756

Well, there it goes. Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run last night. Yeah, so?

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that patients with terminal illnesses do not have a constitutional right to use medicines that have not yet won regulatory approval.

In a new effort to crack down on illegal immigrants, federal authorities are expected to announce tough rules this week that would require employers to fire workers who use false Social Security numbers.

Attacks on American forces in Iraq using a lethal type of roadside bomb said to be supplied by Iran reached a new high in July, according to the U.S. military [in the latest installment of the ramp-up to the next illegal war].

Presidential candidates in both parties are promising to overhaul the nation's health care system and cover more — if not all — of the nation's uninsured.

And that's just what I found in a quick survey of one newspaper, the New York Times, as to what liberties were being assaulted while that baseball was flying out of the park. My guess is there are well over 756 freedoms under attack at any given moment.

One must keep an eye on the ball to be able to follow the game.

Sports and integrity

Recent news from the circuses (as in "bread and ...") has been a bit troubling. Most shocking of all are charges quarterback Michael Vick has been neck-deep in the world of dogfighting, including the destruction of underperforming dogs "by drowning, shooting, hanging and electrocution." Much tongue-clucking and teeth-gnashing has ensued over whether to suspend Vick from his job. It seems a no-brainer that the man should be suspended from free interaction with civilized human beings, but the guy's a star, after all, doncha know.

Then there's the fuss over whether Barry Bonds' feat of breaking the major league baseball home-run record should be recognized as legitimate or tagged with an asterisk because Bonds shows all the signs of being a steroid abuser. I was on board with believing Bonds was a fraud and a cheat and that Hank Aaron should continue to be considered the all-time champ; then someone reminded me that many pitchers also abused steroids, so perhaps Bonds did accomplish something by being able to connect so successfully against Franken-pitchers. Maybe every record set during the "steroids? moi?" era should be marked with an asterisk.

Finally there's the brouhaha over an NBA referee who bet on games, including games he worked, meaning he was in position to affect the final score. I have long ago lost interest in a basketball league that outlaws zone defense, insists on a shot every 24 seconds and discourages enforcement of the rule against traveling - not to mention a winter sport league that extends its season into June. A referee who cheats does call the integrity of the sport into question - but what the NBA markets is not exactly basketball as I understand it as a rabid college BKB fan. My humble opinion is that I don't care enough about the NBA to have an opinion - and as the legion of fans like me grows, that is the league's real problem.