Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Arlen Spector To Blow Taxpayer Dollars On Football

Ok, so you don't like how the investigation has gone with the Patriots and Spygate. Let me take some of the focus off of that for just a second, and bring some realization to the world here.

1) The economy has just about hit rock bottom.
2) We're spending $100 billion MORE dollars in defense than all the other countries combined, and no one is scared of us like they are North Korea who spend 0.5% of what we spend on defense.
3) We have more poverty than any other country on this planet.
4) We're spending 19 million on the drug wars annually.
5) Our government just sent rebate checks to all the taxpayers, I don't know, to gain their trust. At least the general population would spend the money better..

Apparently to Senator Arlen Spector, all this pales in comparison to the fact that the New England Patriots broke a rule of the NFL. I'm going to repeat. "Broke a rule in the NFL."

Arlen Spector wants to conduct an investigation of the New England Patriots now, and guess on who's tab? Yours! Mine! OURS! That's right, because he doesn't like how a football game ruling has turned out, he's going to conduct an investigation on our dime. Absolutely incredible. I could understand if it had something to do with what baseball just went through with steriods, where an illegal drug was used. This is football, this is a little broken rule. Get over it, and don't spend my money on it!

Senator, what are you thinking? Seriously.

Arlen Spector, you are a prime example of what's wrong with this country.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

If this is the rock-bottom of the economy, we're doing pretty damn good.

Matt said...

Jreffy pick up your local newspaper and look at all the home foreclosures then come back to your computer and say that.

Rob said...

"3) We have more poverty than any other country on this planet."

Really? Seriously? As compared to places like Darfur, Sudan, Zimbabwe? I'd like to see a source for that.

Besides that, I have to completely agree with you. I heard on NPR the other day he was launching an investigation into this and it blew my mind. So many better things for my money and HIS time to be spent on.

Anonymous said...

I could not agree with you more. The purpose of the post is not the economy of other countries, it is the massive displacement of American taxpayer money. Spending one cent to investigate this trivial problem with American sports is not in my personal interest or to my knowledge in the interest of any average, middle class taxpayer.

A. Loughran said...

@ ROb
He probably means 1st world countries.

Anonymous said...

"Specter said he would prefer the NFL arrange the independent investigation and was willing to wait several months—while he continues to undergo chemotherapy treatments for Hodgkin’s disease—before calling for Congress to take what he called “corrective action.” Such action could include hearings or a full-blown Mitchell Report-type investigation. He said public reaction would determine the NFL’s next step."

Anonymous said...

The fact is spygate is in the publics interest, Why would out tax dollars fund stadiums and support sports teams that intentionally cheat or use performance enchancing drugs?

I guess in your ideal world the goverment should keep out of sports, Let's just forget about collage sports, Our international olympic teams. Who cares if cheating is rampent in sports.

Anonymous said...

Matt,
Don't blindly believe everything you read in the newspapers without first checking into it. All newspapers try and do is catch attention and readers with sensationalist headlines and panic-attack articles. I believe the actual rate of home forclosures right now is 2%. Is that bad? Sure, but is it "rock bottom", hardly. Remember that little thing called "the great depression". Why don't you ask your grandparents about that and then talk about "rock bottom economy".
Sure, lots of homes are being foreclosed on, however, most of those foreclosures are happening to people who borrowed beyond their means or purchases houses that were much too large for them. A good portion of those foreclosures and "walk-away" mortgages are speculators who got caught trying to flip houses.

Anonymous said...

The other reason why this is government business is because the NFL receives government exemptions to anti-trust laws since they are, in essence, a monopoly. I agree it's a waste of taxpayer money, however, I cannot deny the government the right to investigate a company that is receiving their special treatment and oversight already.

Anonymous said...

Investigating the NFL is money well spent. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry. If was they are selling us is a lie, I want to know about it.

Unknown said...

