Got Steroids?

[Mr_Cheeze]

I recently found myself wondering why Congress is so willing to use their valuable time investigating steroid use in professional baseball. Feeling that personal privacy outweighs any other issue, I think that professional ballplayers should be left to their own indiscretions. However, I'm starting to sway. This is a huge problem when considering the effect that steroid use has on minors playing high school sports. They see their "heroes" (another term overly used for people who play games for a living) using and figure, hey, how bad can it be. If it helps ballplayers make multimillions of dollars, it might help them get to the top in their respective sports.

You wonder how these kids might get roids? Check this out:
GOOGLE: buy steroids (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-02,GGLD:en&q=buy+steroids)

2,280,000 results! Click on the very top link.
"Buy Legal Steroids" In this site you can get all of the information one might need to both buy and properly use steroids. For just a few hundred dollars, one can acquire months worth of products... and all shipped right to your door. Why am I so surprised? Maybe because i've chosen to ignore it, perhaps like most people. Is this because we are used to living in a cheating society? Is it because we would rather be entertained by long homeruns by oversized ballplayers; by 265 pound linebackers and 320 pound o-linemen? I won't even get into the epidemic of drugs behind pro-wrestling. Vince McMahon should be thrown in jail. Arnold Schwartzenegger is certainly not without blame. Why isn't he at these hearings?

Hey, maybe these hearings are providing a service after all, even if they are aimed in the wrong direction here. I think that parents NEED to understand how pervasive this stuff is. I'm not naive enough to disbelieve that many of those parents are enablers, only caring for shortterm success. They have to be the exception, though. Right? I mean, i'm listening to these parents whose kids have had tragic endings due to steroid abuse. I can't help but wonder how many of them are hypocrites, that they may have known what was going on all along, choosing to ignore it because little Johnny was a football star. And only now because of a suicide or something, they have seen the light.

I mean, I think that adults, whomever they may be, should have the right to put whatever they want into their body. If Major League baseball wants to enable them, so be it. It's a private organization, after all. Seems to me the biggest and toughest question involves our kids and their high school and college sports.

I realize i'm rambling. It's hard to form a cohesive thought when I don't really understand what these hearing are meant to achieve. Being a libertarian, i'm really having mixed emotions about this stuff. Can anybody shed some light here? Theories? Solutions? Have you ever taken them? I am certain they would help cyclers of all types. Where do you draw the line at personal freedom?

[TrailBate]

I've got a couple of problems with this (of course)

#1. It's a fishing expedition. Unless specific charges are being brought against someone, the government should not have the right to force people to testify about anything.

#2. Just like you said, a lot/some of these steroids are perfectly legal.

#3 The gov't is demanding private drug tests from a private organization.

Is a hearing really necessary to find out what most people already know, suspect, or assume? Just make more steroids illegal, for chrissakes, and make even more of them illegal for people under 18 or 21!

[Slider]

Steroids suck. Kids taking steroids sucks worse. Having to takes steroids to compete at the top level of any sport is a death sentence. It is crazy to let the fox watch the henhouse, and baseball should not police itself.

Frank Shorter, local marathon hero and former chair of the US Anti Doping Agency, has it right. Test often, and carry a big penalty stick.

But soon the whole playing field will change. Genetic manipulation will make steroid use irrelevant, and may well be untraceable. Athletes will be works of art, or creations from a lab.

It won't seem that way at first, maybe a single gene will be tweaked so you don't have that same anterior cruciate ligament weakness your father had. Maybe you'll simply have that lung cancer gene switched off, and you might as well have them turn on that super O2 absorption one while they are at it. But ultimately we, or our descendants, will be able to far outperform our current standards, due to advances in genetic science, and not nearly so much due to dedication and training. I suppose the advantages that come from effort and determination will remain, but who is to say those qualities can't come from a test tube, too?

At some point we lose the baseline, the experimental control, that once grounded us. "May the best man win" will no longer means anything. What will we be measuring when we compete?

I think that the only conclusion can be that the sole meaningful yardstick is internal. There is no competition against others, only against yourself. They provide a reference point, but inside you have to know how hard you tried and how meaningful the effort was. The rest, especially after the clan of Frankenstein becomes the norm, is an illusion.

