Last week Roger Clemens, one of the great baseball pitchers of our time, was acquitted on all counts of lying to Congress and using a controlled substance (steroids). The trial cost him 3 million dollars to defend himself and cost the American taxpayers 3 million dollars (to lose).
There are those who immediately said that he was acquitted only because there was not enough evidence against him and that he was, in fact, guilty. My answer to those comments is: Nonsense! He was found "Not Guilty" so he's not guilty until they prove otherwise-it's as simple as that. In this country we have an axiom as part of the foundation of our justice system. That axiom is "a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty". That axiom is part of what ensures our freedom and protects us from abuse by corrupt authorities. If it is the right way to believe -then it must be adhered to in all cases, not just the ones we chose to apply it too. In this case the Department of Justice spent over 3 years and over 3 million dollars and still failed to prove Roger guilty -so as far as I am concerned, and as far as everyone else should be concerned -he is innocent!
Just why did Roger and the rest of us have to endure all this to start with? Because the Department of Justice lacked the common sense to see 2 important facts up front. First, they did not, right from the very start, have a strong enough case to ensure a conviction and no one in the Department had the common sense to say "Let's wait until we have more evidence and a stronger case".
Secondly (and perhaps more importantly), the Department of Justice lacked the common sense to say "We have thousands of crimes to prosecute and we have a limited budget, a limited number of prosecutors and limited resources to do it with. This, if it is a crime, is just not important enough to waste 3 years and 3 million dollars on".
I blame all this on the Department of Justice's leadership. The buck stops with the boss and Eric Holder should accept responsibility for this colossal waste of our time and money. He should humbly apologize, But don't expect that to happen any time soon. If even asked, he will undoubtedly say he was unaware of the evidence and decisions to prosecute the case. --If you buy into that when he says it, please contact me. I have some ocean front property in Montana you will probably be interested in buying too.
The day the verdict was handed down I heard Bob Beckel commenting on "The Five". When asked his opinion he burst out "Clemens lied to Congress, he is on the juice (steroids) and he got away with it". What a perfect example of "sour grapes". I wonder if Bob has any idea how important "innocent until proven guilty" is to our system. I wonder of he, and the many others saying the same thing, realize how small and petty that makes them look and how it detracts from the respect people have for their opinions.
As for me, I just think this whole thing was a silly waste of time from the start. Sure, Roger was accused of using steroids, which would make him a cheater as well as a law breaker. The accusations should absolutely have been investigated -but by baseball itself, not the the United States Department of Justice!
There are those who immediately said that he was acquitted only because there was not enough evidence against him and that he was, in fact, guilty. My answer to those comments is: Nonsense! He was found "Not Guilty" so he's not guilty until they prove otherwise-it's as simple as that. In this country we have an axiom as part of the foundation of our justice system. That axiom is "a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty". That axiom is part of what ensures our freedom and protects us from abuse by corrupt authorities. If it is the right way to believe -then it must be adhered to in all cases, not just the ones we chose to apply it too. In this case the Department of Justice spent over 3 years and over 3 million dollars and still failed to prove Roger guilty -so as far as I am concerned, and as far as everyone else should be concerned -he is innocent!
Just why did Roger and the rest of us have to endure all this to start with? Because the Department of Justice lacked the common sense to see 2 important facts up front. First, they did not, right from the very start, have a strong enough case to ensure a conviction and no one in the Department had the common sense to say "Let's wait until we have more evidence and a stronger case".
Secondly (and perhaps more importantly), the Department of Justice lacked the common sense to say "We have thousands of crimes to prosecute and we have a limited budget, a limited number of prosecutors and limited resources to do it with. This, if it is a crime, is just not important enough to waste 3 years and 3 million dollars on".
I blame all this on the Department of Justice's leadership. The buck stops with the boss and Eric Holder should accept responsibility for this colossal waste of our time and money. He should humbly apologize, But don't expect that to happen any time soon. If even asked, he will undoubtedly say he was unaware of the evidence and decisions to prosecute the case. --If you buy into that when he says it, please contact me. I have some ocean front property in Montana you will probably be interested in buying too.
The day the verdict was handed down I heard Bob Beckel commenting on "The Five". When asked his opinion he burst out "Clemens lied to Congress, he is on the juice (steroids) and he got away with it". What a perfect example of "sour grapes". I wonder if Bob has any idea how important "innocent until proven guilty" is to our system. I wonder of he, and the many others saying the same thing, realize how small and petty that makes them look and how it detracts from the respect people have for their opinions.
As for me, I just think this whole thing was a silly waste of time from the start. Sure, Roger was accused of using steroids, which would make him a cheater as well as a law breaker. The accusations should absolutely have been investigated -but by baseball itself, not the the United States Department of Justice!
Come on, Mr. Holder, start doing your job by showing a little better judgment and using a little common sense. Please stop wasting our time and tax dollars chasing cases like this while failing to prosecute things such as murder, fraud, embezzlement, espionage, and voter intimidation....
Live Long and Prosper....
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