Letters 5/26

May 25, 2005

Steroids & baseball
Home runs are down? Imagine that. Couldn‘t be the steroid testing, could it?
The reason why steroids in baseball is a bad thing is simple; you can‘t permanently hold home run records because you‘ve deformed yourself into an exaggerated cartoon face with Popeye arms. It‘s supposed to be because you clearly are the best among a field of competitors.
It had to start to seem fishy, right? These records dropped like flies after so many decades, coinciding with breakthroughs in biotechnology, where conventional steroids can be masked on tests, and even rendered unnecessary when other non-traceable supplement options, such as some available over-the-counter, are out. The same as the seemingly unexpected.
I am a physician. I know the “Cushing-oid” appearance of a juiced athlete just as a mechanic or contractor knows a faulty piece or mechanism. My patients who “juice” often use non-tested substances like insulin shots and non-tested drug supplements. It is not merely our children baseball fans and athletes who are deceived and affected. It is all of us, and the way we live.
The subjugation of these truths harms us immeasurably, in deeply spiritual ways.

Mark Dreskin, MD • via email

Incident at Bark River
I called my Ma to help her with her computer yesterday. She said Dad is really upset about an incident that happened up around Bark River in the U.P. recently.
It seems some kids (high school jocks and dropouts) were spinnin’ donuts in a neighbor’s yard. The neighbor got in his vehicle and chased them down to find out who it was (and of course, with the usual Yooper yellin’ about it). The kids beat him up and left him for dead. They went back home and were braggin’ about it to another kid, who went to check on the guy and found him in a coma.
In Milwaukee, this kind of crap turned into a spectacle of how horrible the inner city is, and how “those” people can’t live without police intervention.
In da U.P., the victim gets arrested for “road rage.”
Go figure.
Don’t want to interfere with the tourism business now, do we? Wouldn’t want anyone to think that there are bands of public school hoodlums running around the back woods playing “Deliverance” roles. Might shed a bad light on the pristine vision of God-fearin’ ‘independent’ pioneers and “patriots” who ship off to unjustified wars to make enough money to buy themselves a couple forties and a skidder.

Dan Conine • Belgium,WI

Fill now, apply later?
The Sierra Club is extremely disappointed and has serious concerns with the Army Corps of Engineer’s ruling on April 14,
2005 regarding the Elk Rapids Preserve (William Clous, developer, and president of Eastwood Custom Homes).
Our concerns regarding the wetlands restorations recommendation are due to the high failure rate of such restorations. Homes currently sited in the area to be “restored” are now to be moved to an undisturbed 1.8 acres, which require filling in. The authorization of additional filling of wetlands is totally unacceptable.
According to the Corps themselves, as well as the EPA, there was a violation of the Clean Water Act Section 404 including unauthorized filling of wetlands connected to Lake Michigan three years ago in 2002, as a result of actions by Clous. To now approve an after-the-fact permit sends the message that it is perfectly acceptable to “fill now, apply later.” It‘s a dangerous, unsuitable decision by the Corps. It is little more than an open invitation for future environmental devastation of our wetlands. Sierra Club has urged representatives Levin and Stupak to request a complete review.

Monica Evans, Chair
Traverse Group of the Sierra Club

Say no to extremists
Radical Senate Republican leaders are prepared to use what they call the “nuclear option” to force a vote on a small number of extremist activist judicial nominees. President Bush has enjoyed a 96% approval rate on all his judicial nominees, the highest approval rate in recent history. Despite this unusually high approval rate, Senate Republicans are preparing to change over 200 years of Senate tradition to force a vote - and likely approval - on a handful of judges who Senate Democrats feel are too extreme for the federal bench.
The Senate is known as the “cooling saucer of democracy” and is meant to be a more deliberative and non-majoritarian body. The purpose of the Senate is to protect the rights of the minority. That is exactly what Senate Democrats and sensible Republicans are doing by not allowing these extremist appointments reach the floor for a vote. Minority rights are not effectively represented anywhere else - the Senate is the last line of defense.
The Founders realized that true democracy - majority rule - is tantamount to mob rule. That is precisely why the Senate exists - to preserve minority rights while allowing for majority rule to be expressed in the House of Representatives and the office of the President. Please help stop this assault on minority rights and call your senator today to express your opinion.

Daniel Tomaski • Gaylord

READINGS
“There are crazed versions of almost all religions. Most of the non-Christian world looks at the crazies in America and sees the same potential lethalness as exists in the virulent strains of Islam.
Indeed, one of the most influential variations on American theocracy, Christian Reconstruction, would impose capital punishment (preferably by stoning) for a wide variety of Biblical crimes. The goal is 10,000 executions a year, beginning with gays.
Since no one in Washington or London can explain why we went to war, and the reasons given have turned out to be lies, much of the world suspects we’re just the next wave of Christian crusaders, killing and conquering for Jesus and oil.

John Sugg -- johnsugg.com