became of a tape confiscated by the NFL, and adjudicated from within. A privately owned/run organization is now being hassled by the federal government for no apparent reason other than to give the unaesthetic Spector some face time and possibly deflect voters from thinking about actual important issue for which he was elected to fix.

4) In another matter that is being exploited by politicians: Today the Congress continues its delving into the steroid policy of MLB with Roger Clemens appearing before/giving a deposition before House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. This issue at least has some relevance, especially as it can relate to children/minors trying to emulate their heroes, but even here we don't feel the degree of involvement of these ego maniacal politicians is for anything other than to get some easy positive exposure. Avoiding the real possibly divisive issues that we face as a nation/society.

5) The U.S. government is not alone with this kind of grandstanding. Hockey also had a recent issue which saw all 3 major political parties in Quebec pass a motion calling for Hockey Canada to explain the Shane Doan captaincy of Team Canada . at the world championships last spring Apparently this was in response to an alleged(never corroborated) story that Shane made some unflattering statements to Francophone referees the previous December. Their politicians, like their American counterparts, didn't care that this was a non-issue/never occurred. It garnered a natural emotional response that could be successfully exploited for political gain.

8 comments:

DMG said...

The saddest thing about instances like these is that too few people are willing to call the politicians on their blatant attempts to pander, which is why they still do it.

HockeyNutz said...

Your article shows a complete lack of understanding about the issue here.

The issue is anti-trust legislation and the NFL's exemption to anti-trust legislation. Spy-gate has been a violation of the anti-trust rules the NFL hides behind.

The tapes were destroyed for a reason, not by mistake.

Without the anti-trust exemption the NFL has serious difficulties managing their league.

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Nutz: Firstly welcome back from the dead. Glad your parents have allowed ya back online.
2) Anyway, it is YOU who show a lack of understanding of our blog piece. We understand the anti-trust exemption threat that congress likes to use against the NFL, MLB
3) However in this case there is NO reason (at least none that anyone we have talked to lawyers/agents, etc. could see) that the Congress of the United states needs to get involved.
4) No person has claimed a US law was violated. No harm has come to any individual. It was an internal matter that should have been left to the private enterprise (the NFL) to take care of. NOT for a camera-hungry Senator!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Nutz: HMMM, sorry IP address was the same. You may want to see if you're possibly getting hacked.
2) BTW, who was the 'common reader'? LOL

HockeyNutz said...

Sorry Faux,

The IP addresses match, and it confirms your suspicions about who was involved.

I see once again comment moderation is on. Slow times at my blog so I figured I'd would stir the pot to try to get things going hey. LOL. Nice try, huh?

Its the same IP addy. The ID's are the same and I clearly knew that, but took a chance anyway.

Remove my embarassing comment IMMEDIATELY or I will take further action.

What action?

Take a peak at:

http://fauxrumors.blogspot.com

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Nutz: We understand you are disturbed and evidently bored. Enjoy using the old faux blog that you stole last year. Its old news. We could care less what you do with it.
2) We're staying on message and not going to go back to having a blog war with you or any of your blog manifestations( Hawk, etc)

Ron said...

I actually once voted for that asswipe spector. i think he's feeling the heat here. My of the people I know hate him and would even vote for a democrat instead of him next time around.
I agree the govenment should stay out of that unless its hurting someone

 
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