"2) We're spending $100 billion MORE dollars in defense than all the other countries combined, and no one is scared of us like they are North Korea who spend 0.5% of what we spend on defense."

countries like syria are not afraid of north korea (the opposite in fact), but are definitely afraid of the u.s.a.

"3) We have more poverty than any other country on this planet."

it's comments like the above that cause americans to be, ummm... "unpopular" (despised?) in other parts of the world. i am glad that you found time you away from your food-rioting to type this blog entry though. are you still slumming with dial-up? how far did you have to walk for your drinking water?

casey in canada

Anonymous said...

Source for the poverty comment? The economy contracted, but still growing (as the newspapers told me). Of course it seems out of reality to be putting in effort to investigate the NFL, but it is a multi-billionaire dollar establishment and clearly in the interest of some Americans...

Matt said...

@ jreffy

I was not talking about the stories. I am talking about the foreclosure listings. I understand why they are happening. I don't think you understand their impact on other sectors of the economy. The people the mortgage /credit crisis effect the most are the financial sectors. If we have a collapse there it causes a domino effect in other sectors of the economy. Because of the lack of lending/spending/investing. So its not as simple as oh a couple of people made bad decisions. Its a catastrophic as financial sector collapse where we will see bank runs, and no way to borrow and ability for credit expansion.

Dr. Jones said...

Even if all those 'facts' were incorrect, and the economy was booming, there is no reason our government even has the constitutional right to investigate the NFL...they are a business! - let them regulate their own teams! We should all write letters regardless of your consideration of said facts, making sure this never happens.

Anonymous said...

New England Cheated Big Time. This should be investigated, the biggest cheaters of the NFL. If you didn't catch New Englands PR move last year right after they lost, there was an hour special about this team and the owner on TV it was a blatant PR move so they could keep past SuperBowl Championships that they had won. Because they Cheated they should be stripped of all honor for Cheating. They Knew Better and they got caught. I won't watch the NFL till this is made right!

Anonymous said...

This is ridiculous, it's like congress investigating those video game tournaments for hackers... I understand the money involved, and the stupid americans who care about it so much, but congress should have better things to do.

Salva73 said...

Just so you guys know what this is about, Arlen Spector has received about $500,000 in campaign funds from Comcast, Comcast affiliates and the law firm that represents Comcast.

Comcast and the NFL are in a lawsuit because they will not air the NFL Network on their basic tier, like they do their other sports. Ultimately this is all just payback for the NFL giving the entire Sunday Ticket Package to the Direct TV exclusively. The NFL is trying to force cable company's to air the NFL Network on the basic tier so they can make more money and the Cable companies are using all their resources to screw them over.

Including using a congressman that is all but dead.

On our dime.

God Bless America.

Anonymous said...

Spector is a corrupt politician. The Patriots got caught. They paid for it, lets move on. Spector is turning this into a witch hunt because he gets paid by Comcast. The NFL disagrees with Comcast selling it separately to subscribers for an additional cost.
Senator Arlen Spector is just a sideshow barker. I hope he misses some Chemo sessions.

Anonymous said...

Totally ridiculous. I was thinking the same thing when I came home from work. In regards to baseball, investagation/illegal drugs, Congress is apt to act on that more so for the fact that MLB is a sanctioned monopoly regulated by Congress uder Anti-Trust legislation. The NFL is not a sanctioned monopoly and Congress has no standing to justify an investigation.

Anonymous said...

So it's okay for baseball to investigate steroid and hormone usage, but it's not okay to investigate a team which rakes in millions of American's dollars a year and gets lots of tax brakes, as well as the NFL itself, for cheating?

So should Pete Rose get off scott-free? What about Marion Barber? Just because you're not an athlete or involved in the industry doesn't mean those of us who ARE don't want things like that investigated. I'm sure if your blog was attacked in some way by a higher-up, you'd want an investigation.

Rick said...

