Our economy is in crisis. Five hundred people a day are dying in Darfur. And closer to home, many of us face a lifetime of debt.

So, faced with these mounting challenges, our elected officials in Congress have decided to… play baseball.

If you have been near a television in the past week, you surely witnessed footage of our brave Congressmen interrogating Roger Clemens, famed pitcher-turned-steroids scapegoat (giving a new meaning to “small ball“), and his trainer-turned-whistle-blower, Brian McNamee. Allegedly, Clemens lied to Congressman George Mitchell when he was compiling his 400-page report on steroid use in baseball.

Here’s Congressman Dan Burton (a “family values” conservative who ironically is also known for his kinky affairs and “skirt-chasing“) grill McNamee. (Notice his blingin’ ring.)

So, why is Congress more concerned with athletes sticking needles in themselves than, say, health care? The answer: publicity. Our representatives rightly assume that we are going to pay more attention to their polemics against our favorite athletes (or their trainers) than their soliloquies on C-SPAN about pharmaceutical companies. The result? Re-election. You can bet that there are hordes of citizens from Indiana’s 5th district who are cheering on Mr. Burton as he strikes out the competition.

Give our representative Chaka Fattah a call (215-387-6404) and tell him to remind his colleagues in the House that they are there to govern, not play.

Tags: bling bling, Congress, shrinkage

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.