News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Spanier Gets National Security Gig — Graham Spanier, the sexual adventurer who presided over Penn State for 16 years and thought it “humane” to refrain from reporting to police that one-time football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was molesting children, appears to have been rehabilitated.
Joe Paterno died today, Jan. 22 after experiencing serious complications from lung-cancer treatment. The announcement was made by his family shortly after 10 a.m.
He was a great and decent man.
May the Penn State Board of Trustees forever live in shame.
Former Penn State University Trustee Ben Novak wrote a series of articles for the Centre Daily Times in which he ripped the curtain off the self-serving and shallow Board responsible for running the university.
The series can be found here at this link.
One note of interest is that he defends Joe Paterno and, in fact, calls him “the greatest Penn Stater since Our Founders Strong and Great”
How the Penn State Board of Trustees Really Works
Pennsylvania Pedophilia Plague — Yesterday’s (Jan. 12) revelation by Fox News that Jerry Sandusky was reportedly seen in then President Graham Spanier’s private box at Beaver Stadium just days before he was indicted on 40 counts of molesting young boys makes it worthwhile to mention the plague of pedophilia that is infecting the respected institutions of the state of Pennsylvania.
Sandusky was said to have been seen being hosted by Spanier on Oct. 29 at the Penn State-Illinois game in which Joe Paterno won his record 409th victory. This would have been after the Grand Jury testimony of several Penn Staters of which it is laughable to think that Spanier was unaware. Sandusky was indicted on Nov. 4.
Then there was the case of Charles Koons 2d, who pleaded guilty in February 2010 of molesting numerous boys at The Milton Hershey School. As in the Sandusky case, the matter was reported to local police in 1998 but dropped after an investigation.
And, of course, there is the matter of John T. Neisworth, a highly acclaimed special education professor at Penn State, who was accused by Paul McLauglin of being part of trio who molested him in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
McLaughlin called Neisworth in 2001 and confronted him with what he did. He taped the call without Neisworth’s knowledge and said that Neisworth on his own brought up specific instances of the molestation.
He sent the tapes to Penn State officials in 2001 and 2002 and was accused of an extortion attempt. He said he directly called Spanier who also angrily rebuffed him. He said this call would have occurred about two weeks after the 2002 incident involving Sandusky had been reported to university officials.
Something is seriously wrong in this state. Seriously wrong. It’s as if there was a plague of pedophilia in the state of Pennsylvania.
And what did happen to Ray Gricar and what was on his hard drive?
Pennsylvania Pedophilia Plague
This email purported to be from linebacking legend Brandon Short is circulating around the Net and describes how football coach Joe Paterno behaved on the day after his Nov. 9 firing from Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Short says that he and his wife spent part of Nov. 10 with Paterno.
The email says Paterno was more concerned about how his current and former players were affected than himself, and was talked out of holding a press conference.
Among Short’s revelations is that Paterno specifically says that Coach Mike McQueary never told him “that he saw Jerry Sandusky raping a boy in our locker room shower.”
Short who says he “thought he knew Jerry Sandusky extremely well” expressed shame and anger at his ow participation in Sandusky’s The Second Mile organization for at-risk boys.
The email refers to Gray Schultz as “chief of university police” when the reality is that Schultz was a university vice president who responsibilities included oversight of the department.
Hat tip to PennLive.com. Here is the complete email:
Captains:
It would be an understatement to say that we are
saddened by the recent allegations regarding Jerry Sandusky and the
subsequent fallout. If these allegations are true then Jerry used Penn
State Football and every one of us who may have helped Jerry with The
Second Mile to lure in at risk children and then exploit them both
mentally and physically. I thought that I knew Jerry Sandusky extremely
well. Jerry was my position coach for five years and I have spent
countless hours with him one on one putting in game plans and discussing
ways to help him grow The Second Mile. I cannot express the confusion,
pain, and anger I feel every time I think of Jerry committing such
vicious crimes. With that said, at this extremely dark hour we have
failed to see that another crime has been committed.
In the media
fire storm that ensued the damning allegations against Jerry a lead
villain has emerged; Joe Paterno. Not Jerry Sandusky, Tim Curley, or
Gary Schultz but Joe the man who took second hand information and
immediately gave it to his superior and the chief of university police.
My
wife and I were fortunate enough to spend a few hours with Joe and Sue
the day after the Board of Trustees made the decision to fire Joe. Even
at the lowest point of his life, in typical Joe fashion Coach was more
concerned with how his current and former players were doing than he was
with his own situation. All of us know the immeasurable quality of
Joe’s character and we also know that he’s a fighter. Coach pulled out
his notes and said that he was ready to hold a press conference in his
backyard to answer any questions and clear up any uncertainty the day
after he was fired. However his advisers thought that it would appear
defensive and be a mistake.
