Fooled by an icon?

I live in Philadelphia, Pistolvania, so I know and work with a lot of Penn State alums. For the most part I find them to be smart decent people. For the most part. One aspect of PSU alums that has always kind of creeped me out is their undying devotion to all things JoPa. Some of them, it seemed, literally worshiped the ground the man walked on. To say he was an icon in these neck of the woods is an understatement.

Which is why the latest news out of Penn State is so shocking. If you had told me ten years ago that Joe Paterno would be implicated in a scandal to cover up child sexual abuse, and his statue would be coming down in Happy Valley, I would have called 911 and asked them to have you committed. Joe Paterno was Penn State, and he was, in the eyes of many, everything that was right about college football. It's like hearing that Vince Lombardi gave the Packers steroids before every game. 

This should be a lesson to all of us who devote our lives to worshiping others. We have to be careful, because no one is infallible and above the sins of the rest of us mortal men. Joe Paterno might have been a great football coach and motivator, but he was human and susceptible to human failings. From the looks of it he put the image of the program that he carefully and successfully built above the lives of innocent children, and that will forever be a stain on his legacy.  

His legacy will now be viewed in the context of a still evolving scandal, and there is no doubt that it has been tarnished forever. Now all the good he did will be overshadowed by a scandal that might mean the "death penalty" for the proud program that he built.

This morning his statue was covered and removed under armed security. The surreal image that goes along with this post is a stark reminder of just how uncertain life can be. Who could have imagined that it would end like this? I am sure that the folks who love and admire Paterno certainly could not. The rest of us who are a little more cynical are not quite as surprised. This is what we have come to expect in a society where things are never as they seem. "Normal" ("clean cut") All American kids can become mass murderers, and men who claim to be messengers of God can harbor evil iniquitous secrets. You just never know.

"Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence and worth is a tragedy"

Sorry Joe, but not heeding your own words was an even bigger one.


     

The "new Iraq."

"Tupac back, I'm 2 glocks strapped
Rolling down in Philly this the new IraqSoon as I hit the the hood they screaming who got wacked It's a recession on the work, I'm screaming who got crack.."

Sorry Meek Mill, I have to start this post by saying that we have another "new Iraq" here in America. (16 kids under 15 murdered so far this year?!! WTF??!!) It is no longer my hometown of Killadelphia. We have 189 murders so far this year, and in the "new Iraq they have over 255 and counting. Young men are being slaughtered in the streets of America's second largest city, and it is about time some of us start giving a damn. (President Obama this means you as well.) Murders are up 38% so far this year and Mayor Rham Emanuel has no answers.

"More beat officers are now on the streets and staying in specific areas, replacing the large, specialized units that would temporarily drop into crime-ridden areas. Emanuel and McCarthy said they have no plans to change that strategy, and the mayor announced Monday that he's devoting another $4 million to tear down vacant buildings where gang members live and store guns and drugs.

The old tactic of flooding high-crime areas with teams of hundreds of officers for a short period of time, then moving the teams to other areas, was "like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound," McCarthy said. "We're not repairing anything by doing that."

Emanuel, who has made attacking the city's street gangs a cornerstone of his administration, was equally dismissive of the effectiveness of those citywide units.

"I don't think coming in, swatting something down and letting it come back in two weeks is strengthening a community," he said. "What it does is build up cynicism."

Honestly, I really don't give a damn about the cynicism or the feelings of the people in certain communities. Kids are dying.

The silence of the black press and some of our leaders on this issue has been shameful. With the exception of a few online news outlets, (shout out to Politic 365) no one seems to want to talk about this issue or how we can tackle it.
And, if I am going to be honest, I don't have much room to point fingers. Here in my hometown more kids have Glocks than bicycles and they are killing each other at an alarming rate as well.

I could give you some ideas on how I think we could tackle this problem, but I suspect that it wouldn't do any good. The parents of these urban terrorist are the ones who have to be called out, but some smart mouth lawyer on a blog from Philly isn't going to make them listen. The people they elected to lead them better start stepping up to the plate and being accountable to the people they serve. If it means telling them some uncomfortable truths about themselves and passing some tough laws along the way, well then so be it.

