Clemens, McNamee, and a proper Congress

Water coolers around the nation will be buzzing for days after the daytime entertainment fest that was the Roger Clemens appearance before Congress Wednesday. However, let us not dwell on what the drive-by media and the useless and often moronic radio talk shows have been focusing on. I honestly heard one host go on for 15 minutes about what a buff bod Clemens' wife had after doing the HGH. Which makes for yet another example as to how sports talk radio has submerged to just one meager level below animal refuse. But I digress.
I applaud Congress for getting involved in this, and anyone who says they can't understand why lawmakers are tackling something as menial as baseball, allow me to feed the soul with a dash of logic often missing from our airwaves.
Major League Baseball has an anti-trust exemption. Any business that operates across state lines...ANY business...is participating in interstate commerce and is subject to anti-trust legislation. Baseball, which in essence flies in the face of this law by holding fast with a monopoly on it's chosen trade, was granted their exemption in 1922 when things were very different. However, let it not be said MLB sees things as any different now as they were then, and they defend that exemption to a blood feud. You better believe there are those in Congress and in a number of other professions, including the Players Union, who would love to see this yanked from the baseball overseers.
Baseball is one of the major reasons why there are gamblers in this country, falling only behind any football, boxing, and the "over under" on Britney Spears next booby hatch stay. Like it or not, gambling is legal in a number of states and provides a massive chunk of the State dollar, which in turn funnels thru to these same Congressmen and some of their pet projects. Which often involve Penthouse pets. Again, I digress.
When you have a business that legally pumps money into government coffers, the government itself is charged with protecting those funds, a good portion of which should be going to state run services and social programs. This means the government must insure these funds are being received legally, and they are getting the full amount they are owed. In the case of baseball and drugs, this points to someone gaining an unfair advantage which in turn can lead to decreased state revenue, which means someone is cheating the government. Follow the money, my friend.
This leads to my final point. The government, in whatever form you choose to single out, is charged with protecting the public interest. Part of this means insuring taxpayers are not victims of consumer fraud, which can mean the consumer is being bilked out of his or her hard-earned dollar by the illegal and scurrilous actions of others. Sound like someone you know? What baseball has done, simply by letting the stench of drugs and cheating fester, is to allow a blatant form of consumer fraud to be perpetrated on the ticket buying public. These the same people who can barely afford to go to a single game without offering up their wife's eggs for sale to a clinic in Sweden. Cheating changes the outcome. Cheating means what you see is not what you get. Cheating is stealing from your wallet. Simple enough?
Baseball cannot and will not take charge of it's own house. It has, in effect, been caught stealing from the general public in a much more blatant form than they have in the past (have you seen the price of one beer at a game?), stealing from the coffers of state governments, and showing what happens when that government allows them to operate as a monopoly.
Congress is doing EXACTLY what they were elected for, serving the interests of the American people. Remember that the next time you listen to a sports talk show and hear them try to speak of something other than stats, the SI swimsuit issue, and which actress they'd like to have in the studio for a leering session.