Joe assured me that Mike McQueary never
told him that he saw Jerry Sandusky raping a boy in our locker room
shower. Joe immediately went to his superiors and arranged a meeting
with Mike, Tim Curley, PSU athletic director, and Gray Schultz, chief of
university police. Remember that Jerry was not a football coach at the
time and therefore Joe had no authority to do anything other than report
what Mike told him to the authorities (which he did). Joe trusted Penn
State’s Athletic Director and its Chief of Police to do their jobs and
it appears they didn’t. The university
ultimately fired Joe Paterno because it didn’t do its job. And that is a crime.
Joe
Paterno has always had the courage to stand up and fight for the people
in his life. Joe regularly put his neck on the line and believed in
many of us when nobody else would. In the past, Joe has supported us
because he knew the character of the men that we’ve become. We all know
Joe in a way that rest of the world does not. We know Joe’s true
character. And now it’s time for us to stand up for him in his time of
need.
With the exception of a few brave men, there has been a
deafening silence from the Penn State Football family regarding Coach
Paterno and what has made Penn State a special place for the last half
century. We owe it to each other to speak up and do for Joe what he has
always done for us.
Attached is a link to a recent Wall Street
Journal article which attacks Coach Paterno for defending his players
and calls Penn State an undisciplined program.
http://online.wsj.com/article/…_LEFTTopStories
There
have been suggestions on specific actions that we can take to support
our program. Following the holiday, we plan on sending you a rough draft
of an action plan for your review. Thanks and have a good holiday
weekend. WE ARE!
Brandon
Neisworth Penn State Child Molestation Scandal — News stories world wide blared the arrest of one-time Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky along with the twisted details of the crimes for which he has been charged, but another tale of pederasty and administrative cover-up in Happy Valley is getting the comparative quiet treatment.
Like the Sandusky scandal it involves faculty with national reputations.
Paul McLaughlin, 45, of Arizona says he was molested in the late 1970s and early 1980s by three men including John T. Neisworth, a professor of special education at Penn State who literally wrote the book on autism.
McLaughlin says he was 11 through 15 years old when the abuse occurred. Neisworth has since retired and like Sandusky holds the title of emeritus.
McLaughlin called Neisworth in 2001 and confronted him with what he did. He taped the call without Neisworth’s knowledge and said that Neisworth on his own brought up specific instances of the molestation.
He sent the tapes to Penn State officials in 2001 and 2002 and was accused of an extortion attempt. He said he directly called University President Graham Spanier who also angrily rebuffed him. He said this call would have occurred about two weeks after the 2002 incident involving Sandusky had been reported to university officials.
McLaughlin said his goal was to get the special education professor away from children.
In 2003, McLaughlin sued Neisworth and Carl Goeke of California, who was McLaughlin’s neighbor in the 1970s, in New Jersey and settled for a six-figure cash settlement.
In 2005, charges were brought in Cecil County, Md. — the site of some of the alleged molestations — against Neisworth, Goeke and Donald Smith, a retiree living in Pittsburgh.
The criminal charges were eventually dismissed because the tape recordings were inadmissible under Maryland law.
McLaughlin says that despite the indictment the university still would not launch its own investigation.
Pop Quiz: What’s the relationship between the following two statements which have appeared in recent news articles:
1) “Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s national profile rises in the wake of Penn State scandal.”
2) “Tom Corbett has been mentioned as a possible Vice Presidential candidate.”
Strangely,
they are inversely proportional. When one’s profile rises, that’s
typically a good thing. But as the nation learns about some very
disturbing actions of Corbett related to the Penn State scandal, his
Veep chances are plummeting. As a direct result, his chances of ever
being a heartbeat away are between zero and forgetaboutit.
At this rate, he may be lucky just to survive his first term.
Why
the cover-up, and how far up the ladder did it go? Why the lack of
swift action, from not just the University, but from law enforcement?
And how could football — no matter how storied a program — have
risen above the protection of innocent children?
These questions
were supposed to be answered by a thorough and unbiased investigation by
the state Attorney General’s Office. But as more information emerges
on that front, the less faith people have that justice has been — or
will be — served.
Enter Tom Corbett.
For better or
worse, Corbett has been a quiet, behind-the-scenes governor during his
first year in office. Yet he felt compelled to address the state and
national media on the scandal. In doing so, he said more in one press
conference than he had in his entire governorship, despite the fact that
he declined to answer most questions.
Interestingly, Corbett is
wearing three hats. He is the Governor of a state that contributes
millions to Penn State. He is a Penn State Board Trustee who
participated in Board decisions, including the firings of Joe Paterno
and University President Graham Spanier. And most significantly, he is
the former Attorney General who launched the child molestation
investigation of former football coach Jerry Sandusky in 2009.
