Saturday, February 16, 2008

Twisted Justice

Equal injustices do not equal justice.

William Rhoden of The New York Times knows that. He has long been the voice of reason defending victims from the angry mob of a country that we have become.

That changed with yesterday’s column: Justice Will Be Served Only if Clemens Isn’t Given a Pass.

Rhoden writes:

“If there is fair and equal justice under the law, Clemens should become the next super athlete, after Marion Jones and (Barry) Bonds, to be pursued by (Jeff) Novitzky to the end of the earth. Or at least to a room containing a federal grand jury.”

Rhoden wants us to believe that the path to justice is lined with more injustice. He uses a 955-word column to twist baseball and race and politics into a version of playground revenge.

It is an effort unworthy of Rhoden. I think he honestly believes, as I do, that:

If there is fair and equal justice under the law, Jones will be released from jail and Bonds will just be the greatest hitter in the history of baseball. And men like Novitzky will not be allowed to defile the United States justice system any longer.

I think Rhoden also believes, as I do, that:

If there is fair and equal justice under the law, Clemens will just be the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball.

Injustice is injustice. Having Clemens face the same unfair treatment doesn’t lessen what has been done to Jones and Bonds.

That’s just something to feed the mob on the right that is manipulated by slick operators like Henry Waxman and Elijah Cummings and Tom Davis and the rest of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. They throw up a smoke screen of black and white and Democrat and Republican and left and right and when they’re done they have picked justice from our pockets again.

Rhoden is a journalist that anyone interested in fairness has been able to count on.

Don’t quit the game now.

6 comments:

Pete said...

I am happy to not be the only one who thought this. When I finished the column I went back to the front page to make sure Mike Lupica had not started writing for The Times. This is not the kind of work I expect from Rhoden.

Donna said...

Lupica writing for The Times? What’s that old saying about a pig on roller skates? Or is it a pig in pajamas? Either way, it would be a waste. Lupica is just a mean, nasty, hateful man.

William Rhoden is one of my favorites, but he was way off base on this. I bet he get things straightened out with his next column.

Olivia said...

William Rhoden probably did the same thing as the rest of us and read the column and said “Who the heck wrote this?”

He is a fair and honest journalist and he will right himself.

JoeyBoy said...

That is a strange way for someone like William Rhoden to look at this issue. Very strange indeed.

Henry said...

Comparing Rhoden to Lupica? Ouch.

Larry Jaffe said...

i love yankee justice!