Please Mock These People
Every one of these members of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection voted to pass this absurd law out of committee except Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga.
Bobby L. Rush, Illinois, Chairman
Jan Schakowsky, IL, Vice Chair George Radanovich, CA, Ranking Member John P. Sarbanes, MD Cliff Stearns, FL Betty Sutton, OH Ed Whitfield, KY Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ Joseph R. Pitts, PA Bart Gordon, TN Mary Bono Mack, CA Bart Stupak, MI Lee Terry, NE Gene Green, TX Sue Wilkins Myrick, NC Charles A. Gonzalez, TX John Sullivan, OK Anthony D. Weiner, NY Tim Murphy, PA Jim Matheson, UT Phil Gingrey, GA G. K. Butterfield, NC Steve Scalise, LA John Barrow, GA (voted NO!)
Doris O. Matsui, CA Kathy Castor, FL Zachary T. Space, OH Bruce L. Braley, IA Diana DeGette, CO
Hat tip: Don Boudreaux
Judge Fredd:
Aww, Jeez, Scalise. What the Grud were you thinking?
December 9, 2009, 2:24 pmMesa Econoguy:
Mock mock mock
We do need a playoff system, however. BCS is a joke…
[Flip side, it kept these fools busy for a while]
December 9, 2009, 4:20 pmEscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy:
I'm glad to hear that we're solved all the important problems of our time...
December 9, 2009, 5:14 pmCraig:
I don't really see a problem with this. Colleges get plenty of government benefit, in the form of tax-exemption, so I see no harm in Congress weighing in about the stupid BCS system. They can afford to take a few minutes to send a message to the NCAA.
December 9, 2009, 5:36 pmEric Story:
Someone please show the portion of the Constitution that authorizes Congress to be involved in any sport. Congressmen like my currnt one,Gene Green, have no regard for our Constitution. This is one reason I am making my third attempt to unseat him.
December 9, 2009, 9:51 pmEvil Red Scandi:
Look at it this way - it's about the least harmful thing they could be doing.
I look forward to a congress that spends its time engaging in bumper-car duels.
Actually, I was just watching a Robin Williams special and he suggested that congrescritters should be forced to wear sponsor labels on their suits, kind of like NASCAR drivers. I think he's on to something...
December 10, 2009, 12:45 amO Bloody Hell:
a) They're not passing cap-n-tax or ObummerCare if they're doing this. What's the problem?
b) While it's certainly not a job for the Fed, it's not like it's a wrong idea in itself.
Mr rep -- Stearns -- has voted intelligently enough on stuff that really really matters that I am aware of -- he voted against cap-n-tax, for example.
In short, mockery for a sense-offense this minor is all we can really do in this day of extra-Special(-Olympic grade) Congressional idiocy.
> Someone please show the portion of the Constitution that authorizes Congress to be involved in any sport.
I'm sure the answer they'd give is the anti-Trust stuff that derives authority from the general commerce clause.
Come the Revolution, Remember we need to put more restrictions on that one for the next time around. It's needed but it's waaaaay too loosely defined.
December 10, 2009, 2:26 amO Bloody Hell:
> They can afford to take a few minutes to send a message to the NCAA.
And there is a long history of "if you won't fix this, WE WILL" messages.
December 10, 2009, 2:28 amTerry Noel:
To quote the New Testament:
"Jesus wept."
December 10, 2009, 4:46 amstan:
The BCS is already a playoff system -- it's a way to select two teams for a one game playoff. As opposed to the old way, which had no playoff at all. What these idiots are saying is not that there is no playoff, but that the number of teams chosen should be changed by Congressional mandate. Look for them to instruct the NCAA that 65 is not the right number for the basketball tournament.
BTW -- if you compiled all the stupidest commentary ever made by sports columnists and commentators, at least 3/4 would have the BCS as the subject.
December 10, 2009, 5:34 amDrTorch:
I don't have a problem w/ the gov't correcting an extortionist, monopolistic organization like the NCAA...especially when many of these are gov't funded schools who are preventing tens of millions of dollars from being available to other members.
Is the gov't about promoting and defending justice, or isn't it?
This is far more in line w/ gov't purpose than health care.
December 10, 2009, 8:30 amO Bloody Hell:
> especially when many of these are gov’t funded schools who are preventing tens of millions of dollars from being available to other members.
Just don't blame the SEC and its member schools, who've been in favor of a multi-team playoff system for a long while.
And I suspect that one thing is that they are afraid, rather than money flowing out, is of SEC dominance -- the chances of two SEC teams playing in the final game is pretty high -- it would likely have happened multiple times in the last 3-6 years, depending upon seedings. The serious SEC NC contenders in the last 8 years have included Auburn(x2), Georgia(x2), UF(x3), Bama(x2) and LSU (x4). I think 2005 is the only year since 2002 when no SEC school would have been seriously capable of winning it... And UF, Bama, and LSU are likely to be in contention for the next several years at the least.
December 10, 2009, 10:21 amDan:
This demonstrates what will happen if the vaunted health care reform bill passes with the public option (maybe even without the P.O.): Congress can't help from meddling and politicizing health care. Mandates to cover every Senator and Representative's pet causes, whether or not it is affordable or effective. In my state of Minnesota the legislature has done this in several ways, with bad outcomes.
December 10, 2009, 11:18 amDan:
This demonstrates what will happen if the vaunted health care reform bill passes with the public option (maybe even without the P.O.): Congress can't help from meddling and politicizing health care. Mandates to cover every Senator and Representative's pet causes, whether or not it is affordable or effective. In my state of Minnesota the legislature has done this in several ways, with bad outcomes.
December 10, 2009, 11:19 amspiro:
I call dibbs on mocking Mr. Weiner. Seriously, how could you cast your vote for a guy with that name.
December 10, 2009, 12:34 pm"Well, Spiro it was either him or his opponent, Mike Hunt"....
David K:
Was the bill under 2,000 pages long? Do they stipulate how many carbon credits tailgaters have to buy to cook out before games? Any news on whether they want football helmets to be made of non-petroleum products, maybe switching to something sustainable like bamboo? Will a tax be imposed on playoff tickets based on the participating school's endowment? Will schools with a high percentage of scholarship players from lower income households receive a higher payout?
The BCS system is a joke, but not as big a joke as Congress has managed to become.
December 11, 2009, 1:46 amJC:
Gene Green of Texas (ptah) was originally elected (by a small margin) to represent a cherry-picked Hispanic district in Houston. His first opponent for the newly formed district was a Black Republican (Clark Kent, IIRC). After one term, his Republican challenger was a Vietnamese (Joe Vu, again, IIRC), As a precinct judge in that drea I saw but could not prove moderate vote fraud. To this day (now 16 years after) the dedicated hispanic district has yet to have any rep but the Anglo, Demo, Machine-Made puppet. (spit)
December 12, 2009, 2:50 amstatehater:
Why waste time mocking them? They are oblivious to it. Just put a bullet between their fucking eyes.
December 13, 2009, 8:33 amWade:
It is sad that many of those posting here see nothing wrong with the law. It won't do the harm that many of the laws they pass do, but the main point is they have no constitutional authority to do so. They pass so many laws that are not authorized by the Constitution, many people just accept it. Also they are educated in government run schools that do not teach people to think or to really understand the limits of state authority.
Maybe statehater is on to something. :)
December 13, 2009, 9:14 pm