Specter needs to set his priorities straight

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Sen. Arlen Specter apparently has done his part to save the U.S. economy from the Great Depression, Part Deux.

And you know we are on the precipice of the Great Depression, Part Deux, because so much of that dour sentiment fills the pages of the dinosaur rags of a bygone era.

Many Americans are jumping out of tall buildings on Wall Street each day because of their economic despair. Too many American families are having to make do with two automobiles and three flat-screen televisions.

Alas, times will continue to be hard until at least the presidential election, when times could improve overnight if the candidate of the dinosaur rags wins the election.

Instead of devoting his considerable energy to providing all Americans with "free" automobile and homeowners' insurance, the Pennsylvania Republican is all worked up over the taping scandal of the Patriots.

Specter wants an independent body to investigate the matter further. And depending on the public's reaction, he may ask the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on the NFL's antitrust exemption.

It has been established that coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots cheated their way to championships. The NFL stripped the Patriots of a first-round pick in the draft this spring and fined Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000.

Worse than the penalties, the success of the Patriots came to be viewed as tainted in the media, in certain circles of the NFL and the sports public. That sentiment certainly will intrude on the coaching legacy of Belichick.

Yet it is Specter's contention that the NFL's investigation of the Patriots was seriously flawed, hardly objective. And perhaps Specter is correct. Perhaps the NFL merely wanted to make the scandal vanish as quickly as possible.

If so, the goings-on of the NFL and the Patriots hardly should be a priority to the lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

If Specter is inclined to throw his weight behind an issue that impacts all Americans, he could call for Congressional hearings that try to determine if global warming is a genuine threat to humanity or a hoax perpetrated by junk science.

As you know, there are fierce proponents on each side of the debate. Those Americans fortunate enough to have lived through the prosperous Jimmy Carter years can recall that the fear then was an impending ice age. And it is true that the nation's capital endured 40 consecutive days and nights of snow in the winter of 1985, when thousands of residents died from starvation after being trapped in their homes under 100 feet of snow.

But most of us persevered and lived to tell about the Great Ice Age.

Now we are set to succumb to the molten ball of fire. Or are we?

Such an airing-out on Capitol Hill would serve Americans far more than learning that Belichick filmed all the practices of his rivals, stole their playbooks and poisoned their food the night before the game. Such revelations would have no effect on the popularity of the NFL.

Fans understand that football coaches and players are always looking for an edge, almost obsessively so, and that the line between legal and illegal can become awfully thin. The late George Allen once traded a draft pick he did not have, a sleight of hand that did not go unnoticed.

It is no secret that lawmakers love to grill the lords of our games. It makes for great television. It leads to breathless headlines. And it increases the name recognition of the lawmakers. Maybe it even helps fatten the campaign coffers of the lawmakers.

But it is doubtful the next person getting ready to jump from a tall building on Wall Street cares one bit about the extent of Belichick's cheating.

That person is surrendering to the grim economic news, to the unprecedented unemployment, to the cry of the times: "Brother, can you spare $100?"