Senator Arlen Specter has called for an independent investigation into the New England Patriots' alleged taping of opposing team's signals and practices.
Specter has stated: "I have documented the strong factual case that a NFL investigation was neither objective nor adequate. If the commissioner doesn't move for an independent investigation, then there will be a permanent black mark on the NFL, and the Patriots' record will be historically tainted. Depending on the public reaction, I may ask the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on the NFL antitrust exemption."
If our tax money is going to be used for a Senate investigation, here is a list of some other things they might want to investigate first:
What are we going to do about the recession we are in at this very moment?
Why are the United States and South Africa the only two countries in the developed world that don't provide their citizens with health care?
Why are American citizens statistically as likely to be murdered as a citizen in the still war-torn country of South Africa?
Why are health care costs rising at over 7 per per year, gas rising at an astronomical rate—yet the average salary of an American employee is rising at a real rate of 1.1 percent? This indicates that year by year, American citizens are actually getting poorer.
Why have school shootings become a part of everyday life in our country? I guess if something happens often enough it becomes normal...
Why is Mr. Specter's home state of Pennsylvania one of the easiest states in the entire country to purchase a handgun in?
Why are there an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country (probably closer to 20 million)?
Why are our children's test scores now ranked twelfth in the world—a clear decline over the past 10 years?
Why is a college education turning into a luxury only available to the ultra-wealthy in America?
Oh yeah—why there is a war on quickly approaching the longest conflict our country has ever been involved in?
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I think it might be best for our government to investigate some of these issues before spending valuable time, resources and money on investigating whether or not Bill Belichick taped some practices.
If, by some miracle shot straight down from the heavens, government is able to solve these problems and still have some time left over to investigate the New England Patriots—then go for it.
Until then, though, I think it is scarily obvious that government has bigger fish to fry than the New England Patriots.
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3 months ago
Nice article despite the mistake that South Africa is a war torn country. Perhaps you have confused it with Zimbabwe, a country that is experiencing the worst inflation and its own version of the 2000 presidential election.
I agree that Senator Spectacle, I mean Specter is after something more than just justice. Perhaps he should investigate how the Steelers robbed the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Were the refs there just blind or did they want the Cinderella Steelers to win?
3 months ago
Senator Specter
Committee on the Judiciary (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
You see, Specter's JOB deals with corporations/companies with Antitrust privileges, of which the NFL is probably the biggest one. His job does NOT deal with wars, poverty crimes, or the economy.
This "doesn't government have anything better to do" argument is as old as it is pointless.
Our "government" is NOT involved in this NFL case. One man, who happens to be part of a committee that oversees Antitrust corporations and public rights within these corporations, IS looking into this case. It falls within his government job. He is not on a committee that deals with wars, poverty, etc. etc. Those officials that ARE in those committees are the ones out there dealing with those problems.
Regardless of one's personal opinion on Spygate or Specter, it took me 2 minutes on Google to find Specter's role in our government, and see that he's within his scope of responsibility here.
from 3 months ago
Good point, but I think you're missing the fact that the Senator is abusing his position and forcing his opinion even though the NFL, a privately owned company, has already levied fines and made it's own investigations and inqueries. Specter is not happy with the results so he's pushing for more results, threatening Congressional action. I think it's somewhat obvious that while he may be within his job description, he's pushing his own personal agenda-to say that fines totalling $750,000 and the loss of a first round draft pick is not enough punishment and there needs to be further, third party investigations is pathetic, seeing how it's the harshest punishment ever handed out in the NFL.
I don't see how our government isn't involved in this if an elected official currently holding the title "Senator" in the state of PA is involved in this. He's a Senator that plays a roll in the Government. If he's involved in something, than the Government is involved. It's like getting your taxes back from the IRS-just becuase they come from the IRS doesn't mean that the Government didn't have something to do with it.
3 months ago
There is a little town out west, maybe you've heard of it, it's called Las Vegas. And just in case you were born yesterday, I have to tell you that in Vegas over the course of the last seven years billions of dollars have been wagered on NFL football games. When you add up all the collective betting on football on a global scale it is hundreds of billions of dollars. A lot of people lost a lot of money because of the Pats cheating.
Now,in the gambling world, its called "fixing a game" when organized cheating occurs within a sports franchise. When this happens you leave the rhelm of sports and enter the sleazy world of crime.
Regardless of what Rodger would have us believe, Specter knows that the Pats had a huge advantage from cheating. So would people betting on the game if they knew about the fix. And lots of people knew about the cheating, probably the whole team. So, how many of them were betting on the games? It's not a stretch to think at some point over seven years organized crime might have gotten wind of it. When a horse race or a boxing match is fixed, they don't loose a draft pick, someone goes to jail. I hope Specter gets to ask questions to some people under oath
from 3 months ago
Robert... same post different article.. do you just have one thought that you paste around?
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