Punishing illicit spying
By Steve Benen Friday Sep 14, 2007 1:18pmThere was quite a scandal over the weekend when the New England Patriots were caught using sideline video to steal signals during a game against the New York Jets. It didn’t affect the outcome — the spying was discovered early on, and the Patriots won by a wide margin — but this kind of illicit surveillance drew a stiff penalty from the NFL.
The National Football League fined New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick $500,000 yesterday, and the team will forfeit its first-round draft pick in 2008 if it makes the playoffs, for violating league rules Sunday when a Patriots staff member was discovered videotaping signals by Jets coaches during the season opener at the Meadowlands.
The Patriots will be fined $250,000. If they fail to make the playoffs, they will forfeit their second- and third-round picks in 2008.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) had a very clever response to all of this.
Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Bill Richardson, campaigning today in Iowa, issued the following statement regarding the recent “spying” incident involving the National Football League’s New England Patriots:
“The President has been allowed to spy on Americans without a warrant, and our U.S. Senate is letting it continue. You know something is wrong when the New England Patriots face stiffer penalties for spying on innocent Americans than Dick Cheney and George Bush.”
Good point.
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WOW...Richardson nailed it..also the Media sure has Covered it really well- the Sports Scandel..but surely the Prez...
NOTE TO C&L: I can not find ANY MSM coverage of the March- it is NOT even on cpsan- and speaking of Spying- Gonzo 's Goodbye Ceremony is cpsan SIX times- they atleast in the Past have show Peace Marches...FREEDOM OF SPEECH ...another casualty of Spying..
oops I meant to say they did NOT cover the Government and Bush spying on Citizens...thanks.
Are you ready for some Fristball?
But now Bush is appointing Belichick as the new Attorney General.
Bingo! Gov Richardson wins this game!
If anyone else wants to call and Complain to cspan about their crappy ZERO coverage of the March number is:765-464-3080....( I did tell them that we do not need to see Gonzo the Criminals' goodbye party 6 times this weekend, that WE the People should get SOME airtime)
Yes indeed Sports in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkbKjtuNJhQ
The scariest part was watching all of the interviews of our fellow Americans on this subject on the news last night. The people I saw universally commented that cheating is normal and no big deal. Several of those interviewed went as far as saying that cheating is to be expected because one has to win anyway possible just as long as you win. One guy said something like "Hey, it's a dog eat dog world, man. You do what you can to stay on top. That's how you get the money, man." All of those interviewed looked to be 35 and under.
If this is reflective of average joe in this country then it goes a long way to explain how we got where we are today. :(
Good point, but if all we were going to do is fine Bush and Cheney half a million dollars, it might as well be $50 - they're just gonna take it from the Iraqis anyway.
Sam @ 8:
Trust no one. Until they prove they are trustworthy.
Kudos to Richardson for standing up to the neo Stasi
Hey!
That's not only NOT embarassingly incompetent. It's downright incisive.
Way to go, Richardson.
Let's hope others pick up on this line of reasoning.
Unfortunately most prole-Americans care more about sports than politics.
L.A. Confidential @ 10:
I'm a teacher. You'd might be SHOCKED by the commonality of that view. That the game (whatever game) is about winning the game. And that all tactics are fair play.
Americans love winning. They're nowhere near as high-and-mighty moral as we're led to believe . . . by the people in question.
The goal, all too often, is to cheat and get away with it. Not cheating as a last resort. Not doing the right thing.
Sam @ 8:
If it is any consolation, I'm sure you'll agree that the media tends to potray things in the most "shocking" light, if they have the choice. Presumably they scrapped/under-represented the comments which denounced the coach.
Also, for those fanse who think all is fair in love and war and football, it is hard to understand how they would enjoy the game with such an outlook.
One quip does not a good president make. Frankly I wonder if Bill Richardson even came up with that line, considering some of the bonehead statements he's uttered in the last couple months.
" we were just following orders!"
Nice sound bite but no solution.
Impeach, it is not just for a bj.
Geez.
And our congress does NOTHING. Makes one believe both Dems and Repubs work for the same people, and it sure as hell ain't us.
Now if only richardson would get rid of the extortion cameras at intersections in New Mexico. These are another form of spying coupled with 3.8 second yellow light cycles which sometimes lead to panic stops and make driving into a video game with very expensive penalties. What's worse is that the whole scam is run by a private company that gives the state a small commission on each "arrest". Bill: I will not vote for you until you get this scam to at least play fair by bringing yellow light cyles to 5 seconds, which is what is reccommended for 40 mph speed limit. And your thing about the green SUV's, what a crock! They are still monsters that people don't need to be driving. Imagine if they were hybrid cars how much less terrorism we would be funding!
