Wednesday, December 19, 2007

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...


All Drug Olympics - More free videos are here

Kind of apropros in the wake of the Mitchell Report. Hat tip to Dennis Prouse for the link.

Food for thought: Did SNL ever have a better glue guy than Kevin Nealon? He did Weekend Update for a time and there were so many sketches that he helped nailed down. Who can forget, "I'm Larry, Larry Bagina."

As for the Mitchell Report... it was worth the wait to see Dave Zirin point out what few in the sporting press bothered to tell people about, even though they deserved to know:

"When not 'saving baseball,' Mitchell works as a D.C. lobbyist carrying water for Big Tobacco and other corporations that traffic in human misery...

"Mitchell's sins are as lengthy as they are hidden. First, there is the senator's drug of choice: tobacco, a substance that has tagged more toes than any steroid. In 1997, Maureen Dowd wrote in the New York Times that his law firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand 'earned more than $10 million in fees in 1997 from the five largest tobacco companies.' The work has continued, with big tobacco paying top dollar to make sure they can survive the class-action lawsuit settlements that threaten to bankrupt their industry."

"... Mitchell was (also) hired to stop Congress from labeling candy that may have been picked by child or slave labor. The reports of abuse, confirmed by the Ivory Coast government, were so harrowing that Congress appeared ready to act. The Chocolate Manufacturers of America saw a PR nightmare and called Mitchell. As Susan Smith of the CMA said, 'What better person to give us advice on how to bring different parties together and deal with cross-country issues and global issues?'

"John Aloysius Farrell, in an analysis of Mitchell's chocolate child slave-labor advocacy, wrote in the Globe, 'What the manufacturers paid for was the chance to wrap themselves and their deal in the aura of Mitchell's reputation....' "

So much for Mitchell being beyond reproach, it would seem. Hey, though, if having their Very Blond Anchors report the Mitchell Report as if it was gospel truth with a smug perma-smile on their face helps TV producers get to sleep at night, so it goes.

Related:
The message is in the messenger (Dave Zirin, sfgate.com)

1 comment:

Dennis Prouse said...

I'm particularly amused by the Rafael Palmiero type denial issued by Roger Clemens, though his publicist of course. Roger huffed and puffed, but at the end of the day all he could offer was his, "25 years in public life" as a defense. Umm, Roger, you were throwing fastballs over those 25 years, not ministering to the poor. What does the length of your career have to do with anything? According to Roger, we are supposed to believe that the Yankee trainer is telling the truth about Andy Petitte, but lying about Roger. Riight.

Just once, I would like one of these guys to come clean and say, "Yeah, I did it. I wanted to be the best I could be, and I was trying to find every advantage I could." I would have respect for that guy. These athletes who do the Floyd Landis, thinking that a very loud denial will do the trick, are pathetic.