This shit makes me sick.
I love my dog. I would hate to see him suffer. I hate to see any living thing suffer. I would never participate in any type of animal fighting. I am not going to attempt to justify Vick's involvement with dog fighting. I do not think it should be illegal, but that is not what makes me sick.
This congressman's letter was a threat. It was a little man wielding power that he neither deserves nor can handle. I wish I could write a letter to him telling him that if he continues to pursue stupid shit like this, I would fire (not vote) for him. I wish he was informed on what liberty means and what government is supposed to do. This is how fascism starts. This is how Big Brother starts.
If I wrote on this blog that if the congressman Lantos had better resign or sanction himself or else I would take matters into my own hand, it would be considered (an empty) threat. I might even be thrown in jail. But he does it and, it is fine and fucking dandy.
It is almost time for another civil war. No let us just annex California.
In the end, the Vick brothers continue to disappoint. But government disappoints more.
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9 comments:
Tom Lantos is a Holocaust survivor that lived in a Nazi concentration camp in Hungary. He is the lone Holocaust survivor in Congress. When he speaks, I think that everyone should listen. We are so used to the Hollywood side of professional sports that we accept incidences like this as the status quo. We should not though because these people are some of the most well recognized Americans around the world.
Now I've got to ask you something because I think that this post of yours has some serious ethical flaws. Do you ever consider that your whole libertarian belief often fails to consider many issues of value under the guise of a libertarian point of view? This is what makes me sick about politics. Everyone quits thinkig as an individual and becomes a puppet to some staunch philosophy. When a legitimate question is raised, people ask why that person is raising that question or seek to guess what their motivation is rather than actually respond to the question.
And I think he wrote that letter as Tom Lantos, citizen, who happens to be in Congress, which is also a right of his as an elected official. He is not Congress's representative - he just wrote a letter and there is not collaboration on who should respond to the 'Vick situation'. But the media makes it appear that way. Just like all debate, the NFL Commish has the right to respond to Lantos and tell him to blow it out of his ass. I have no clue why you would feel like this whole situation infringes upon your rights.
GGM
From the article and letter:
"U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) pointed out that he's a senior member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which two years ago held highly publicized hearings on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional sports."
""I also suggest you educate your players on the illegality and cruelty of dog fighting to prevent this from happening again," Lantos wrote. "It is my hope that the issue of animal fighting will not require us to further investigate the behavior of your athletes." "
It is an absolute abuse of power. He did not write it as a private citizen. He wrote as the head of the same committee that brought Major League Baseball players in to testify before Congress. It was an attempt to scare the NFL into action.
How can you say this post was not from an individual perspective, but a slave to a philosophy? I started with "I love my dog." I got so emotional that I cussed. The action made me mad. I care about the issue, and I am willing to state my opinion. That is not being a slave to a philosophy. Lantos was wrong. Yeah it is my opinion and we all know that everyone has opinions and they all stink. But having and stating a fucking opinion does not make someone a slave to a philosophy.
Since he was a holocaust survivor he should know better. Hitler called for destructive action against Jewish people. Lantos is calling for destructive action against people who like to watch dogfights. Yeah that sounds stupid, and it is pretty stupid. But after dogfights, what is next? He is attempting to opress a minority for no other reason than he disagrees with them. It sounds a whole lot like Hitler to me.
Here is the problem (that ML and I have talked about a lot.) I am sure Lantos is a great man. I do not doubt that one bit. But his letter was wrong and anti-liberty. I have to be able to say that without someone attacking me for attacking a good man and being a slave to a philosophy.
I should let this go, but I am not.
If he was acting as a private citizen, he should have wrote "if you let Michael Vick play, then I will stop watching the NFL." But he did not, he invoked his governmental position. Just because you are a good man does not mean you will be a good Representative.
I do not buy this "we accept it as status quo" argument either. The authorities are investigating Vick. Should he get punished more because he is famous?
Why not hunting next?
Yeah, I value individual rights before everything else. If that makes me a slave to a philosophy then so be it. But it makes me a slave with Madison, Jefferson, and a whole lot of other good men.
You have to stand for something or you will fall for anything.
(Vick should have paid Surry County for a new abandoned animal shelter.)
I am glad to see this blog getting back to its libertarian roots. As for Lantos being a good man or not I cannot say. I am reminded of a quote by Abraham Lincoln though.
"Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong."
Dog fighting is wrong. Using governmental power to bully and intimidate is morally repugnant too.
professional penalties for professional athletes should be more reflective of their position and status. suspending a guy for a few games or fining him for a few thousand dollars after he was (insert serious legal issue) does not teach a good enough lesson. The NFL and other leagues should react more quickly with real penalties.
The moral standard of professional athletes is becoming a joke.
If half of these issues that arise with athletes today would have plagued Joe Montana, Reggie White, or John Elway, they would have resigned immediately like a man should do. Or at least I would like to think that is how it would have happened. They are setting some bad examples today. And kids are listening.
GGM
A travesty is destroying the United States today. Graduate students are out of control. They get speeding tickets, following too closely tickets, park in handicap spaces, drink all night, and refuse to get their cars inspected. This situation cannot be allowed to continue.
Graduate students are setting a bad example to undergraduate students. They are corrupting their minds. They are turning them into scoundrels not befit for a decent society.
It cannot be a parent's responsibility to teach their children. The state must do it. So we need a governmenal panel on graduate student behavior.
(GGM, I really agree with you, but I don't think it is government's job. The MLB,NFL, and NBA's fans must do it. I suggest you read Jason Whitlock's "prison culture" articles.)
For your graduate student argument, see my previous post on slave to philosophy and inability to answer direct questions.
But I appreciate your humor.
"Don't miss the forest for the trees."
GGM
The consumer is king. If it bothers people that much, then tell them not to watch. If it bothers the NFL, MLB, or NBA that much, let them self-regulate. They are. Look at the Pacman Jones suspension, the new steroid policy, the Suns' suspensions, NASCAR's fines for cussing... Look at David Stern's new NBA.
This is the answer to the question.
Here is the question: What good is a congressional hearing going to do?
A congressional hearing is going to waste taxpayers' money.
Let's all remember Barry Bonds is still smackin' them out of AT&T Park. Another glaring example of the uselessness of a congressional hearing. Oh and let us also not forget Pearl Jam's Ticketmaster hearing.
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