Well, we saw lots of Tax cheating after the nixon debacle....then, like now, the government was more or less tyrannical. Shortly after the millions who came home from Vietnam, whom had been taught to kill (but never un-taught) hit the American streets. Drug use soared, crime soared. Hell if the government could do that shit, then so could the people.
Soon we will see the effect of this war on society. Thousands of GI's have been killed, but that is the short end. Millions of GI's have had their minds blown and now will come home with no help from the government on how to melt back into society.
And yet ... the government goes un-punished. Hopefully that will be changed in the 2008 election, but I'm not to sure of that.
Money buys elections, and who has the money...Corporate America ... the very group who sponsor this illegal war, this war of choice, by this man, this Tyrant, this imbecile, our president.
Yes Pissed-Off. It will be very interesting when the Fed can no longer prop up the markets and things come crashing down and we oficcially enter a recession. Nothing speaks louder than a draft or massive unemployment. Let's see how the repulics manage to steal the election then!
The New England Patriots decided to throw away the rule book and win at any cost. This idea was pushed by Republicans in politics, business and religion. Just as Ken Lay threw away ethics at Enron, The Patriot Pastors have thrown away the Bible to achieve their evil goals. The only true patriots left in America are the few Democrats who are fighting for change.
The worst part is that they won't allow any oversight. I don't trust them to spy only on terrorists, as they claim, without congressional oversight. The repugnacans have trackrecord of using anything they get their hands on for political gain and I'm sure that's exactly what they are doing with the spy programs.
A similar sports cheating situation has occured in Europe with an espionage scandal involving the McLaren team in Formula 1; who were in possession of technical information stolen from Scuderia Ferarri and appears to have gained an advantage through that information. The end result was a stripping of points and disqualification in the 2007 Constructor's championship AND a fine of $100 million USD. Yes, $100 MILLION dollars. Too bad that European based sporting councils have a better understanding of unfair behavior and fair punishment than our own government.
ckerst @ 23:
Congress may have well voted for laws which they themselves are now probably governed by...did they forget that in the process.
Maybe the football team did this on purpose to make a point... after all, they're the "Patriots". ;)
Word on the street in Boston is that Eric Mangini(Jets Coach) had an affair with Bill's(Pats Coach) wife...hence why he would do anything to embarrass him. Still not right, but perhaps he wouldn't bother against a team like say, the Browns.
Do I think my team should be punished?, Yes
Do I think what they did is wrong? Yes
Do I want all the news to focus on something else now? Yes
I don't think I have ever felt so frustrated with a team. I want to root for them so badly but its hard to back them now. I just want this scandal to go away.
L.A. Confidential @ 10:
It easily explainable. Most people look to their LEADER for direction. Our POTUS is the biggest cheater, liar, spyer in the Country. But hey, he's the President! He did it! Everytime one of the neocons gets busted for anything they immediately trot out the ole "but Bill Clinton did it!" So our next President...........will have all the same powers? The neocons aren't going to like that.
Brandon Phyber @ 22:
Just not the David Vitter kind of change.
Richardson - right on! Impeach the bastards!!!
All of the people I have had a conversation about this have given the "everyone does this" theme first thing in the conversation. We are becoming a nation which stands for the wrong things.
wouldn't it be called .....Stalking....no?
Does anyone go peeping in their neighbour's windows? Do you listen to ther people's conversations? Do you go through your neighbour's mail? No? No one should. I have drapes and I close them if I'd like privacy. I expect my e-mails and phone conversations to be private too. That's part of FREEDOM. It was a novel experiemnt the USA tried, and was admirably successful at, until...
Another sports example: In the world of Formula 1 Auto racing, Team McLaren was recently fined 100 million dollars for stealing technical data from Ferrari!
Sam @ 8:
Funny how we have the gal as a nation to preach to others; do as we say, not as we do.
Credibility is a rare commodity now days.
Funny that its the "Patriots" - acting out Bush policies and getting soooooooo busted.
Is there some other tie-in here. "Patriot" . . . "act" . . . hmmmm
America has lost track of the principles that made it a once great nation. Now a rogue nation on the world stage thanks to BushCo, it leads the way in subterfuge and foul play. And many are following their lead.
how sad is it that professional sports if harder on illicit spying than our government/congress has proven to be. WTF
Roger Goodell for President!
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