Monday, March 28, 2005

The Capitalization of Tragedy

By Diane M. Grassi


As we enter the spring season of 2005 and begin to reflect on the ravages of a long, cold, and wet winter, we have witnessed many types of personal tragedy and trying times across the country which are but a reflection of our society and culture. Many such events have captured media attention and it is the amount and display of such that deserve scrutiny. And if we had to grade our collective behavior in reaction to such tragic cases, we would barely earn a passing grade.

The media and our cultural biases have turned us into a populace of rubberneckers. One “accident” awaits upstaging by another. Focus on the trials of Scott Peterson, Robert Blake, and Michael Jackson lost the limelight to Brian Nichols’ shooting rampage in an Atlanta courthouse only to be lifted from the headlines by missing 9-year-old, Jessica Lunsford, found dead in Florida, followed up by the government’s hijacking of the Terri Schiavo case.

Celebrity justice has been a revenue generator for television and radio broadcast networks, print journalism and the internet for quite a while now but prior to the O.J. Simpson case was mostly relegated to the gossip page and fluff commentary. Say what you will about the advent of cable television as the cause of the obsession of coverage, but it is rather the love of the almighty dollar which generates the wall-to-wall coverage of much repetitious speculation and punditry. Yet making a potential mockery out of cases with little regard for the victims and their families has but meant a well of potential big bucks from the television and radio broadcast networks and their advertisers, to newspapers and magazine publications as well as to the instant book publishers.

On the positive side the press plays an important role and does an admiral job in assisting law enforcement in bringing to justice many of the criminals involved in heinous crimes. While technology has greatly increased the odds in successfully hunting down the accused, television coverage and radio talk shows give new meaning to sensationalism.

During the recent hostage taking of Ashley Smith after Brian Nichols’ escape from the Atlanta courthouse after killing three followed by the murder of a federal agent, a direct result of Smith’s heroism spawned another cash cow. Rick Warren, author of A Purpose Driven Life, previously a best seller before the Nichols ordeal, was read to Nichols by Smith during her kidnapping. Since then Warren has wormed his way into the nightly news shows, daily talk shows as well as on radio while additionally pontificating about the Terri Schiavo case. A southern Baptist pastor who created his own Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA, Warren has become the go-to guy for his commentary not only on the “purpose” of Smith’s bravery but on the demise of Terri Schiavo’s life.

So too there is a great deal of speculation as to the ulterior motives of the Congress placing itself into the middle of the Schiavo ordeal and the questions beg for answers. Will Republicans for example gain political favor in their stance in calling for and later passing unprecedented legislation, forcing the federal court to revisit the Schiavo case? They too as well as the White House had something to gain and are no better than the media or Rick Warren in their goal of profiting from a tragedy and public spectacle, while preying upon peoples’ emotions on a very personal issue.

Jurors are another revenue generator as they await potential book contracts and hit the talk show circuit as well following their service in the Scott Peterson, Robert Blake and Michael Jackson trials for instance. But fame is fleeting so it will take a publisher like Regan Books to quickly find ghost writers for jurors who are not necessarily writers nor supposed to be writing books during the jury trial process.

Amber Frey was able to work out a deal with Judith Regan of Regan Books, subsidiary of Harper Collins, in telling her story about being the state’s star witness in the Scott Peterson case. The book titled, Witness for the Prosecution of Scott Peterson, describes her relationship with Scott Peterson and her later relationship with the Modesto, CA police in secretly recording over 200 phone conversations at the behest of the police with the now convicted murderer. In her own way, Frey was a hero in this saga, and stuck to her story throughout the trial, testified, did not accept any remuneration for over two years, until her book was published. However, her book was on the shelves within weeks of Scott Peterson’s conviction and before his sentencing date. She perhaps should have waited until after sentencing in order to profit from her role in the case and it would have maybe looked less unseemly to her critics. Likewise, Scott Peterson’s half-sister, Anne Byrd, had a book on the shelves just prior to the sentencing of her brother. Regan Books published Blood Brother and along with Frey’s book became national bestsellers.

But girlfriends and sisters aside, had we not have been inundated with coverage all day all the time of events cherry picked by our media we might take such matters more seriously. They now become fodder for late night comedians and Saturday Night Live. And what is so sad is that issues which arise from crimes or matters of the court are quite serious, worthy of our attention and should not be tuned out.

