Cub player wrong to justify cockfighting

Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez says he should not have to defend his involvement in cockfighting in his native Dominican Republic, where he lives in the off-season. The sport is both legal and popular there, and Americans who criticize him for it don't appreciate the cultural differences between his country and ours.

We don't think criticism of the sport or Ramirez should be blunted because it's legal in the Dominican Republic. We should be as outraged by this as we were by NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who's now serving a prison term for running a dogfighting ring. The idea that you'd be entertained by watching two animals do bloody battle, sometimes to the death, is appalling. That you would train the birds to fight, sharpen their spurs or attach small knives or spiked bracelets to their legs for that extra blood-drawing allure seems medieval.

State of State speech

Gov. Rod Blagojevich delivered his annual State of the State speech to a lukewarm legislative reception… If Tuesday marked the first time you heard a speech given by Blagojevich during his five years as the state's CEO, you'd likely never guess he stood watch over one of the most acrimonious legislative sessions last year.

But you didn't hear much evidence of that gridlock during Blagojevich's speech, and we, for starters, appreciated the positive tone. We won't be so kind to some of the governor's ideas in his proposed fiscal year 2009 budget, though. But we are intrigued at others.

Once again, the governor is calling upon the state to significantly expand health care programs and he's proposing to do so with a 3 percent payroll tax on businesses that don't provide health benefits for employees. We weren't on the same page when he proposed it before, and we're not now. He also suggests giving a one-time tax credit of $300 per child to all families, and paying for it by borrowing against money due from the national tobacco settlement.

While the goal of expanding health care to the neediest in our state is laudable, as is the desire to provide an additional tax credit for families, the methods for covering the costs are risky. Borrowing against tomorrow's assets to pay for yesterday's debt or today's new programs is most often not a fiscally smart thing to do.