College students are rioting in the streets; throwing rocks at police and overturning vehicles!

And I'm not talking abut the “Occupy Wall Street” protestors. No, there's actually something going on that makes the Occupy Wall Street “movement” look almost noble. You are not going to believe this but they are rioting at Penn State University because the head football coach got fired for failing to report an alleged homo-sexual rape of a 10 year old child that occurred in the showers of the Penn State football facilities.

For nine years Joe Paterno sat idly by with the knowledge that an alleged homosexual rape had never been reported to authorities, much less investigated. In Joe Paterno's mind he had effectively covered his ass by reporting this hideous offense to one of his co-workers who he considered to be a school authority. Sorry Joe, that does not cut it. You are fired!

Not only was Joe Paterno aware that a homosexual rape had probably occurred, he continued to allow access by that very same alleged homosexual rapist to those very same showers right up until this despicable cover-up was exposed by a grand jury investigation last week! That's nine years from the time Paterno found out about this rape until something was finally done about this!

I don't care if it turns out the accused rapist is innocent (though, with 8 victims & 40 counts against him...), Joe Paterno showed a complete lack of maturity, character, and morality by choosing to protect his friend and former employee and to avoid any personal inconvenience over protecting potential victims of a homosexual rapist; a reckless and irresponsible disregard for the safety and well-being of others.  A choice that, for me, completely defines this man's core character.  How can it not?

What I find more disturbing is the willingness of so many to run to the defense of this jerk. How can somebody be more worried about anything over and above the obvious problem here?  How can anybody put any consideration above the issue that is at the heart of this story: All those innocent children who were brutalized in the most unspeakable of ways?

Paterno was the one who Mike McQueary, who was a student at the time, went to with his eye-witness account of the homosexual rape of a 10 year old child in the shower-room of those above-mentioned football facilities. He was the first and only school authority to whom this was directly reported. I don't care how many people say he fulfilled his legal responsibility in this matter, he clearly did not.

Some are going so far as to praise Joe Paterno for being so honest to the grand jury that was finally investigating this. OK, so now the standard for praiseworthy behavior is NOT lying to a grand jury about something that should have been volunarily reported to police nine years earlier? If that's the case, we're in trouble gang.

As far as I'm concerned, Paterno should be arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and conspiracy after the fact. Getting fired immediately should go without saying.  How many kids were raped while he waited for someone else to go to the police?  But, apparently in today's world, a lot of people think Joe Paterno didn't do anything wrong.

Makes me want to vomit!

"The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

 

CenturyLink Sucks! ...So I wrote my congressman about it.

11/10/11

Dear Representative Platts,

I hate to bother you about something so trivial when you are faced with so many serious problems in Washington today, but this has really become a bur under my saddle.
Back in July of 2010 I tried to “port” my home phone number from our local phone service provider, CenturyLink, to Vonage. Although I followed all instructions from both companies my original phone number was never “ported”.
Vonage informed me that they had done everything they could to get CenturyLink to release my phone number but that CenturyLink refused to do so. After getting nowhere with CenturyLink myself, despite several attempts, I became frustrated and threatened to file a complaint with the FCC. CenturyLink's response to that threat could best be described as taunting. They encouraged/dared me to file a complaint as they referred to the person I would be dealing with at the FCC by her first name, “Sharon”.
Sure enough, “Sharon” was less than sympathetic to my plight and took CenturyLink's side without any clear explanation of why CenturyLink should be exempt from the Phone Portability Act or why the provisions of said Act would not apply to me & my phone number.
I was provided with the option of taking this all to the next level which, Sharon informed me, would involve a filing fee. Well, I wish I had taken it to the next level but I didn't and now the time limit has expired on that option.
Now, to add insult to injury, I recently called CenturyLink to see about changing my phone service back to them because of problems with Vonage and they wanted $90 from me to “port” my current phone number back to them!
I've included letters I got from CenturyLink and the FCC for reference. They seem to assert that I didn't have a phone number with CenturyLink to be “ported”. That, of course, is absurd and can be quickly refuted by my own records (see included documentation).
Anyway, I just think that any money that we, the taxpayers, are spending on the enforcement of the Phone Portability Act is being wasted. The most disturbing element of this experience was the obviously cozy relationship between the people at CenturyLink and Sharon Bowers at the FCC. So, if you could possibly have her fired, that would be great and I will vote for you forever.