Jesse Ventura

Opinion Source Information:

9News Colorado

He seems to squarely blame Selig

Former Minn. Gov. Jesse Ventura says he wonders why the federal government has not indicted Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig after 104 players tested positive for steroids in 2003.

"In the early '90s, the federal government came into pro wrestling and tried to put Vince McMahon in prison for steroid use of wrestlers. My question is: They've now determined 104 baseball players failed their steroid test in 2003 - 104. They indicted Vince McMahon, why aren't they indicting Bud Selig?" Ventura asked. "He's the head of baseball, it happened on his watch.

"What you have here is two sets of law enforcement. One set: 'Oh, pro wrestling, let's go after the head of that and put him in prison for steroid use.' And pro wrestling is not even an athletic competition. We went to court and said we're sports entertainment. Here, you have a legitimate athletic competition with 104 guys using illegal drugs - cheating - and where's the indictment of Bud Selig on this?"

McMahon, who went to trial in 1994 after being accused of steroid distribution to pro wrestlers, was eventually acquitted.

"They indicted Vince McMahon. He had to beat it with his own lawyers or go to prison," Ventura said. "How come Selig isn't being treated the same way?"

He continues ...

Ventura, who admitted he used steroids, going public about his use in the '90s, says he doesn't buy the argument that Selig was oblivious when it came to the rampant illegal drug use in professional baseball.

"You can't tell me for one minute that Bud Selig and the owners didn't know," Ventura said. "They were profiting from it. Baseball was dead in the water until the big home run race between (Mark) McGwire and Sosa - Sammy - and that rejuvenated baseball, made all the profits so Bud Selig could make $17 million a year."

Opinion Source Information:

From this Larry King Live transcript:
 

KING: Do you think it's time this non-recognition ends?

VENTURA: Absolutely. It's ridiculous. I mean, we have relation with Vietnam now. We have relations with every other country around the world, but this island 90 miles off our coast. We still have this ridiculous embargo.
 

Opinion Source Information:

From this Larry King Live transcript:

VENTURA: Absolutely. It's ridiculous. I mean, we have relation with Vietnam now. We have relations with every other country around the world, but this island 90 miles off our coast. We still have this ridiculous embargo.

You know, one thing interesting about Cuba; the Cuban people have never, ever burnt an American flag down there. They love the American people. They just dislike our government.

KING: Do you think it's coming, though, to an end, that we will have relations?

VENTURA: I would like to think so. It's long overdue.

KING: They're letting relatives go.

VENTURA: I think it should be opened up. We're supposed to be in a free country, Larry. How come I can't go there on vacation?

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"In my opinion, George Bush is the worst president in my lifetime."  [Larry King Live transcript]

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link

Ventura on gay marriage: Civil rights should not be up to popular vote

During a panel discussion on Senator John McCain's recent interview with Ellen DeGeneres, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura strongly disagreed with conservative commentator Pat Buchanan on the issue of voting on fellow citizens' civil rights.

"First of all," Ventura began, "I made a statement when I was Governor and I stand by it today: Love is bigger than government.

"Who the hell are we as a government to tell people who you can fall in love with? I think it's absurd, the fact that it's even being debated."

Ventura proposes a separation of church and state, with across-the-board civil unions at government level, leaving the church as part of the private sector free to sanction marriages.

"If the elected officials will stand up for what's right and do what's right with civil rights, I fully agree with you," Ventura countered. "But you can't put a civil rights issue on the general ballot in a state and let people vote on it, because if you do that, in the southern states before, you can bet they would have voted to continued slavery."

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From Larry King Live (transcript):

KING: We're back with Jesse Ventura. OK, the Eliot Spitzer matter, what do you make of it?

VENTURA: Well, first of all, my position on prostitution -- if you look at it, Larry, if you are a consenting adult, you can do any sex act, right, it's legal. So really, the only thing that makes prostitution illegal is the exchange of money. So that means the reason is the government needs to be the pimp. They're not getting their cut and that's why they make it illegal.

KING: They make it illegal. They don't get their cut because it is illegal.

VENTURA: Exactly. The point is that you can do the sex act. So the only thing illegal is exchange of money and it's because the government is not getting their cut, because it is an illegal act.

Sounds like he thinks the criminalization of prostitution is a joke... you decide.

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Huff Post:

by Jesse "the Body" Ventura

He stated at the time that he was a strong believer in giving more power to the states, which I applaud. He was going to be, he said, an old-style Federalist president. I believed him.

Yet just about every move he's made since that day has taken power away from states. Cases in point: 12 states have now passed laws to allow medical use of marijuana. The federal government under Bush says no way; it won't let the states do this. Two states have voted for dignity in death. If I'm living in Minnesota and terminally ill, I could have the option of moving to Oregon and fulfill my wishes not to prolong the agony. Again, the Bush administration says, oh no, you can't.

It's a shame that Bush has turned into what he has.

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Huff Post:

by Jesse Ventura

It's a shame that Bush has turned into what he has. That deception about returning power to the states was only the first of many, the foremost being how his administration lied to the American people in justifying our disastrous invasion of Iraq. Leaving the Midland region that day, I couldn't help thinking about our dependency on oil, whether it's from the Middle East or the West Texas variety. We should be taking the billions being wasted in Iraq and putting all this money toward renewable energy sources that won't destroy the planet. We should be doing everything we can to draw energy from the sun, the wind, and the water.

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Huff Post:

by Jesse Ventura

It's a shame that Bush has turned into what he has. That deception about returning power to the states was only the first of many, the foremost being how his administration lied to the American people in justifying our disastrous invasion of Iraq. Leaving the Midland region that day, I couldn't help thinking about our dependency on oil, whether it's from the Middle East or the West Texas variety. We should be taking the billions being wasted in Iraq and putting all this money toward renewable energy sources that won't destroy the planet. We should be doing everything we can to draw energy from the sun, the wind, and the water.

Opinion Source Information:

Huff Post:

by Jesse Ventura

We should be taking the billions being wasted in Iraq and putting all this money toward renewable energy sources that won't destroy the planet. We should be doing everything we can to draw energy from the sun, the wind, and the water.

Opinion Source Information:

Reason Magazine

The Body (1:05): We're being sold that we're safer from terrorism. It's a bunch of hogwash.