Corbett has attempted to have the
best of both worlds: national publicity where he touts the virtues of
morality, and a free pass on accountability because of alleged
confidentiality issues. But that tactic has backfired, as the media
spotlight turned on Corbett himself. The more that is learned about
Corbett’s actions — and inactions — regarding the investigation, the
more his credibility tanks.
Consider:
1) It took
substantially longer for the Attorney General’s office to bring charges
against Sandusky than it did for numerous politicians to be indicted in
the Bonusgate corruption probe. Bonusgate was a very complex
investigation involving crafty politicians with the best lawyers money
could buy. Since much of what was being investigated in Bonusgate was
not run-of-the mill illegalities, the investigators had to overcome a
hefty, time-consuming learning curve to understand the subject matter.
So
how can such a complicated investigation come to fruition more quickly
than a black-and-white child rape case? And where is the rule against
making an initial arrest to get the molester off the street — and warn
the public — while continuing to build the case?
Given the
appalling nature of the alleged crimes, and the real possibility that
more young children were molested during the three year investigation,
why did the Attorney General wait so long to make the staffing level as
robust as it should have been from the start?
If the answer is
that resources were limited — sorry, try again. As bad as other
crimes may have been, such as those committed in Bonusgate, no one was
physically hurt and the welfare of children was never an issue. Giving
priority to children who are at risk of rape and molestation is a
no-brainer. But inexplicably, that wasn’t done.
The Governor
continues to defend his actions — scolding those who dare question him
— by stating that it takes time to build such a case and that he
can’t comment further, but three years? That’s an insult to everyone,
especially the victims. Again, you can’t have it both ways,
grandstanding for political points but clamming up when the questions
get tough.
And fair or not, many are now asking if the
investigation was delayed so that Corbett could avoid being the
gubernatorial candidate who took down Joe Paterno and Penn State —
both wildly popular among the hundreds of thousands of alumni living in
the state.
2) This one is simply incomprehensible.
In yet another instance of Corbett finishing what former Democratic Governor Ed Rendell started (others being $20 million of taxpayer money to renovate the Yankees’ AAA stadium, and $42 million to bail out the Philadelphia Shipyard to build ships with no buyers), the Governor personally approved a $3 million taxpayer-funded grant to Sandusky’s Second Mile charity — just four months ago!
That bears repeating. Tom Corbett,
with full knowledge that Sandusky was under investigation for multiple
child rapes, still approved the money to his charity.
How is that possible? And why on earth is the national media not yet running with this?
In
a response that was offensive to any rational person, here’s what his
spokesman said, as reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:
“He
(Corbett) couldn’t block that (grant) from going forward because of
what he knew as attorney general…He couldn’t let on to anyone (including
the governor’s office) what he knew….”
That is so wrong that it begs the question as to the real motivation behind approving the grant.
First,
the fact that so many people had been interviewed by the grand jury
made the investigation anything but a secret. Second, the Harrisburg
Patriot News reported on the grand jury investigation —- in March.
Corbett approved the funds — in July! So not wanting to “let on” was
clearly bogus. The investigation was already well-established in the
public domain.
Secondly, there was an incredibly easy way to deal
with the grant without tipping off anyone: simply strike it. After
all, the budget Corbett signed cut everything else, so a grant to a
charity would have been seen as just another casualty of financial
cutbacks.
Veto the grant (why taxpayers are funding that in the
first place is obscene, but that’s another story) and be done with it.
It should have been that easy. But it didn’t happen.
Why?
Well, consider if the following may have had anything to do with it. According to the sports website Deadspin.com,
past and present board members of the Second Mile, along with their
businesses and families, have donated more than $640,000 to Corbett
since 2003.
That interesting — and massively
significant — point seemed to have slipped the Governor’s mind during
his press conferences. Go figure.
Something is rotten to the
core about how this whole affair has been investigated. It’s time for
the Feds to take the lead role in uncovering the whole truth, and that
includes possibly looking into the Attorney General’s investigation.
It’s
clear the Board of Trustees cannot be counted upon to conduct an
unbiased investigation, nor can the local police, and, sadly, even the
Attorney General’s office. And nothing emanating from the Governor’s
office on this issue can be taken at face value.
In discussing
why Paterno and Spanier were fired, the Governor said, “…the Board lost
confidence in their ability to lead Penn State through this time and
into the future.”
With all the opportunities Tom Corbett has had
to play it straight with the people of Pennsylvania — especially the
victims — on his dealings with the Penn State issue, he hasn’t done
so.
And that has caused an ever-increasing number of people to lose confidence in his ability to lead.
