Question of the day: Are the Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens prosecutions worth the money and effort?

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Writers from around the Tribune Co. weigh in on the topic. Check back throughout the day for more responses, and feel free to leave a comment of your own.

Nick Fierro, The Morning Call

Using our tax dollars to determine whether Barry Bonds took steroids or lied about taking steroids or whether his testicles really did shrink is beyond comprehension. Sure, a small percentage of the public might care, but not I and not the majority of Americans – many of whom need to take out a second mortgage just to fill their gas tanks these days. Bonds is a jerk, to be sure, and probably deserves whatever kind of misfortune he’s sure to face down the road. (Ditto for Roger Clemens). But c’mon already with the government involvement. This entire episode stinks of politics. It’s just another witch hunt that insults all common sense and only serves to arouse already heightened suspicions of our federal system. I mostly pity the jurors who were forced to wade through all this swill without hip boots.

[Updated at 12:48 p.m.

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun Sentinel

The only reason to prosecute Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens is to show it’s one thing to lie to sportswriters and another entirely to lie to the government under oath.

That’s it. That’s reason enough too.

Don’t talk about time and cost. It’s a drop in the syringe.

Don’t even talk about the verdict considering that’s secondary. And nothing to get worked up over. Who really cares if the perjury case of Bonds and Clemens doesn’t pass the burden of proof? Everyone knows the score here.

The question is whether famous people can lie under oath with no consequence. In this manner, Bonds and Clemens serve one final public service for potential perjurors everywhere.]