Did Pete Rose get off scott free? Absolutely not. Should he? Absolutely not. But, and I'm going to make this a point of emphasis, Pete Rose's situation was handled by baseball. And that's where it ended, as far as I know. Not only that, but gambling is made illegal by the US Govt, as is steroids which that Marion person you say took, and all those baseball players. Video taping your opponent's signals on the other hand is ONLY a league rule violation. It is NOT illegal.

I don't have a problem with the Govt investigating illegal drugs in sports, I do however have a problem with them investigating a broken rule.

Let the military police the world, let the police police the country, and let the league police the league.

Anonymous said...

Bravo Arlen, Way to go. Really, this is THE most pressing issue of the day? War on "Terror", War on "Drugs", ..ah I'll take $911.00 on NFL Rules, Alex.

Anonymous said...

Bravo Arlen, Way to go. Really, this is THE most pressing issue of the day? War on "Terror", War on "Drugs", ..ah I'll take $911.00 on NFL Rules, Alex.

Joe said...

Are steroids illegal? I thought it was just a rule in the MLB that you couldn't use them. I know for a fact that professional body builders use them. They aren't fined or put in jail.

We have more poverty than any other country in the world?? HA!! Even the bums on the street with noting but a shopping cart and a few dimes thrown his way is doing much better than the folks in the Congo, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Nigeria, Myanmar, and a HOST of other countries. I say that if one takes the entire world into account there is not a single person in the United States in poverty. Their lives may suck, but on a relative scale, they have it pretty good.

Anonymous said...

Bush first, then the Patriots.

Anonymous said...

For those that want to do an investigation remember a few things:

1. The whole "cameragate" issue was exposed by the NFL itself. There was no cover up.

2. The matter was investigated by the NFL.

3. Penalties were issued by the NFL, some of the greatest in league history, in fact.

4. Corrective measures like defensive headsets were inacted to prevent future instances of this activity.

So the government has to investigate why again? What else could possibly need to be done other then the above? It is one thing if the NFL was trying to sweep the matter under the rug but it seems perfectly legitimate that they are taking care of their own house.

Anonymous said...

OK, It finally occurred to me. Arlen Spector took the Jets and the points and wants his money back.

Rick said...

I'm going to take it one step further. He had money on the Eagles in the Superbowl, and he has it out for the Pats, kinda the way George Bush Jr had it out for Saddam after his daddy didn't finish the job the first time around.

Anonymous said...

Who gives a ****!!!! Our economy is in the toilet and a this guy is worried about a stupid*** football team. This guy needs to be voted out of office ASAP. Wake up folks!!! These folks do not care about the majority!!!! For the rich, By the rich, of the rich!!!!

Anonymous said...

Yes, because allowing a Legal Monopoly and a billion dollar business run rampant while avoiding paying the taxes you so deeply resent paying is fine. Never mind that if the NFL fell the economy would be even worse off than it already is. You people are nothing but simpletons with little to no understand of American Economics.

Rick said...

I'm still hearing of this monopoly of the NFL. I want you to sit back and think about why that is. It's not because they've been cheating the competition. The USFL had their chance didn't they? Why didn't they succeed? Because they sucked! The reason the NFL is a monopoly of football, is because they are the best at it. The NFL is NOT a monopoly of sports. They are the leading sport in the United States, but they are not a monopoly.

Microsoft is a monopoly of web browsers, but they aren't a monopoly of computer technology.

Anonymous said...

It just so happens to be that if I'm not mistaken, Arlen Spector is an Eagles fan, a team that lost to the Patriots in a recent Superbowl. Can you say sour grapes?

This is absurd though that this is made into a federal issue and they're getting the government involved just like the absurdity over steroid use in baseball. The sheep who watch their tv and sports I'm sure would be all up to speed and informed on this, but they don't know ***** about the relevant things going on in the world beyond the sports world.

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Anonymous said...

Dont thinking it good. Sport is spirits not dollars..

bob mc alister said...

billions of money ...with no accounting ..and we wonder why americanis bankrupt ?

anyway , I was wanting to find out more about roger and how he makes those big bux ...any help is appreciated.

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