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[nhiker]

OK, I would like to consider Cheezes original question again. Is this an issue that our legislative branch should be having hearings about? WTF!!! No ! I say. I want my money back here these politicians have plenty todo and they should keep there collective eye on the prize! Jeesus cripes its not like this should even be on their radar screen.

Yes we would all prefer that school kids didn't use steroids and that the game of baseball were kept pure. But to have Congress having hearings about this is just BS!

[truckboy]

But soon the whole playing field will change. Genetic manipulation will make steroid use irrelevant, and may well be untraceable. Athletes will be works of art, or creations from a lab.


Oh, what a Brave New World this will Be!

http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/huxley1256-des-.html

[TrailBate]

OK, I would like to consider Cheezes original question again. Is this an issue that our legislative branch should be having hearings about? WTF!!! No ! I say. I want my money back here these politicians have plenty todo and they should keep there collective eye on the prize! Jeesus cripes its not like this should even be on their radar screen.

Yes we would all prefer that school kids didn't use steroids and that the game of baseball were kept pure. But to have Congress having hearings about this is just BS!




as long as they keep your attention away from other things the gov't is doing (cutting VA benefits, getting seriously overcharged by Halliburton, changing senate rules after 200 years to benefit the republicans, etc), it's all good.

[felixatvtc]

as long as they keep your attention away from other things the gov't is doing (cutting VA benefits, getting seriously overcharged by Halliburton, changing senate rules after 200 years to benefit the republicans, etc), it's all good.


I agree that's EXACTLY what they are doing. Same with that stupid Florida case. Gotta keep the public destracted as they rape them behind their backs ::)

[Slider]

The big diversion the Republicans are focusing on now is that right-to-die case in Florida. To the far right, it is a black and white case. Close inspection shows otherwise. But that didn't stop the House from overruling her husband, the doctors, and the courts, so they could toss a bone to the more fundamantalist wing of the party, at the expense of the poor woman at the center of the issue.

Bush says "We ought to err on the side of life in a case like this." Well, yeah. The life of the person suffering. She's already made it clear that she didn't want to continue to live under circumstances like what she faces currently. I see this as fascism on a more personal level.

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[TrailBate]

The big diversion the Republicans are focusing on now is that right-to-die case in Florida. To the far right, it is a black and white case. Close inspection shows otherwise. But that didn't stop the House from overruling her husband, the doctors, and the courts, so they could toss a bone to the more fundamantalist wing of the party, at the expense of the poor woman at the center of the issue.

Bush says "We ought to err on the side of life in a case like this." Well, yeah. The life of the person suffering. She's already made it clear that she didn't want to continue to live under circumstances like what she faces currently. I see this as fascism on a more personal level.

Slider


Too bad he errs on the side of death with retarded and underage criminals (not that I'm totally against it, but still....),
He also failed to mention the bill he passed in Texas in 1999 that said that if doctors think it's hopeless, they can stop life support, regardless of what the relatives, or living will says.

[TrailBate]

and I also want to know who all these people are standing outside the hospital praying. Shouldn't they be blowing up an abortion clinic somewhere? Or jeez, Michael Jackson is on tv! c'mon people!

[TrailBate]

a quote by Tom Delay

“One thing that God has brought to us is Terry Schiavo, to help us elevate the visibility of what is going on in America … This is exactly the issue that is going on in America, of attacks against the conservative movement, against me and many others … a huge nationwide concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in.”

So God gave Terry brain damage 15 years ago as a political move for the Conservatives....?

[truckboy]

Gents,
Don't forget that Medicaid and a gigantic malpractice tort win are what's paying for her to be kept alive. Two things Bush wants to limit.

[Slider]

DeLay's quote underscores as well as possible how the issue is being used as a diversion. From Iraq, Social Security reform failure, and all the other signs of budding fascism, yes, but in DeLay's case, specifically from his own criminal acts.

His quote is the absolute height of pandering by a sleazy politician. It is almost surreal. If he avoids jail, it is the Republicans who are attempting to "destroy what we believe in."

