A Little Politics and Baseball

In my universe, summer is a time for decompression.  This has been especially true for this summer.  I have spent some time observing the world and some of the things that been going on in the world.  So I am going to just pass on some thoughts about what is going on in the world.

• Living in Virgina, has long made me proud of the level of professionalism in government.  I worked in government for 20+ years and always found that even with the patrician nature of folks in the General Assembly, and the "Virginia Way" of doing things, that there was always an ethical standard and an adherence to doing things the right way.  In recent years, I have seen the creeping of unsavory things into the state.  We had a legislator, a major player in his party, convicted of trading his influence into a paid gig with a school that benefited from a piece of legislation he sponsored.  Today, I read about a state agency that seems to believe that laws and regulations do not apply to them.  All of this leads to our Governor's current plight.
• Since the beginning of the year, Governor McDonnell has been suffering what I have called "death by a million paper cuts."  Allegations have seeped out about the Governor's unusual friendship with a corporate CEO that has seen his wife getting shopping sprees on 5th Ave., $15,000 for his daughter's wedding reception, $124,000 in loans on real estate, jet flights and tickets to Final Four games among others.  Now I don't have a lot of friends, but I do know that all of my friendships are balanced.  What the Governor might be beholden for, I have no clue,  I just feel that there has to some kind of tit for tat.  It will be interesting to see what the Federal investigations that are ongoing.  
• I also find it frustrating that McDonnell in two statewide campaigns always spoke of his frugality and traditional values.  His behavior in this matter sure looks like an upward grasping person.
• Moving on to the world of sports.  I am not sure what to make of the latest PED use in baseball, and don't know who is guilty and what has been done.  I do know that I find the case of Ryan Braun to be quite humorous.  He gets off in 2011 because of a chain of custody problem and he trumpets his innocence and his vindication saying he never used and his name was clean.  Fast forward to July 2013 and he meekly submits to a 65 game suspension for PED use.  It is just another example of the arrogance and hubris that seems to be epidemic in our culture.
• No, I don't have an opinion on the Trayvon Martin death case.  It is always the case that every one with the means to put on a high quality defense stands a far better chance of being acquitted.  But that has always been the case.