June 7: Iraq/Korea, Bob Graham, baseball and good kids

*Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is concerned about a long-term Iraq policy that would create something resembling Korea, with troops bogged down for decades. While Iraq could certainly be a decades-long quagmire, the comparison is not valid. North Korea invaded South Korea, and the Korean War was a legitimate hot point of the Cold War. Also, it was the United Nations that went into the Korean conflict, not the go-it-relatively-alone-with-a-few-countries mentality of the Bush Administration in Iraq. Here's a link to an article by Bill Powell in Time Magazine that has an even better explanation:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1628185,00.html?xid=rss-world

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*One person who did get it right on Iraq from the very beginning was former Florida Sen. Bob Graham. Years ago, Tom Fiedler, the former executive editor of the Miami Herald and onetime political columnist for that paper, said that when Graham served in the Florida Legislature (during the 1960s and 70s), he would sometimes make a well-reasoned, detailed proposal that wouldn't get many takers, but would prove right. This article in today's Tampa Tribune proves the validity of that:

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBJRYMNM2F.html

And all of the senators who are now running for president could have and should have taken the time to read the full National Intelligence Estimate. Graham was absolutely right from the very beginning with his reservations about the war. And I don't think he's particularly bitter; he's not the type. As for his endorsement, which is prized: Does anyone wonder whether he wants to endorse a former Senate colleague from Tennessee - one who later went on to be vice president and won the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election - one who also opposed the war from the very beginning?

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Back to the presidential race for a moment, and the difficulty of dividing debate time evenly among so many candidates. An article in today's Christian Science Monitor had the suggestion of dividing the candidates into a couple of debates. I have a better one: Before a debate, the host network should get the candidates' written responses to various questions on important issues and either post them on the television screen or online, or both, so audience members get a chance to hear what everyone truly thinks. Then, announce several topics in advance , and ask the candidates about those topics only, and do it in a way that everyone gets a fair forum. They have the multimedia capabilities. They should use them.

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Baseball has three candidates for its (or my) Bonehead of the Week award: Candidate 1 is Gary Sheffield, current Detroit Tiger and former Florida Marlin, who was quoted in a GQ magazine interview that Major League Baseball finds it easier to control Latin players than blacks, and that's why there are more Latin players in the big leagues. Huh? I will say this: Sheffield was right when he said that baseball currently puts more resources into recruiting players from Latin America than in recruiting African Americans. Clearly, the RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities) program, as successful as it is, is not enough.
Actually, a big reason for the numbers is a simple one: Profit. At the moment, baseball executives must feel they are getting far more out of the dollars they spend in Latin America (in terms of the publicity that comes back about their baseball heroes). Here, they lose blacks to basketball and football. But what if they try, in American inner cities, some of the strategies they're using in Latin America? How about at least a pilot program? The game that Jackie Robinson integrated 60 years ago is owed that much.
Bonehead candidate #2 is Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, who believes baseball unfairly targets Latin players in the steroids probe, on the basis of what he was asked. Uh, Ozzie....You're from Venezuela. You're not going to be asked if you saw players taking steroids in London. Unfair? Stereotyping? Maybe, but you're going to be asked about what they think you know.
Which leads to bonehead candidate #3: Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig himself, who now wants to give Jason Giambi (See, Ozzie? ) an either/or choice: Talk to Ambassador George Mitchell, who is leading MLB's investigation into steroid and other performance enhancing drug use by players, or face punishment for your steroid use. How about giving us baseball fans an either/or choice: Eliminate all the jokers (including Selig and Major League Baseball Players Association chief Don Fehr) who had a hand in perpetuating the fraud that is the steroid era of baseball, or eliminate all the jokers....Well, you get the idea.

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Finally, while everyone spends time grumping about Paris Hilton (and yes, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca should be fired), here's a link to a Boston Globe story about a young person who knows what he wants to do after graduation:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/07/teen_grasps_an_old_farms_future/

Andrew Orr understands what life's all about.

See you next week, folks....