Reporting on Penn State Scandal Underscores Problem

** UPDATE 11/13/11 -- I am glad to see that the story is finally turning to the crimes committed against the children, and that we are hearing less about what happened to Joe Paterno. The players and fans gave appropriate homage to the victims in yesterday's game, and Mike McQueary, the assistant coach who allegedly saw the rape of a child by Jerry Sandusky in the team showers but failed to call police, has rightfully been put on administrative leave. I hope the children (some of whom are now probably young adults) have or will find help and eventually some peace of mind. If Sandusky is guilty, he should save everyone -- the victims, the college, his family, and the taxpayers -- from going through a trial. He should plead guilty and face his punishment. **

You would think that if an assistant coach of a big-time college football team perpetrated horrible sex crimes with minors for years on end, you might actually hear something from the media about what's happening to that person, maybe some background about who he is. I would expect that the media would be all over his life like white on rice.

Instead, you'd be hard-pressed to find much reporting about him at all. Why? Because all the media is currently worrying about is whether or not Penn State head coach Joe Paterno will be fired or asked to resign. (The trustees just fired him, by the way.) I have heard very little about the (alleged) disgusting pedophile who perpetrated the crimes in the first place. Doesn't this tell you exactly what the underlying problem is? The career of a big-name coach, apparently, is more important than reporting on the crime.

By the way, I had to look it up... the name of the accused is Jerry Sandusky.

Why such worry about Paterno? He as well as other coaches and employees of Penn State allowed boys to be molested for years apparently without giving it much thought. I can guarantee you that if I saw a grown man molesting a 10-year boy in the locker room of a college, I wouldn't turn around and walk away, to think about whether I should report it to a superior later. If I had been there Sandusky would have been waddling out of there in handcuffs toward the police van, yelping in pain while trying to hold onto one very sore pair of gonads. What the hell has happened to our society that someone can see a serious crime being committed and not call the cops?

I don't really care whether Paterno's career is over. The media should be reporting on what's happening to Sandusky. But instead the big story, to them, is whether or not an 84-year old coach of a college team will be able to finish out the season. This is just a symptom of the problem, and that is the out-of-control worship of sports and its stars.

This Is What Your House of Representatives Did On Tuesday

We have an unemployment rate over 9%. We are still in the midst of a mortgage and foreclosure mess. The European debt crisis remains unresolved and threatens to throw the world financial markets back into chaos. That's just a few of the issues facing the President and Congress. Pretty important issues, wouldn't you say?

So what did your Republican-led House of Representatives work on yesterday? After all, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) has said that the House would only work on "substantive and meaningful issues," so I'm assuming it must have been something important.

Well, in this New York Times article Jennifer Steinhauer informs us that the House of Representatives spent Tuesday on a resolution "reaffirming 'In God We Trust' as the official motto of the United States."

Yes, folks, you heard that right. Our House of Representatives voted on a resolution that does nothing, changes nothing, and by the way "reaffirms" a national motto that is completely contrary to the notion of separation of church and state guaranteed by our
Constitution. Apparently that was more important than anything else they could have been doing yesterday, including voting on a resolution that had already been passed by the Senate honoring the heroes who rooted out and killed Osama bin Laden. More important than passing a jobs bill. Certainly more important than doing anything to address the concerns of the hundreds of thousands of people all over the world who have spent the past several weeks demonstrating in order to call attention to the decline of the middle class vs. the wealthy.

I had to do some research on the national motto. Until 1956 the national motto was "e pluribus unum," the Latin phrase meaning "from many, one" that you see on our currency. During the Eisenhower administration (i.e., the McCarthy era, when "under God" was also added to our Pledge of Allegiance), the motto was changed to "In God We Trust" and it then appeared on our currency, in federal buildings, etc. etc. I guess that pesky separation of church and state thing doesn't really mean much to the people who inhabit the Congressional offices. Hence, to address this "crisis" they felt the most important thing to do this past Tuesday was to vote to "reaffirm" a national motto that worships a supernatural deity referred to as "God" by only a segment of the population of this country, completely ignoring the Constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Good work, guys. Nice to know you're on top of things, and that you're so inclusive of all non-Christian and secular Americans and their diversity. I feel so much better about the people leading our country now.