I just found Sports on my Mind, through one of Giantsrainman’s backtalker rants, and wow, have I been asleep. D.K. Wilson, who is sometimes published in the Chicago Sports Review, and used to write for the Starting Five, goes on and on and on about Barry Bonds, taking my instinctive rantings and filling them out with far greater detail and research than I have either the time nor the inclination to do; and he nails it on just about every count. I have already made a change to my lineup, slotting him in as my cleanup hitter, (sorry, Lefty, you’ve been bumped down to the top slot in the Giants section); and I’m gonna feature one of his Bonds articles every day until I catch up. The first one, The Essence of Bonds, is simply brilliant:
There is something inherently wrong with the federal government and its four-year investigation and now prosecution of Barry Bonds. Something is wrong about spending millions and millions of dollars of taxpayer money – and there is no law mandating that we even pay taxes – to chase evidence to prove that Bonds lied to a grand jury. There is something wrong with a society in which individuals within that society would, en masse, express a hatred toward a man they (know) nothing about rather than demand that the monies they have been illegally taxed be returned to them. The mass – the ruling mob – seems to be saying that they will pay money to watch the government chase down Barry Bonds, find enough evidence to get him into a court room, and then put him on trial.
…. the Barry Bonds case crosses generations. Young mob members and old-time mobsters alike hate what Bonds stands for. Across age lines and races there is a, “let’s get this guy who got us for so long,” attitude that is so destructive, so mal that it borders on collusion. That all of you invested so much time in your hate for Bonds that you failed to examine the complex nature of the most riveting figure in the history of sports means you have effectively wiped history from the big book, Every Event in Our Existence. Your hate for Bonds stole any meaningful discussion of the man from the public forum.
All I’ll say is that there has been plenty of meaningful discussion of the man, here, and I’m damn proud to say so. Wilson adds to my understanding, and deepens my appreciation of being outside the box.
UPDATE: Wilson wrote a nice piece on the misinformation regards Bonds growth spurts as well:
The question I put to these men of near-alchemical knowledge of medicines was simply this: Can HGH make a fully-grown adult male’s bones grow and if so, how much HGH would it take, and what are the side effects?
Their answers were interesting – after they laughed at me (damn, that makes twice in consecutive days that respected persons from the medical profession have laughed at my questions!):
Doc A: No (chortle), no way HGH makes bones grow. Bones may thicken, but not grow.
Doc B: The Barry Bonds stuff, huh? ESPN sure does a good job of – let’s just say they’ve twisted the facts of human growth hormone’s effects on the adult male body.
Doc A: Edema can be mistaken for growth, but no (chortle). And I mean can be by someone with no expertise with growth hormone side effects. Look, I’m sorry to laugh, but where people get this information, I don’t know. I can’t imagine any responsible person in the medical profession saying something like this. We’re all professors as well and we know this misrepresentation of facts is dangerous.
Of course there are dangers associated with human growth hormone as there are with any drug, prescription or non-prescription. With growth hormone the primary adverse and potentially dangerous side effect concerns enlarged internal organs. But how that pertains to Bonds’ feet and hat size, I don’t know – well, I do. It doesn’t.
Really? I’ve been challenging the “His head is bigger” bullshit for two years now. Wilson took the time to actually talk to doctors, who laughed at the idea. Wish I would have thought of that.
Actually, there is no law stating that we have to pay income tax.
US Constitution, Amendment XVI
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
That’s about as goddamn clear as it gets, pal.
For the record, this was added in the early 1900′s I believe… not that it matters. I agree that even bringing up the whole taxation legality undermined the writer’s point.
I may be wrong, but I don’t think Bonds was ever really accused of using HGH. Perhaps the more pertinent question should be if Stanozolol or any of the myriad designer steroids Bonds supposedly took increase head size, etc. Not sure why SOMM is harping about HGH per se.
Actually, there is no law stating that we have to pay income tax. Before you start ripping into people who are stating the truth, perhaps you should check to see if what you thought you knew to be true is correct. There is no law and there never has been a law. The federal reserve has nothing to do with our government, either. They are a private institution that loans money to the government/country at interest. Our income taxes pay this interest back. Yay!
Aside from the libertarian jive about illegal taxation (nutcase alert!), he makes a few good points. But cleanup hitter? I dunno … it’s like dating Ayn Rand just because you both like Bach or something … lots of warts to ignore for relatively little payoff.
[...] The Baseball Zealot created a sweet baseball article today.Here’s a mini excerpt.I just found Sports on my Mind, through one of your backtalker rants, and wow, have I been asleep. Dk Wilson, who writes for the Chicago Sports Review, as well as the Starting Five, goes on and on and on about Barry Bonds, … [...]
John:
Dwil is one of the most brilliant writers I’ve ever read. There is much that he writes that is disagreeable, but nonetheless worthy of consideration. He is admittedly an angry man. And as folks around here know from the last few years, when it comes to Bonds, I am too. Everytime I think about what this man, Bonds has been singled out for, I get blind rage.
As you know, I’ve ranted long, loud, and often here at OBM over the last few seasons about the revolting methods used to attack Bonds.
