The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Jerry Sandusky Is To Joe Paterno As. . .

Posted on | November 10, 2011 | 22 Comments

by Smitty

. . .Eric Holder is to. . .

They told me that if I voted for John McCain, executive accountability would be for the little people. So far, they’ve been proven quite correct, no thanks whatsoever to that craven sack of a Senator from Nevada.

Just to belabor the point here, this post is not equating professional incompetence with being a sex offender. The point, rather, is directed at those in charge of the ones living in infamy.

Via Iowahawk on Twitter: as for Sandusky, may God have mercy on your blighted soul, sir. And justice be done. As a newly-minted father, I would really have to pray hard for the Almighty to deliver enough mercy to cover you, if the half of the rumors are true. So let them be false rumors, or, if true, let justice be served.

I’ve heard some say there are humans that “need killin'”.

Update: linked at The POH Diaries, with a picture of Sandusky.

Comments

22 Responses to “Jerry Sandusky Is To Joe Paterno As. . .”

  1. t-dahlgren
    November 10th, 2011 @ 1:02 pm

    The Sandusky retirement was clearly early enough, and otherwise inexplicable enough, to raise curiosity, and so must have been a purposely hushed event.   Precisely who knew what when is a concern, but for many it may be one of those far-too-common ‘don’t ask you don’t want to know’ type ‘ situations.

    But either way, this is not the way any organization with integrity deals with such ugliness.  Not only does the scandal new extend from Penn State to the entire NCAA FB system, it also raises real questions about every media type who passed over reporting on the specifics behind an obviously early retirement.

    This was Paterno’s anointed successor, compare his quiet retirement with the media circus surrounding Urban Meyer’s departure from Florida.  Why weren’t the red flags addressed then?

  2. Anonymous
    November 10th, 2011 @ 1:06 pm

    I wouldn’t equate the two either.  But I ask myself, is it worse to look the other way for murder or for child rape?  Can’t they all lose in this instance?

  3. rosalie
    November 10th, 2011 @ 1:44 pm

    My husband and I have been season ticket holders for a long time.   We decided a couple of months ago to give them up because two years ago we were notified that we’d have to pay $100 more for each seat (a donation they called it), and we have four seats.   That wasn’t as bad as a friend of ours who had four seats on the 50-yard line and had to pay $2,000 more per seat.  His tickets went from $2,000 to $10,000!  He gave his up.    I learned that other schools do the same thing, but I was angry and wanted to give them up last year already.  We ended up hanging on to them for this year.   On Monday I was walking around as though  Paterno was a member of my family.   Tears still come to my eyes when I think about all the people who have been hurt through this and how Paterno is ultimately ending what was a great career.   I always felt he should have retired when he was 70.  If only he had.  I’m bracing myself because I think what has been revealed is just the tip of the iceberg.  All I know for sure is if I had walked in on Sandusky with that child, I would not have walked back out, and he would have been arrested that very day. 

  4. Andrew Patrick
    November 10th, 2011 @ 2:32 pm

    Yup. That a pedophile worms his way into an institution is not surprising. These people exist, and they work hard at disarming suspicion. 

    But that you could walk in on a 60-year-old man buggering a 10-year-old boy and not shout out “What the &#%@!” and not do something about it astounds the imagination. For that to occur, something else had to be going on…

  5. rosalie
    November 10th, 2011 @ 2:38 pm

    Exactly.  We don’t know the half of it.

  6. DaveO
    November 10th, 2011 @ 3:13 pm

    Just me, but don’t believe Joe Paterno will live long away from the football field. He couldn’t give it up at 70; and now?

    There’s one difference in your equation, Smitty. Penn State’s executive board is holding folks accountable. We won’t see that from Obama and/or Holder because they can not grasp the difference between right and wrong from a Judeo-Christian worldview.

  7. Adjoran
    November 10th, 2011 @ 3:46 pm

    I’d like to think Paterno never understood the true extent and nature of what was reported to him, that perhaps it was phrased so delicately he didn’t get what it really was.  But Sandusky’s early retirement gives the lie to that view – he had to demand to know why his defensive coordinator was being taken away.

    The grad assistant/former player who was the eyewitness has some explaining to do, too.  You see a grown man having sex with a child in your locker room and you . . . ask your Dad what to do?  In what universe does that make sense?  Tackling the perp and bashing his skull into the tile, getting the boy safely away, and notifying the police should be the order of business without much thought.

    But the AD and school President who covered up, and whatever knowledge JoPa had, this is just horrendous.  Smitty is right:  these wretches need our prayers, because there isn’t much help for them which can be found in this world.

    The Fatima Prayer fits:  Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy Mercy.

  8. SOYLENT GREEN
    November 10th, 2011 @ 3:57 pm
  9. t-dahlgren
    November 10th, 2011 @ 4:06 pm

    What the NCAA could (and should IMO) do is immediately grant every
    current Penn State player an individual waiver allowing them to transfer
    to another Div-I school at then end of this year without forcing them
    to sit out any length of time.

