The demagogues have come out in full force in a transparent effort to give support to Masback and the USATF for their indefensible position of suppressing the positive drug tests of American athletes. Now Doriane Lambelet Coleman, the Duke University law professor who gained some notoriety by defending Mary Slaney, has jumped into the fray: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/01/sports/01DECK.html In a deliberate attempt to distort and confuse, all sorts of nonsensical legalisms are thrown out: LEGAL PRECEDENCE, DUE PROCESS, CONFIDENTIALITY, INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. "We're constrained by the US legal system", they've said. BULLSHIT! The fact is, with few exceptions, our legal system is built around the concept of openness of the adjudication process -- there is no "right to secret back-room tribunals". If you are an airline pilot, a train engineer, a bus driver or, yes, even just an ordinary private citizen, have an accident while on or off the job, and you can be summarily suspended without pay, and the results of your drug tests will be made public. No "right of confidentiality here" is there? That is the legal precedent. What we're talking about here is not criminal, nor even civil violations of law. We're talking about is the administrative rules of a sporting federation. Those rules can be changed at any time to reflect spirit of our open legal system -- if only our leadership would have the will to do so. Why does this leadership resist openness? Follow the money, my friends. Follow the money. malmo!TM Another self-anointed "award-winning" pundit for the Sydney2000TM Olympics