The coverage we receive is not so much educational as distasteful and tends to backfire in its purported goal. And headlines are manufactured by the media. Why someone’s tragedy or joy is more important than another’s we may never know, and unfortunately we are not participants in the process as much as the media honchos repeatedly state that they only “air what the people want.” Sadly, there is a disconnect from the media and the public much like the public’s relationship with legislators and judges who similarly cherry pick the issues they will address.

And while it is more than acceptable for us to speculate about one’s purpose in life in striving to be the best that we can be, it should not be at the expense of others’ misfortunes. We have ultimately turned into a tabloid culture where instant celebrity is attainable, whether murderer or saint. Our news culture is the equivalent of the American strip mall which looks identical throughout the country and leaves little room for imagination. We are force fed a diet of drive-through journalism which mainly settles for the status quo in a competition to scoop the other media outlet.

But most importantly as consumers of the media, we must keep in mind that it is a business and not a public service. We must be ever more vigilante in discriminating in what is presented as true, that which is mere speculation and how much of it is just pure entertainment. That used to be the job of the media, now unfortunately it somehow has become ours.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

HEARINGS EXPOSE INEPT CONGRESS & MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

By Diane M. Grassi


The House of Representatives and its House Government Reform Committee held hearings on March 17, 2005 supposedly to bring light to the subject on the prevention of steroid use in Major League Baseball. It was far from a lesson in ways to further prevent abusing anabolic steroids and growth hormones in an effort to eventually discourage minors from using such illicit drugs. Instead we got a bird’s eye view into how our lawmakers as well as the institution of Major League Baseball continue to grandstand and illustrate their obvious disconnect they both share with the American people.

And there is plenty of blame to go around with respect to the denials and obfuscations of Major League Baseball, the Major League Players Association, and present day and retired players of MVP quality and the lack of their ethical standards to say the very least. Somewhere along the way, coming to light over the past 10 years, MLB decided to cast a blind eye about drug enhancement problems among its players. When it came to illegal recreational drugs, many players got chance after chance to return to baseball, and when it game to amphetamines, anabolic steroids and growth hormones, it was not even on their radar according to Commissioner Bud Selig.

Many in the press and broadcast media have aired views that either criticized the Congress for having such hearings in the first place or pontificated on how disappointed they were in their on-the-field heroes. But they are perhaps missing the mark in their assertions.

Major League Baseball is a yearly multi-billion dollar business which does not have the privilege of operating in a vacuum. The majority of its funding comes from television contracts, ticket sales and merchandising and most of the MLB stadiums are still subsidized by the American taxpayers. MLB is neither a private country club nor a “private” entity, although it solely enjoys exemption from anti-trust laws, which other professional sports leagues can only envy.

Therefore the arrogance of Major League Baseball in its attempts to avoid testifying on March 17th was beyond the pale. It necessitated subpoenas for representatives from the commissioner’s office, the president of the MLBPA, Donald Fehr, as well as the existing amendment to the collective bargaining agreement, decided on March 2nd, which readdressed the substance abuse policy. This did not sit well with members of the HGRF and only made the air more hostile in the hearing chambers when the administrative management panel, the fourth to appear, took their seats.

Prior to the management hearing, several retired as well as current players appeared, and there is still speculation as to why particular players were called. But what again is significant is that all six players who eventually were present for the hearings resisted testifying and were subject to subpoenas and/or asked for prosecutorial immunity, with the threat of citing the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

What we witnessed was not theater as some have characterized it, but the inorganization of the committee members as to what their goal of the hearings were, with the exception of a few, interspersed with members of Congress gushing over home run heroes who now have made it hard for the average fan to fathom how much they indeed care about their communities or the preservation of our national pastime.

Furthermore, the appearance of Dr. Elliot Pellman, M.D., Medical Advisor to Major League Baseball, on the 2nd panel of medical and scientific advisors, sounded more like a corporate litigator than an M.D. in his contentiousness when questioned by the committee on specifics of how and where drugs are presently tested, and why specific drugs were absent from the agreement. He took the high road by repeatedly stating that he was not an attorney, nor could he comment upon why MLB insists on independently contracting the labs which test for illegal substances. MLB contracts with labs not necessarily under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) or the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which the U.S. Olympic Committee, the NCAA, the World Tennis Association, and most professional sports entities utilize.