The amount of hatred directed at Bonds with the encouragement of the influential and powerful is a national disgrace. The Justice Dept. The Treasury Dept. The Sports media and the mainstream media. While Pontius Pilate Magowan continues to horde his millions. Repugnant, repulsive and beneath contempt are they all, starting with Jeff Nowitski and ending with Selig and everybody in between. It is my fondest wish to be summoned for jury duty just so that I could have the opportunity to grab my crotch, and give the finger to the Federal Prosecutors during Voi Daire
Actually the article is about much more than the tax code.
Perjury Value over Replacement Player is negative a few million dollars.
There’s perjury–like Person X lied to the Grand Jury during a one month murder investigation, let’s charge Person X–and there’s perjury–like, oh-shit-we-don’t-really-have-what-we-thought-we-had-but-we-have-to-have-something-so-let’s-charge-perjury. I hope for the sake of the case that it’s the former, but I fear (four years, only Bonds) that it’s the latter.
And, before the Bonds haters pile on, I’d just rhetorically ask how long large and complex investigations like Enron, WorldCom, the Catholic Church took? Or, even on a small scale Martha Stewart or Scooter Libby? Right…NOTHING like this. Attack all you want, but ask yourself those questions for just a moment.
The prosecution better have their ducks in a row over this, because Bonds’ council is going to go after their evidence and their case’s trajectory. Who’s to say what’ll happen, but it’s going to get uglier than it is now.
Big cases = Big problems.
Gee John.
You cite, for authority, an article which claims that there is no law requiring that we pay income tax.
I don’t object to your rants on the Bonds/steroid issue. However, isn’t there a point that we should agree on. Witnesses are not permitted to lie. If they get caught they face prosecution. Is there something in that logic which is wrong?
On the other hand, a world where we don’t have to be responsible for our lies, or even our income tax, would be a freer albeit more hectic, world to live in.
LJL,
I didn’t cite anything for authority, I linked to and plugged an article which challenges many, if not all of the assumptions the mainstream media have used to push this Bonds attack. An article which contains many references to the history of the case that I have either forgotten or even hadn’t known. An article that needs to be read by anyone who thinks they have an opinion about it, particularly if they’re gonna make an argument one way or another.
I seem to remember that income tax was originally voluntary, as our founding fathers had a little “taxation without representation” problem that was –you know– at the heart of our Revolutionary War. Whether it is officially a law or not is outside of my scope of knowledge; but jeez, talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water. Did you actually read Wilson’s article? If the income tax reference is all you noticed, I can’t help but wonder.
Actually, there is no law stating that we have to pay income tax. Before you start ripping into people who are stating the truth, perhaps you should check to see if what you thought you knew to be true is correct. There is no law and there never has been a law. The federal reserve has nothing to do with our government, either. They are a private institution that loans money to the government/country at interest. Our income taxes pay this interest back. Yay!
You are correct sir. The Federal Reserve is NOT a branch of the Federal Government (it was only named that with purposes to deceive) and neither does it have any reserves (all money now is paper or digits on a hard drive. gold does NOT back our money any more). So they charge interest on loans to the government for something that is literally created out of thin air. Charging interest on money created out of nothing is criminal, but our government does it every day. If you don’t believe me, do the research yourself, don’t discount it out of hand because it sounds preposterous. IT IS TRUE: The Fed charges the American people interest on money they PRINT. The Fed is PRIVATELY OWNED by people who are in it for a PROFIT. YOUR INCOME TAXES PAY THE INTEREST ON THIS LOAN. This is the greatest crime in human history. Don’t think this can’t be true just because it sounds unbelievable. “Only the small lies need to be kept secret. The big ones are kept safe by public incredulity.” If you believe this is not true, then there should be no problem proving it. If, however, you find that everything said here is in fact the TRUTH, do your patriotic duty and tell all your friends and family about this fraud so that America can get united to rid this country of this cancer, this internal thievery, this criminal disease they call the “Federal” “Reserve”.
[...] Original post here [...]
[...] annieone’s weblog wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptFebruary 2004 – January 2004 – December 2003 – November 2003 – October 2003 – September 2003 – August 2003 – July 2003 – June 2003 – May 2003 – April 2003 – March 2003 – February 2003 – January 2003 – December 2002 – November 2002 – October 2002 – September 2002 – August 2002 – July 2002 – June 2002 …. Wake up! I just found Sports on my Mind, through one of your backtalker rants, and wow, have I been asleep. D.k. Wilson, who writes for the Chicago Sports Revie [...]
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptFebruary 2004 – January 2004 – December 2003 – November 2003 – October 2003 – September 2003 – August 2003 – July 2003 – June 2003 – May 2003 – April 2003 – March 2003 – February 2003 – January 2003 – December 2002 – November 2002 – October 2002 – September 2002 – August 2002 – July 2002 – June 2002 …. Wake up! I just found Sports on my Mind, through one of your backtalker rants, and wow, have I been asleep. D.k. Wilson, who writes for the Chicago Sports Revie [...]