Some other folks who have to face some tough and uncomfortable truths today are the people up in "white hat" nation.  Now that we know that a Catholic church style cover up took place up in "Happy Valley" for at least the past fourteen years, it's time for the folks who worshiped at the altar of Joe Pa to take a serious look at themselves and an even more serious look at the icon who they worshiped for all these years.

Let this be a lesson to all those people who value the power of institutions and money over real people: The truth always comes out in the end.

Finally, I am sure that the main stream media will leave this story alone, but it looks like our guy Flipper might have some splaining to do:

"Republican candidate Mitt Romney was listed as the chairman and CEO of Bain Capital on government documents years after he says he gave up control of the private equity firm, The Boston Globe revealed Thursday in a report that intensified a war of words between the rival campaigns.

Romney has said he left the firm in February 1999 to take charge of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and has repeatedly used that as a defense when asked about bankruptcies and worker layoffs at Bain-controlled companies after that date.

The Globe, however, said it found nine SEC filings that describe Romney as running the company after that point. The report said some indicate he had control of five Bain Capital entities formed in January 2002.

In addition, the newspaper said Massachusetts disclosure forms indicate that Romney made at least $100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, apart from his investment earnings. They also show he was paid as a Bain executive while he was directing the Olympics, the Globe reported." [Source]

Move along folks, there is nothing to see here. Just another politician who likes to play fast and loose with the truth on his way to "Etch A Sketching" his way to 1600 Pennsylvania, Avenue.





   

Cover up?

It's a sad day in "Happy Valley" and for the rest of white hat nation. So now we know that Penn State's venerable coach knew as far back as 1999 that his former defensive coordinator might have been acting in an  inappropriate manner with little boys.

We also know that in 2002, then grad assistant, Mike McQueary, actually saw the same former defensive coordinator engaged in a sexual act with a ten year old child in a PSU locker room and reported it to Joe Paterno after calling his father.

Paterno reported the incident to his handpicked Athletic Director, (another one of his myrmidons who surrounds the campus) and they told the alleged pedophile to stop using the university's facilities.

I read the grand jury report today, and the charges are absolutely disgusting. The folks at Penn State should be ashamed of themselves if children were allowed to be raped in order to protect the legacy of Joe Paterno and his football program.

The fact that the Centre County District Attorney sat on this case for a couple of of weeks,---- allowing Paterno to pass Eddie Robinson to become the all time winning coach in Division 1 football, also makes me wonder.

But this is bigger than football. We are talking about the alleged rape of children by a man who could have been stopped years ago, but who was allowed to allegedly continue because a great institution and football program had to be protected at all cost. And what about those hypocrites at the NCAA? We sanction a school and fire its coach for allowing football players to get free tattoos. So what do we do with a football program that possibly covers up sexual assaults on children?

We will be watching.

Now Penn State is thinking about letting Paterno go, because, as the saying goes; the s*&^ has hit the fan.

We all can't help but wonder how long this would have gone on if the Centre County District Attorney's office didn't decide to press charges against the alleged pedophile and school officials.

Joe Paterno was to give a press conference today, but the university canceled it because they didn't want Joe talking right now. Too much is at stake. There are assets to protect. Folks are talking about civil suits against Pennsylvania's flag ship university. So, just like the Catholic Church, they are "circling the wagons". And clearly they care more about protecting Penn State University and not the lives of innocent children.

"Hundreds of fans staged a raucous rally outside Paterno's home Tuesday evening. He appeared briefly, along with some family members, and thanked the crowd for coming.

"I've lived for this place. I've lived for people like you guys and girls," Paterno said.

"It's hard for me to say how much this means," the 84-year-old coach said.

"As you know, the kids that were the victims, I think we ought to say a prayer for them."

No Joe, I think that we should say a prayer for you. Right after the University fires you and everyone who had anything to do with this terrible affair.  

Finally, let me talk about another Joe.

Today as I sat in my office looking at an autographed picture of "Smokin Joe", I thought about the fact that he was the first Philly icon that I met after moving here some 19 years ago. He was friendly, down to earth, and accessible to everyone.

I remember telling him that I actually cheered for Ali in their first fight and he threw a shadow jab at me. I also told him that it was a disgrace that Philly didn't have a statue of him but had one of Rocky, a fictional fighter. I remember him laughing about it and saying that maybe one day the city would come around.  

Well, now that he is gone, let's hope that we honor him with a statue sooner rather than later. He would have liked that.