Thursday, November 15, 2007

Barry Bonds indicted

So Barry Bonds has been indicted for perjury -- lying to investigators and apparently a federal grand jury -- and obstruction of justice. Hmmmph. Federal investigators can lie to you -- they can, they admit it, they boast about it --but you can't lie to them when you know their goal is to put you behind bars? Judging by the news stories, they lied to Barry Bonds, not telling him they had alleged test results that showed him testing positive for steroids. But turnabout isn't fair play. They'll put you in prison for playing games with them.

The feds are a bunch of thugs and bullies. Their only legitimacy grows from a barrel of a gun. People should get a medal rather than a prison term for lying to the feds. Do I really mean that? Almost.

The U.S. Constitution doesn't give the federal government the authority to ban drugs. When Barry Bonds is alleged to have used steroids Major League Baseball didn't have rules against them, though one can argue that perhaps it should have. And the whole red line about performance-enhacing drugs is an artificial bit of prudery anyway. Athletes take all the nutrients they can get their hands on if they're smart, they work out, they have personal trainers and special diets. But certain substances that can also help them perform better are cheating while all the other stuff isn't? It's an artificial line rooted in attitudes encouraged by the unconstitutional, illegitimate and counterproductive Holy War on (certain) Drugs.

I probably wouldn't like Barry Bonds much and he probably wouldn't like me. But if he hadn't been a hard-ass who didn't cooperate with the media and therfore alienated them, I doubt this would be happening.

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