so the exec's from balco (remember the ridiculousness of baseball players testifying before CONGRESS about steriods, yeah, this company is the reason why) are getting less time than most petty drug dealers, i think a year and then another year of house arrest/probie.


.......*aneurysm* we make this huge deal about the effect of allowing these baseball stars to continually abuse steriods on our children, (because otherwise this is really only about the sanctity of the game of baseball, which i'm pretty sure can be absolved outside of two weeks of congressional hearings) and instead a federal judge gives the main figures behind this entire scandal a nice vacation from their jobs. these men made their money.. one guy was barry bonds' personal trainor FFS, and they get nothing. if my roomate and i had been caught w/ an ounce or two of ganja that we were selling to people we knew to get by b/c we were working commission jobs and for carrot-hanging bosses who likely were robbing our accounts, we may have been subject to similar if not worse sentences than these men.

these men made millions selling drugs just as illegal internationally and ruined the integrity of many sports, not just baseball but the steriods distributed by balco were found in the last olympics. all of this continually allows the foreign public to question the content of America's character, and because we love us some rich white men in this country, they're going to get away with in with nothing more than a slap on the wrist with a feather-duster.

god, i'm so sick of how immune the rich are to everything. i am sick of over-reactive men and women in their 40s-50s scared shitless b/c they grew up in the mcarthey era making big stinks about every facet of popular culture, and then forgetting and abandoning these issues 3 months later because they've found some other cause to rally their poles behind. it's the same practice the goddamn right wing has been using for years, taking advantage of the media's short attention span and the constant spinning of stories to keep once-sensitive hot-bed political issues out of the media spotlight in favor of what ever the current craze of bad influence happens to be.

the other thing to remember is that this game was rated M. kids aren't supposed to be buying these games. so when the government goes out and lets corporate groups sell steriods than can permanently damage your health and can even kill and let them get away with it, it's no surprise that it's cultural consensus not to blame the stores that sold these games to kids and the parents who didn't notice after they were purchased. everyone knows Take Two/Rockstar fucked up, that's not the point. they tried to fuck the system, and it nipped them in the ass and cost them an estimated 8 figures in lost revenue for all the games that had to be made AO and to reproduce the game in it's now M format (not to mention lost revenue for the time that the game in it's entirety was take off the shelf.)

what is it about America that allows the public to get pulled in to this mass sensualization of our media. it's not like other countries don't have papparazzi problems (anyone remember princess di?) or bored housewives who get off watching soap operas and living vicariously through the rich and famous. it's so frustrating to put up with. sometimes i think i am either going to have to get involved in the process or forget about this country entirely, b/c i can't stand to be associated for what america really stands for. there are cool people here, but what we are all about is not what is reflected by our masses. and it's not even that big of a majority, but no pun intended they're much more militant than we are and in this country might beats right and questioning at any point in the process is the only sure-fire way to completely destroy it, apparantly.

and those that do question are radical liberals completely out of touch with america, like john kerry. *sigh*

anyway, enough bitching.
have a good day, dance, be merry, rub up on little boys on the bus, you know.. the usual.

paz,
dino-kun.