What "we" believe in is a country where laws are upheld and criminals punished. DeLay is a massive fraud who has laundered money in a blatantly illegal operation to change districting in Texas, which changed the national political landscape in the process. He has provided more support to Bush's coronation efforts than anyone other than his mentor, Karl Rove. Unlike Rove when dealing dirty, he left a clear trail. There is no grey area on this one if, as in Watergate, you "follow the money."

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[felixatvtc]

So God gave Terry brain damage 15 years ago as a political move for the Conservatives....?



What? You mean to tell me that you didn't get that memo? :P TB, you're my hero for blasting our government every chance you get on this board. BUT i don't know how you can follow it so closely and not just freak out in frustration.

[TrailBate]

Gents,
Don't forget that Medicaid and a gigantic malpractice tort win are what's paying for her to be kept alive. Two things Bush wants to limit.


otherwise he would have to claim bankruptcy. Oh, yeah, he can't anymore thanks to Bush (and too many democrats)

[TrailBate]

So God gave Terry brain damage 15 years ago as a political move for the Conservatives....?



What? You mean to tell me that you didn't get that memo? :P TB, you're my hero for blasting our government every chance you get on this board. BUT i don't know how you can follow it so closely and not just freak out in frustration.


My bumper sticker says, "where is Lee Harvey Oswald when we need him?"
That's how I stay sane.

[TrailBate]

... Feeling that personal privacy outweighs any other issue,...



It just dawned on me- Weren't you in FAVOR of the national ID?! ;)

[TrailBate]

March 20, 2005
NEWS ALERT
God's 15-Year Quest To Call Terri Schiavo Home Delayed By Congress
"I Am Beyond Aggravated," Says Almighty

After the U.S. Congress sought to extend the life of Terri Schiavo by allowing her case to be prolonged in the federal courts, God expressed his frustration at the latest obstacle to calling the brain-damaged women to Heaven, lashing out at Republican leaders in an unprecedented Sunday press conference.

"Bill Frist, Denny Hastert, Tom DeLay are clearly Satan's Helpers," said the Lord Almighty. "Terri's soul was supposed to be in Heaven 15 years ago, but Lucifer has thrown up one roadblock after the next. I've had it up to here, and believe you me, so has Terri."

Eternal peace and happiness awaits Ms. Schiavo in Heaven, the final resting place for most Earthly souls. Ms. Schiavo was unavailable for comment.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, long affiliated with the Christian Right, bristled at the charge that he is in league with the Devil. "This legislation is called the Palm Sunday Compromise. Would a Satan worshipper name a bill like that?," said DeLay. "I live to serve God, but He needs to get His facts straight, put down the Sojourner's and turn on Fox."

Satan has mainly been using the judicial system to ensure that Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube remain in place to deny her entry to Heaven. While he is known to wield influence in Congress, it is usually done in a low-key manner. His helpers rarely call attention to the relationship, as Satan's poll numbers remain stubbornly below 50%. For Satan to turn to Congress in such a high-profile fashion, as God is alleging, would be unusual.

God indicated there would be consequences for the culture if the delays continued. "I can make the abortion rate go a lot higher, and I can see to it that Paris Hilton gets even more offers for TV pilots," warned the Heavenly Father, "Don't push me."

January 1, 2003
NEWS ALERT
Bush Can't Stop Laughing At N. Korea "No Dong" Missiles

CRAWFORD, TX Jan. 1 -- White House aides are having a difficult time developing a diplomatic strategy regarding North Korea because President Bush keeps making jokes about the Communist nation's short-range missiles, known as "No Dongs."

"It's one small penis crack after another," said one adviser. "He can't focus on the issue at hand."

Several aides lamented that the jokes weren't even funny.

"Sometimes, a little levity to break the tension is fine," said a senior administration official, "but things like 'Our dongs are bigger than No Dongs' or 'What's the problem, Kim Jong Il don't even have a dong.' It's just bad."

Also causing tension within the Administration: some of the ethnic humor Bush has mined from the missile nomenclature has riled Transportation Secretary Norm Minetta.

"Right in the middle of a Cabinet meeting, Norm challenged Bush to whip it out right there, he was so steamed," said the adviser.

Reporters have had difficulty confirming rumors that Condi Rice was then asked to leave the room so the contest could be held.