    The reasons are twofold.

    One, it is the ethical thing to do, these players presumably had (and
    continue to have) no knowledge or control over these events, and some
    may have serious reservations about being associated with any more of
    it. They should not feel trapped between their own ethics and a
    decision made without adequate information (it is safe to say that none
    of this was disclosed to them by the University.)

    Two, it is the practical thing to do. The next few years of this
    program are going to be a disaster and full on media circus. The
    coaching staff is going to be in total turmoil if not collectively
    fired, recruits are gonna look elsewhere, and any media attention is
    going to be tainted with the associations for a long time to come. All
    of this adds up to career disaster for any potential pro prospects
    currently on the team. Again, this is not what they thought they were
    signing up for, and the only one’s who should shoulder the burden for
    this is the University, not the players.

    Let em all go. If the NCAA doesn’t do so they are placing the interests of the University above those of the student-athletes.
    Read more: http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/showthread.php?t=213782&page=4#ixzz1dL4L73DA

  10. smitty
    November 10th, 2011 @ 4:09 pm

    This was the point of the post.

  11. rosalie
    November 10th, 2011 @ 4:26 pm

    I pray that isn’t true. I knew it was going to get worse but never anything like that.  And if they said eight boys, it may be hundreds.   

  12. Anonymous
    November 10th, 2011 @ 5:30 pm

    I was thinking of this one, which you may remember in part from 13th Warrior:

    All that we ought to have thought and have not thought; All that we
    ought to have Spoken and have not spoken; All that we ought to have done
    and have not done; All that we ought not to have thought and yet have
    thought; All that we ought not to have spoken and yet have spoken; All
    that we oughtnot to have done and yet have done; | For thoughts, words
    and works, pray we, 0 God, for forgiveness, And repent with penance. –
    275 From the Zend-Avesta (6th century BCE), a Zoroastrian text, Persia

    That graduate assistant will have to live with the consequences of inaction the rest of his life.

  13. Danby
    November 10th, 2011 @ 6:34 pm

    Disband the team. I mean it. Shut down the football program for 2 years. Every player is immediately eligible to play for any other school. Every member of the coaching and administrative staff is laid off or fired, depending of level of responsibility. In 2 years you can start over, provided no rehires and no youth camps, etc for another 5 years.

  14. ThePaganTemple
    November 10th, 2011 @ 6:41 pm

    Thanks for that. I just did a post about it and linked you.

  15. t-dahlgren
    November 10th, 2011 @ 6:48 pm

    If I were in charge of Penn State I’d agree with this.  If it were possible PSU should allow any current scholarship player to take their scholarship with them (but this might create problems with scholarship totals at other schools.)

    But, with the retention of  Bradley and McQueary (which stinks of bought and paid for silence) it aint gonna happen.

  16. Joe
    November 10th, 2011 @ 6:50 pm

    If I saw that I would have atacked that scumbag with a chair right on the spot, let alone called the authorities.  Which I would have done after he was laying unconscious. 

  17. rosalie
    November 10th, 2011 @ 6:52 pm

    The football players did nothing.  They’re totally innocent.  I think that has to be taken into consideration.  Granted, maybe some players will want to leave.  They need to start with all new coaching personnel and administrative people for sure.  Their youth camps might be the safest ones to go to in the future. 

  18. ThePaganTemple
    November 10th, 2011 @ 10:07 pm

    I know I’d hate to be a Nebraska Cornhusker this weekend.

  19. Anonymous
    November 10th, 2011 @ 10:14 pm

    “As a newly-minted father, I would really have to pray hard for the Almighty to deliver enough mercy to cover you, if the half of the rumors are true. ”

    Before becoming a parent, I’m sure you reacted with a normal, human amount of emotion when hearing stories of child abuse.  But now that you’re a dad, these stories positively set off the alarms of the DAD NORAD.  I’ll bet that for a second there, you assumed the defend-protect-where’s-my-gun position.

    I had the same reaction when I was a new mom.  I had jury duty, but we didn’t know what the case was until the attorneys started questioning us.  A man hit and killed a woman who was crossing the street w/her baby in a stroller.  The baby wasn’t hurt, but I still reacted with horror; my first thought was to get home to my baby and protect her.  The defense attorney read me like a book and dismissed me.  Voir dire is a good thing–I doubt I could have been objective at all!

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  21. rosalie
    November 11th, 2011 @ 8:02 am

    It’s good that it’s a day game.  The kids protesting are a disgrace.   Other, sane students are planning a candlelight vigil for the victims tonight.  I’m glad we’re not going to be there. We sold our tickets on Ebay to someone in MA.

  22. rosalie
    November 11th, 2011 @ 8:10 am

    If any parent had walked in on Sandusky, there would have been no hesitation in stopping that monster.  It would not have been flight, it would have been fight.