Reidblog [The Reid Report blog]

My thoughts on this matter are quite simple: anyone, and I mean anyone (regardless of who or where they played) caught taking steroids should face a lifetime ban, should have all of their accomplishments stripped from the records, and should forfeit any claim to being a MLB player for the rest of their lives. This not only includes Barry Bonds, who should be stripped of any home runs attributed to him after he started taking steroids, but also yo-yos like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco, etc. Just go ahead right now and give Roger Maris back his record, asterick and all. Any team caught covering for their "heroes" deserve to be stripped of their championships for the years affected.

It is pretty obvious to me though that Bonds was doing something different starting in 1999. Barry Bonds came up with a similar slender build to Darryl Strawberry and in 1999 his neck was bigger than most NFL players! It just is not normal for a human being to make aggressive body changes around the age of forty, a time when the body should be slowing down.

In a move to build support for Bush's guest worker amnesty plan, administration officials talked about how they would actually implement the program. Jaws dropped as the administration reps explained the centerpiece of the program, a "Gold Card" that would enable illegal aliens to enter the U.S. at will, and work at any job with no labor market or other tests needed but would deny them citizenship. "Gold Card" would be valid forever, similar to current "Green Cards" but illegal aliens holding a "Gold Card" would not be able to adjust their status through naturalization.

Indentured Servitude Has Its Privleges

As we scooped yesterday, in a Senate briefing it was announced Specter was pushing the Bush-designed initiative of allowing illegal aliens to receive “gold cards” renewable indefinitely. In other words, a massive amnesty! Both the Star-Telegram and CQ have stories about this proposal. We do know from other Hill sources that the Specter bill is the de-facto Bush administration bill at this point, with the "Chairman's Mark" being drafted with Bush administration input. The phrase "gold card" doesn't appear in the Specter bill text, but was used at the briefing yesterday. From CQ: "Gold card applicants would have a year to come forward once the legislation is enacted. They would pay no fines, and they would not be forced to return home at any point, provided they remain employed. Aides say the program would not provide a path toward U.S. citizenship." The Star-Telegram has more detail as well.

White House Effort to Block Challenge to Ports Deal Collapses
By Jonathan WeismanWashington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Efforts by the White House to hold off legislation challenging a Dubai-owned company's acquisition of operations at six major U.S. ports collapsed yesterday when House Republican leaders agreed to allow a vote next week that could kill the deal.
Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) will attach legislation to block the port deal today to a must-pass emergency spending bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A House vote on the measure next week will set up a direct confrontation with President Bush, who sternly vowed to veto any bill delaying or stopping Dubai Ports World's purchase of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Co.

The odds of an American or Israeli airstrike on Iran by March 31, 2007 are 2:1, according to April editions of the Atlantic Magazine. The magazine relies on online betting at tradesports.com, and provides a few details of the circumstances in which each strike might take place.

The Atlantic is known for its predictions of future events, and has held widely respected debates on military strikes on North Korea and Iran. Neither scenarios resulted in a favorable position for the United States. Excerpts follow.

4:1: Overt Air Strike by the United States or Israel by June 30, 2006.

By this date, the United Nations Security Council may have only recently enacted sanctions, such as travel bans or freezing the assets of Iranians associated with the nuclear program. More important, neither the United States nor Israel is likely to risk a strike in the midst of an election year. Israel will have only recently voted in a new parliament, and the United States will be mere months away from mid- term elections. ...

...2:1: Overt Air Strike by the United States or Israel by March 31, 2007.

If Iran continues to make progress toward nuclear weapons capability, despite heavy international pressure, a surgical military strike against one of its key facilities—such as the uranium-enrichment plant in Natanz or the uranium-conversion facility in Isfahan—would become more politically feasible. Analysts at the Eurasia Group, an international consulting firm, predict that surgical strikes are likely “by the [United States] or Israel during the first quarter of 2007.”