Sadly, Pellman was upstaged when Panel 4 took their seats and the Congressional members had the unwieldy task of getting information from Rob Manfred, MLB VP of Labor Relations, who took credit for not actually “drafting the agreement” only the negotiation of it with attorney, Michael Weiner, of the MLBPA. In contention was whether a player could be either fined $10,000.00 or suspended 10 days for a first offense. Manfred stated the “suspension or fine” was a typographical error. And none of the players testifying nor Mr. Manfred claimed they were aware of this language in the agreement. But Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) as well as Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) held Manfred’s feet to the fire. The point being that lack of appropriate punishment for criminal use of illegal substances was the essence of the agreement, and the confusion as to what the punishment is did not endear MLB to the Congress.

“There was nobody that was bringing up the steroid issue to me in 1994,” according to Commissioner Selig. I guess that takes him off the hook. “Major League Baseball has made tremendous progress in this matter.” But he did not admit to a “major problem” ever having been in Major League Baseball further stating that since there was no evidence of such and there was no evidence due to a lack of a previous testing program it was beyond his control. He only became concerned in 1998 after “learning” about the androstenedione problem, publicized since Mark McGwire was openly using it in a legally sold powder drink version of it, during the season in which he broke Roger Maris’ home run record.

The pretension of MLB was only underscored by the ostentatiousness of former big-league hero, Mark McGwire, who avoided taking the 5th with his own version of it by stating, “I am not here to talk about the past.” He also avoided answers when asked for his opinions on the present drug policy by saying that “I don’t know, I’m retired.” Even had McGwire not wished to comment, he would not have so brazenly let down fans across the country had he not been so prickly and unwilling to contribute some insight on improving the good of the game. Instead he left us cold, and perhaps showed us his true colors for the first time.


As long as McGwire was receiving accolades and worldwide praise when he was on the field, he seemed cooperative, although even in 1998 during his challenge to break Maris’ record he many times avoided the press. For McGwire to not want to talk about the past when it comes to our national pastime, given his place in its history, he has at the very least made a mockery of his own career. Regarding the other players testimony, amazingly the much reviled Jose Canseco looked more cooperative than his peers, and provided more thoughtful answers.

Finally, the Congress does not get a passing grade for the amount of time dedicated to this issue which totaled nearly 12 hours on the taxpayers’ dole. The tap dance by Major League Baseball, its Players Association and players, is but reminiscent of and mirrors many prior Congressional hearings as well as our lawmakers’ constant elusiveness in an effort to avoid directly answering questions on matters of far more importance such as Homeland Security, the War on Terror, Social Security, Medicare, illegal immigration and the economy. It would be foolish of us to expect better decorum and forthrightness concerning the matters of Major League Baseball. And Major League Baseball has but gotten its cues from our lawmakers and those who oversee our governmental organizations, and is still in its infancy in the art of doublespeak.

We can only hope that our Congress and the matters it pursues or investigates in the future will be far more organized and with more purpose than that which was witnessed on March 17, 2005. If that is not the case, then we can conclude that we are not only being denied the full integrity of Major League Baseball but more importantly it will fuel speculation that our elected officials lack the honor, dedication and candor necessary to adequately serve the American people. Let’s hope it ain’t so.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

STOLEN NATION HARBORS DEN OF THIEVES

By Diane M. Grassi


If you think that all of the brouhaha about illegal immigration only concerns the powers-that-be in Washington, D.C., think again. Non-enforced immigration law is portrayed beyond the beltway as no more than political shenanigans to curry favor with specific voting blocks and an effort to deflate wages. But inaction by a head-in-the-sand style government has created a new type of terrorism for the American people.

Since September 11, 2001 we have had to deal with not only the tragedy of terrorist attacks on our own soil but the aftermath of our government creating additional bureaucracies all in the name of security. All the while the black market remains strong with respect to counterfeit as well as stolen Social Security numbers and Green Cards being sold to illegal aliens upon entry to the United States. With an immigration policy in limbo and immigration laws largely arbitrarily enforced if at all, thieves and law breakers on behalf of people who should not legally be in the U.S. in the first place, are miles ahead of the behemoth U.S. government, always quick to create new agencies, with little thought given to their operations or funding.

