James Leroy Wilson's one-man magazine.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Distorted Values

Ten years ago, the NFL suspended Michael Irvin for five games after he pleaded no contest to cocaine possession, the result of an off-the-field drug bust that March.

This week, the NFL suspended Michael Haynesworth for five games after he stomped on an unhelmeted player with his cleats. There are no plans to file criminal charges against Haynesworth.

Apparently, off-the-field, off-season partying is just as harmful to the league as vicious assault. In the eyes of the law, it's even more serious.

Last week, Congressman Mark Foley resigned in disgrace for sending obscene emails to teenage boys who had worked as House pages.

Also last week, 250 Congressmen voted for the Military Commissions Act, which allows the President to arrest, detain, and torture anyone who displeases him. No one raises an eyebrow. Almost all of them are standing for re-election.

(Foley, by the way, did not vote on that one.)

One does not need to condone cocaine or sex with minors, to realize that something is terribly wrong with this picture. It's unfortunate that Dennis Hastert and his Republican majority might go down because of their mishandling of a sex scandal, and not because they passed the most evil and barbaric legislation in our history. We might get divided government, which will be "less evil" than the current situation, but I doubt any real lessons will be learned.

Our country doesn't know right from wrong.

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