Happy Birthday, D.K. Punzi!!!!!

Today is DK's birthday, and I almost missed it. It's pretty annoying, too, because on Tuesday I asked her when her birthday was (I had birthdays on the mind because I was already thinking about Mandy's birthday this week), and she wouldn't tell me. I thought that I remembered that it was sometime in the late summer or early fall, and she said, "Yeah- it's sometime around then." Infuriating little ankle biter.... ;)

Anyway, this morning a friend at the courthouse told me it was DK's birthday, so at least I got the chance to take her out to a decent lunch and wish her many happy returns.

What else? I ate at the new Zen restaurant by my house for the first time last night with Ryan and Jamie. Weedo had told me that it was pretty good, and sure enough, it was. It's nice to have a locally owned, relatively healthy place to eat nearby that serves noodle bowls and whatnot.

A new study by the Pew Center on the States says that 1 in 100 adults is behind bars in this country. One in 36 Hispanic adults is incarcerated, and one of every 15 black adults is behind bars. Texas currently has the nation's largest prison population at 172,000, and states are averaging somewhere around 7% of their annual budgets on corrections spending. Critics question whether these massive prison populations and the accompanying dollars required for all of these prison sentences are really translating into safer communities. Texas and other states are beginning to get a little smarter, investing more money into drug treatment programs and rehabilitation programs for drug addicts and nonviolent offenders rather than locking them away for long periods of time. Not only does this free up prison space for the more violent convicts, but hopefully it helps to break the cycle of addiction and recidivism that continually cycles many drug users repeatedly though the system.
Personally, I'm all for treatment and rehab services for nonviolent drug offenders, and I'd like to see nonviolent offenders with mental health problems diverted into treatment as well. Aside from the fact that I think these solutions are more humane than simply locking people up, I think that overall, in the long run, treatment solutions are probably more cost effective than having to repeatedly deal with these people over and over in the justice system. In the same breath, let me say that I still think we need to hold people accountable for their actions- violent offenders need to be locked up, and people who refuse to cooperate with treatment should still face the penalty of incarceration.

And now they're opening an FBI inquiry into Roger Clemens's Congressional testimony, his denial of steroid use. I've heard people say that they should just leave Clemens alone- that this whole Congressional inquiry into the baseball doping scandal is a ridiculous waste of time and money. I kind of agree that the overall inquiry is a strange thing for the federal government to take such an active interest in, but if Clemens really did lie before Congress, I find that perjury inexcusable. Whether you agree with the investigation or not, you don't get to go sit in front of one of the most powerful legislative bodies in the world and lie to them (especially when you're doing so for the simple purpose of self promotion). If Clemens is telling the truth, he needs to be vindicated, but from the testimony that I heard, it didn't sound like he was being honest. Other players, like Andy Pettite, have at least acknowledged that they used performance enhancing drugs and owned up to their mistakes. And you know what? People are pretty willing to forgive when someone is willing to admit and apologize.
I don't think Clemens needs to necessarily be investigated or prosecuted for the use of these drugs- for a time, so many players were apparently using them that it was probably very hard to be competitive without them- but lying to Congress in order to protect your public image is inexcusable (and may prove to be very ineffective as well).

Well, that's about all I've got. Hope you gys are having a good day.