Apparently, in a trial that I'm mostly ignoring, the testimony of one former baseball player is derailing the perjury trial of another. The facts, as they are known; apparently Roger Clemens was called to testify before Congress about steroid use in the major leagues, and the prosecution alleges he lied about taking the drugs.
Fair enough; if we are to take the "American way" spoken of in Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Address, we look at the law--OK perjury is a felony--and we go with the law. In doing so, we ignore basic questions of justice; who exactly was hurt if indeed Roger Clemens lied to Congress? Moreover, given that politicians are not exactly known for their veracity, why isn't Congress being prosecuted for their lies, which can and do impact the rest of us to the tune of trillions of dollars of damage per year?
(apart from the obvious answer; Congress gives the Department of Justice their budget, duh)
What seems to be a fact is that the DOJ is--while ignoring open and shut cases like the Black Panthers voter intimidation case and huge issues like the BATFE's "Fast and Furious" debacle--pushing the limits of the Constitutional prohibition of double jeopardy in its prosecution of Clemens while ignoring all sense of proportion. How to remedy the situation?
Well, ironically, let's turn to a higher law, the Torah, where Deuteronomy 19: 19 notes that the punishment for perjury is that the perjurer will suffer the consequence he thought to inflict upon his victim. Let's apply this to the Clemens case. If Clemens lied, what harm was inflicted?
OK, the public heard probably somewhat fewer lies that day from Congress than they would have ordinarily. So by lying to Congress, Clemens gave us somewhat more truth than the public, and Congress, would ordinarily have had.
So here "Rabbi Bubba" will give his punishment for Mr. Clemens; he will have to listen to the truth for the length of his testimony to Congress. That truth: the designated hitter and night baseball are an abomination. Go in peace, Roger, and enjoy your retirement.
The Babylon Bee Has Apparently Taken Over Democrat Messaging
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They can’t overturn Roe again, but the Democrats don’t think their audience
knows any better: I’m surprised the trooper wasn’t wearing a Darth Vader
helmet...
18 hours ago
5 comments:
if you cant steal from a thief, you cant lie to congress.
Free Clemens!
Just a minor quibble, Rabbi Bubba.
The penalty in Deuteronomy is for "bearing false witness", not perjury. Usually false witness is given against another person.
If Clemens is lying about his own steroid use (and is that a crime if prescribed by a doctor?), then he could hardly be punished under Deuteronomic law. However, if the fellow testifying against him is lying, then he would be liable to whatever penalty.
I am trying to figure out why this is in a criminal trial, but I am drawing a blank.
Pettite apparently said there was a 50-50 chance that he misunderstood the conversation with Clemens. That means that there is a 100% chnace that there is reasonable doubt in this case.
When this trial is over, Mitt Romney should run an ad featuring Roger Clemens. There might be enough angry Red Sox fans to tip the state to the R column.
Ray; context of verse 19 suggests that in their society, it would have been the equivalent of lying under oath, aka perjury.
Ray: good suggestion as well. It would be hilarious for Massachusetts to go for the Republican twice because someone ticked off Red Sox fans. :^)
And it's a trial because.....maybe because the government doesn't like us doing to them what it does to us? Or maybe because the purity of pro sports is more important to us as a nation than whether hundreds of Mexicans are dead because the DOJ smuggled guns to drug dealers?
Dunno, but it's ugly.
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