Maybe Congress Should Mind Its Own Business
by Big Dog on Sep 13, 2014 at 10:47 Opinion, Political
Sixteen female Senators have sent a letter to the NFL Commissioner calling for a zero tolerance policy regarding domestic violence after the Ray Rice video was released.
[note]Many of these women defended Bill Clinton who is a known sexual predator.[/note]
Why is this Congress’ business? It would seem to me that Congress should worry about the nation and its problems and leave private business to solve its issues without the nanny state jumping in.
It also seems to me that Congress might want to adopt a zero tolerance policy regarding its own members before demanding others do so. Congress is full of people who have done various bad things from tax evasion to domestic violence (gasp). If Congress wants to set an example how about it expel any member who has been involved in a domestic violence episode? How about dumping the tax evaders and the drunkards?
Clean up your own home before you demand others clean theirs.
I do not believe that Commissioner Roger Goodell is telling the truth about the Rice incident and I think he mismanaged it terribly. How the issue is handled is up to the NFL and not Congress.
Perhaps Goodell should respond to the letter by informing the Senators that the NFL is a profitable business that generates 6 billion dollars a year in profit and that its problems are not the concern of Congress. He might want to let them know that while the NFL is profitable the US is 17 TRILLION dollars in debt (and continues to run a deficit) and their attention might be better focused on solving their issues instead of worrying about things that are not their business.
He might even offer to give them some advice on working to get rid of the debt they have accumulated.
Spousal abuse (whether a man or a woman is the abuser) is a bad thing and needs to be addressed by private organizations in the manner they see fit. It is not the business of Congress or the harpies who want some face time.
If these Senators want to make an impact perhaps they could write letters to law enforcement agencies demanding zero tolerance policies since police officers are involved in more domestic violence incidents (nearly twice the rate) than the general population.
Then again that would not be their business though they would at least be interacting with another government agency rather than a private business.
Of course, the first step would be for Congress to clean its ranks of law breakers, sexual harassers, predators and those who engage in domestic violence.
They turn a blind eye to their own and stick their noses in the business of others.
Better yet, these folks might want to turn their attention toward the Muslim Terrorists who treat women badly as a way of life.
No, these morons will embrace them.
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: business, female senators, goodell, nfl, ray rice, violence
I agree with all the points you make in this post. I would add that federal and state laws address assault and battery in general and domestic violence in particular, and the prosecutors and the judge have acted within the constraints of the law and general practice in the Rice case.
The prosecutor and the judge agreed to a pretrial intervention for Rice, an option that is often granted for first-time offenders. Rice can avoid a conviction for aggravated assault-bodily injury in the third degree, which carries a sentence of three to five years in prison, if he complies with court-ordered anger management counseling and probationary supervision for a year.
Law enforcement and the judicial system have managed the Rice case in the same way they treat similar cases for other defendants. I see no reason for his employer to pile additional draconian penalties on top of what the court already requires — unless player contracts have a morals clause or other restrictions on personal behavior off the job that include domestic violence. I doubt that’s the case as plenty of other players have done far worse than Rice with far less punishment by the NFL.
And Congress certainly has NO right to interfere in the legal system’s standard management of domestic violence cases, especially to single out an individual citizen or business for persecution (something that Congressmen are increasingly prone to do, already having gone well past the bud-nipping stage). If they don’t like the laws they passed, then they should amend or replace them via the legislative process. Thuggish demands that businesses and individuals exact penalties beyond what the courts have decided are entirely out of line.
I agree with the contract issue but it appears as if Rice has legal recourse. He told the league what happened and the league gave him a punishment. The league THEN came out with a policy stating a first offense would be a 6 game suspension. Rice’s was a first offense but the league suspended him indefinitely. If he told them what happened and they saw the video (or they elected not to look at it) then he got a punishment based on the facts and it is wrong to up the ante after the fact.
Ex post facto laws are illegal and unconstitutional (Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3). Surely ex post facto rules and punishments should be equally objectionable in the private sphere — it’s the American way. As you said: “it is wrong to up the ante after the fact.”
Though interestingly ex post facto tax laws have been deemed Constitutional.
I digress, you are correct. Unless they can show he lied or misrepresented the facts upon which they based the punishment then the league should follow its initial ruling.
While I personally believe its wrong to hit a woman, like Sam Kinnison once said, ” I know what turns Mr. Hand into Mr. Fist-“, and I would add, some of the fault goes to the woman who knows that her man is potentially violent, and STILL taunts him. She has to know what may be coming.