Your Congress at work

The United States has been mired in Iraq for five years, and the economy is hurtling toward a recession. But Congress is focusing on what's really important:

Roger Clemens got some new Republican support in his dispute with Brian McNamee.

Reprising the partisan nature of last month's congressional hearing that examined whether the seven-time Cy Young Award winner took performance-enhancing drugs, the leading Republican on the committee that heard testimony from Clemens and McNamee released a report Tuesday questioning some of the Democratic majority's findings.

The 109-page report ``seeks to dispel conclusions that may have resulted from an incomplete consideration of the full record'' and contains details Rep. Tom Davis believes could challenge the credibility of McNamee, the personal trainer who testified under oath he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone from 1998-01.

Minority staff from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will pass along additional information to the Justice Department. The FBI is investigating whether Clemens testified truthfully to Congress. (link)

Batter up

There's little original but much that bears repeating in this essay about Major League Baseball steroid hypocrisy. Baseball purists are fretting because Barry Bonds stands to break the all-time homerun record, and he already holds the single-season record. But many Major League milestones were set at a time when many athletes also had an unfair competitive advantage:

In the 20th Century, baseball was America's Favorite Past Time, second only to invading small countries. Baseball players and their records were cultural icons; every kid knew the batting averages and rbi's of their favorite players. How many wins? How many hits in a season? How many homeruns? What did DiMaggio do today? When Ruth was asked why he was paid more than the Depression-plagued President, he responded "because I had a better year."

How would these records have changed if African Americans (and Latinos of African ancestry) had been included during the 60 year period of color line baseball? What impact would black players have had on the records of the all-white baseball players? Would Ruth have still hit 714 homeruns if he had to face pitchers like Satchel Paige, Leon Day or Smokey Joe Williams?

It seems unlikely.