Funny what our tax dollars are paying for...

[Neecy]

We can't fix bridges but we can send baseball players to China?

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Hall of Fame newcomer Cal Ripken Jr. was chosen by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to promote baseball around the world.

Rice on Monday will make Ripken a Special Sports Envoy to the Department of State, the public relations firm that represents Ripken, Maroon PR, said in a statement Thursday.

The former Baltimore Orioles star will be asked to help the game grow at the grass-roots level. Ripken will reach out to a worldwide audience of young people; his first trip will be to China this fall.

Rice last year asked figure skater Michelle Kwan to serve as a Public Diplomacy Envoy. Kwan's task is to try to improve the United States' image abroad by sharing her experiences as a skater. Kwan made her first trip, to China, in January and spent a week in Russia, traveling to Moscow, Volgograd and Elista.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/08/09/ripken.diplomat.ap/index.html

We have very odd priorities in this country...

[izzie]

1. Their was once a Senator from Calif. that talked about this money

He said we had so much that no one in Congress has a real feel for what they are doing. I think his name was Hayakawa and he also wrote a book I recall that was a must read in college. I recall his talk about the money. It hit home about their being so much that no one really knew what they were spending.