Say It Ain't So Joe Paterno; Why is Obama Doing What Clearly Does Not Work Over and Over Again?; It's About the Spending Stupid!; Romney-Rice?

Freeh Report: Joe Paterno Burning In Hell Right Now...Onion headline

• "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke, the often quoted 18th century Irish philosopher and statesman, said that. When it comes to the Sandusky /Penn State child sex abuse scandal, I believe this quote says it all.
• When all of this broke and even months later, I, as did many others, gave Joe Paterno the benefit of the doubt. That doubt has all been erased. Former FBI director, Louis Freeh, and his 8 month report, clearly shows that Paterno and at least three other Penn State officials showed a total disregard for the welfare of children abused by Sandusky for at least 14 years---with their knowlege. In fact, Freeh makes it clear in his report that Paterno "was an integral part of this active decision to conceal." Just as disturbing, by his actions, Paterno and the others empowered Sandusky to continue abusing children (they continued giving Sandusky access to all athletic facilities on Penn State's campus). And let's be very clear on this: Joe Paterno was the most powerful person on the university's campus for 6 decades.  This, in my opinion, came down to protecting a legend, protecting a university and protecting the vast amounts of funding the university received from the football team and from endorsements (estimates of the football team's revenue alone is at almost $100 million a year). This was far more egregious that a failure in leadership.
• And there are many, many victims here that go beyond the children. Every student attending the school now is a victim. All of the alumni are victims. This scandal placed a stigmata on each and every one affiliated with Penn State. As Mike Lopresti, sports columnist, wrote so well in USA TODAY: "Time usually heals the wounds of scandal and soothes fractured legacies. Time will have its hands full on this one."

• I often ask myself: Why does Pres. Obama do what's clearly not working over and over again? I ask myself that question after reviewing what Ronald Reagan did taking over from the disaster that Carter left him. One of his first acts was to convince Congress to drop the federal income tax rate on the wealthiest Americans from about 70% to 28% (can you imagine paying 70% of your income to the government. No wonder the wealthy found so many ways to avoid paying those kind of insane tax rates). And, as Bill O'Reilly correctly pointed out this week, even if those making over $250k are taxed at a higher rate, it might bring in about $85 billion more. But, the government currently spends about $85 billion in less than 10 days! So it comes down to what it's always come down to: It's about the spending stupid.
• In fact the feds are reporting today, that the Obama administration is well on its way to exceed a trillion $ deficit for the fourth straight year.

• The scuttlebutt today is whether Romney might choose Condi Rice as his running mate. While I have a lot of respect for Rice and she would bring a lot of positives to the Romney ticket, I would like to see Romney go with someone else. As I've written before, I personally like Allen West.  Right now, it's only a rumor.
• However, I will say this. And I can't recall whom to reference. But someone said recently that Condi is more qualified to run the country than Obama. I sense there is truth to that statement.

• One thing is for certain. Condi would not be like the guy we have now.
• By the way, if I were Romney, I'd run toward Bain not away. He has nothing to be ashamed of. The person who should be ashamed is the president for the lousy manner in which he's managed this nation's economy resulting in millions upon millions of Americans being out of work now for almost 4 years.