Prior to 9/11 we as citizens and legal residents of the U.S. were already forced to deal with a wrath of criminal activity to which we lay victims, with a large portion of it stemming from the sophistication of computer technology and the growth of personal use of the internet. Identity theft and tax evasion had already reached astronomical proportions. But add to that the black market documentation theft rings at the behest of illegal aliens, who have but disdain for the word legal, we now have found ourselves in dire straights as personal identities are being stolen with no mechanism or political will to put a stop to it. As a result of their blind ignorance our elected officials could never have imagined that the Social Security administration would be shaken down by a different kind of terrorist, leaving individuals no protection and fending for themselves. But it continues to happen every day with ramifications which can haunt victims until they die.

We are no longer describing something as “simple” as fraud as the result of a stolen bank account or a line of credit due to theft of a Social Security number. That is nightmarish enough. But the Social Security card shark rings festering in the illegal alien community have given new meaning to the term “identity theft” which neither the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service or the Federal Trade Commission have any intention of investigating in an effort to correct such a critical problem. After all, the newly created Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and the most recently created cabinet post of Director of Central Intelligence provide more than ample opportunity to plant blame.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans unknowingly have leant illegal aliens their Social Security numbers with the average victim having had it shared between 30 and 50 times. Sadly, while government agencies and private corporations are often aware of the rightful owners of the stolen Social Security numbers they purposely do not notify them, but do not hesitate to contact them for back taxes owed or unpaid loans racked up by the imposter a.k.a. illegal alien. And their buying of counterfeit cards, suppliers who steal them or others manufacturing them use a base of real people accounting for 90% of them. In fact a newborn baby with a Social Security number could already have bought a house by the time he is 6 months old!

The federal agencies are not involved in trying to tackle the problem because of their derived benefit from it in addition to corporate America’s. Therefore the perpetuation of the problem leads to additional taxes collected by the IRS and the SSA, while bank lenders sell more loans and employers get inexpensive labor. In one case an illegal alien was able to obtain a dozen credit cards, buy a car and take out an FHA loan using a stolen Social Security number and his own name. All agencies had a record of the abused Social Security number but refrained from notifying the victim.

The biggest travesty is that most consumers discover their breach of security by accident. Victims may not be told there is a problem unless the imposter misses a loan payment for example, as a victim’s credit report will not show a Social Security number used by someone else’s name. And credit applied for by a Social Security number thief will also not appear on the credit report. However, if the rightful person applies for credit not knowing there are several additional credit cards attached to his Social Security number, he may well likely be denied credit due to the extent of the credit line, albeit a perfect credit rating.

But it does not stop there. Victims can have trouble in receiving Social Security Disability Benefits, unemployment benefits or even their Social Security retirement funds. Others are harassed by the IRS looking for payment of income taxes for earned wages by their imposters who do not properly file income taxes. Why would they? Everything in America is free, isn’t it? But the problem does not go away. It resurfaces every April 15th for as long as the illegal is shaking down the system. The IRS is specifically responsible for enforcing the requirement that employers collect accurate Social Security numbers, but has never once levied a fine against a corporation for failing to do so.

And as the Bush administration looks to “fix” the funding of Social Security there is $420 billion sitting in accounting limbo. For every worker paying FICA taxes toward their Social Security fund, millions of payments are made to the SSA with mismatched names and numbers. Since the SSA has no idea who deserves credit for the taxes paid by those wage earners, no one gets credit for it. And that amount is in the hundreds of billions of dollars referred to as the Earnings Suspense File. About 50% of the fund comes from industries such as agriculture, restaurants, construction and various service-oriented businesses. You connect the dots.

James Huse, Jr., the former inspector general of the SSA stated, “It is unlikely the agency will ever inform potential victims……the politics of immigration get involved in this. This is the schizophrenia of the federal government. The Homeland Security people are screaming about the accuracy of records and you have the IRS taking money from wherever it comes.” So is there need for immigration reform or more laws, rules and agencies? I think not.

Some say that financial crimes are more numerous than terrorist related crimes. But in this case one would have to argue that the stealing of one’s lifetime earnings, Social Security retirement funds, rights to unemployment benefits, while breaking tax laws and committing bank fraud by way of false documentation more than qualifies as terrorist related. Embedded in our interior, never knowing when they will strike, like most terrorists they also have no regard for the public-at-large. But most distressing of all is that these nouveau-terrorists have carte blanche to continue to personally terrorize us as they invade the U.S., with a government which continues to walk the fine line of betraying the public trust.