There
is a great scene in the movie The American President where Richard
Dreyfuss suggests that being president “was, to a certain extent, about
character.” And in classic Michael Douglas style, he replies, “I can
tell you, without hesitation, that being President is entirely about
character.”
Well, character isn’t limited to the Oval Office. It
resides in every one of us — and that includes Governors, Trustees,
coaches, police and investigators.
Moving forward, let’s demand that a basic legal and moral principle be followed to the very end:
Fiat justitia ruat caelum —“Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
The victims deserve no less.
Corbett Role In Penn State Scandal
Frazier Choice Brings Questions At PSU — The Penn State Board of Trustees’s choice of Kenneth Frazier to head its investigation is, well, interesting.
Frazier, whose assignment was announced Nov. 12, is the CEO of Merck & Co, the major pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in Whitehouse Station, N.J.
Does Frazier have any experience investigating crime? Does he have a history of pursuing dark evidence down twisting alleys to whatever truth leads?
No. He does, however, have a track record of winning liability lawsuits. He made his bones at Merck generally successfully defending the company during the Vioxx lawsuits.
So if minimizing exposure — i.e. keeping things hidden — is the goal, Frazier might be the guy.
If the Board really does want to get the institution it directs back into the public’s trust perhaps it should reconsider Frazier’s appointment and see if Frank Keating is available.
Keating is the former Oklahoma governor, one-time FBI agent and practicing Catholic who chaired the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops‘ National Review Board examining sex abuse by Catholic Priests, much to the dismay of those who hired him hoping for a tame investigator.
Penn State, it should be noted, is not governed by the state. It is considered a “state-related” university and the state, while it provides about 10 percent of its funding, has no direct control over it. Only 10 of the 32 members of the Board of Trustees that run it are government officials or appointees of the governor.
Frazier, who received his undergraduate degree in political science from Penn State in 1975, is a member of the Board.
Frazier graduated from Harvard Law School in 1978.
For my friends with any concerns about new world orders, he is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Merck, by the way, has been a consistent donor to Jerry Sandusky’s The Second Mile being among the many giving between $1,000 and $10,000 annually from at least 2006 through 2009.
Just a warning, but the last two links are to pdf files.
Frazier Choice Brings Questions At PSU
Pittsburgh sports-talk radio host Mark Madden is reporting that one-time Nittany Lion heir-apparent football coach Jerry Sandusky was pimping the disadvantaged young boys from his Second Mile Foundation to rich folk in exchange for donations to the Foundation.
He made the revelations on this morning’s (Nov. 10) Dennis & Callahan Morning Show in Boston.
Madden has a track record. He reported in April on the then-unbelievable ugly events that were just revealed to have occurred in Happy Valley.
If you want to see the names of some very prominent people who are likely to have very red faces here is The Second Mile Honorary Board of Directors.
Yes, that’s Andy Reid on there along with Dick Vermeil and Arnold Palmer and a whole lot of sports figures and prominent corporate titans.
One suspects that people are going to start being a lot more careful as to what they let their names get associated with.
Will this be the matter that gets Joe Paterno in the dock? Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly, who one would think is more in the loop than Madden, has said that Paterno is not a target of the investigation into how the school handled the
accusations.
Maybe she is fudging on any unrevealed events but one would be surprised to see JoePa criminally implicated in anything.
And she has refused to say that just-fired University President
Graham Spanier is not a target.
I’m sorry to see JoePa go but I can’t say the same about Spanier who has ruined what had been a great school.
Say what you want, Spanier did put Penn State on the map. It’s pretty neat trick for a university president to get his school world-wide headlines for two separate scandals.
Penn State Scandal May Actually Get Worse
Global Warming May Cause Alien Attack Says PSU Pundit — An astrobiologist affiliated with Penn State and NASA has co-written a paper suggesting signals to space be curtailed since they might inspire aliens to attack us due to our slowness in dealing with global warming.
Shawn Domagal-Goldman, along with fellow scientists Seth D. Baum, and Jacob D. Haqq-Misra, issue this dire warning in their paper Would contact with extraterrestrials benefit or harm humanity? A scenario analysis which is now making international news.
Granted these smart people posit possible positive contacts with ETs such as advancement in knowledge and such.
And they note that in the event of a hostile encounter we might heroically triumph over them or be saved via intervention by a second group of aliens.
And you kind of wonder how much tax money went into producing this stuff.
Those who support shoveling this money at Domagal-Goldman et al are the same ones who laugh at those who have expressed skepticism of evolution such as Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann.
It seem the less you fear God the more likely you are to fear invisible men in the sky.
It should be noted that TV and radio broadcasts are among the signals we send into outer space.
Global Warming May Cause Alien Attack Says PSU Pundit