Shut Down Penn State Football

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is known for hammering sports programs that bend or break the rules. They should add Penn State as a top offender. It is almost certain that administrators of Penn State’s football program knew of, and covered for, a sexual predator among its ranks. For details I refer you to the text of the Grand Jury Report but only if you have a strong stomach:

http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4181508116.PDF

Detailed herein are the allegations that the school’s defensive coordinator used his position at the University and a charitable organization which he founded as a means to capture young boys for sexual favors dating back to at least 15 years. An assistant coach, according to the investigation, even witnessed the rape of a 10 year old boy by this long time Penn State defensive coordinator. Did he try and protect the boy? Did he alert law enforcement? The answer to both questions is no. Instead he ran from the scene and called his daddy. The next day he told head football coach Joe Paterno what he had seen. The coach then told the University’s Athletic Director. There’s no indication that police were ever informed. The Grand Jury report contains details on the assault of 7 other boys. There is evidence that campus police had done an investigation into sex abuse allegations involving this predator in 1998. Still he remained active in the school sports program and the charity which was formed to help troubled young boys.

The NCAA has on numerous occasions punished schools for violations of various rules. Top offenders include Arizona State (improper recruiting of baseball players and improper benefits for these players), Southern Methodist University (paying players in their football program), Auburn University (improper player benefits) and University of Minnesota (academic cheating). Penn State should now be moved to the top of the list. If only improper recruiting, financial gain of college athletes or academic cheating are causes for punishment then the NCAA should shut down the legendary football program at Penn State for several years for these sex crimes. In other cases it is mostly ethical violations. In this case the damage done is way beyond that and is immeasurable.

I realize no one is guilty under the law until proven so in a court. But the court of public opinion is another matter. You read the Grand Jury report and decide for yourself.

There is one tiny bright spot in this horrific scandal. It is good to see that at least some perverse behavior is still rejected in our culture.

MY CHRISTMAS WISH LIST

Here are a few things I wish for:

·        Freedom to drive any car I want to drive. I don’t want a Prius or some other ‘green machine’. I currently drive a BMW X5 because it’s big, comfortable and powerful.

·        I want the freedom to choose a light bulb.

·        I want the freedom to set my thermostat at any temperature I choose.

·        I want the freedom to drill for oil and gas on any land I own.

·        I want the freedom to send my child to any school I choose.

·        I want the freedom to succeed or fail.

·        I want the freedom to keep the money I earn and not have it taken by a government and given to those who don’t earn.

·        I want the freedom to be charitable toward those I choose not those chosen by the government.

·        I want the freedom to say the pledge of allegiance or a prayer in a public place.

This is America!

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Dear Forest,

Once again I find your mother’s wisdom applicable to our present day situation. I watched with horror this week the mob rule of London. Thousands had taken to the streets in a destructive rant that lay waste to entire neighborhoods. Commentaries from the thugs tried to place blame on government or “the rich” but I just couldn’t help thinking about their stupidity.

Here they are in a culture that will provide food, clothing and housing whether they labor or not and yet they feel deprived.  It then occurred to me it had nothing to do with their supposed poverty. Notice most of the looting took place at consumer electronic shops not grocery stores. Book stores were untouched.This brings me back to thinking about your mother’s wisdom as expressed in “stupid is as stupid does”. What we are witnessing is a culture of the stupid. Stupid people tend to make poor judgments. There’s a ton of literature on this in the field of Behavioral Economics (Thaler, Richard H. and Hersh M. Shefrin (1981). An Economic Theory of Self-Control, Journal of Political Economy.)   Research shows lack of self control and discipline may be a major factor in crime. Irrational behavior and poor choices cause poverty.  In fact, contrary to the common claim, we find that crime contributes to poverty, not the other way around.

Can it happen here? It can and it has. We have seen these mobs recently on the streets of Philadelphia and Milwaukee, the state capitals of Wisconsin (government union members) and New Jersey (teachers' union) and in the train stations of San Francisco. These aren't protests, they are mob rule by hooligans. They demonstrate the lack of culture, the group think of these individuals. A clear demonstration of individual stupidity. 

Hoping this finds you in good health and spirits.

Your friend,

Gene

Conservative Joins the Call for Shared Sacrifice

“Shared Sacrifice” has become the mantra of the Democratic Party. The talking points pages are filled with urges to Democrats to repeat the phrase over and over. Listen to any on the left for just a moment and I promise you’ll hear it. So let me, a libertarian Republican, agree. It’s time the share in the sacrifice.

There’s a huge difference between what I see as a shared sacrifice and what those on the left support. Democrats don’t really mean sharing. What Democrats have repeatedly done is go after the same tax payers time and time again. In today’s talking points memo it means “millionaires and billionaires, corporations and corporate jet owners. In truth they’re after anyone making over $200,000 a year not just millionaires. These are the same people that already pay, in my opinion, an unfair share of taxes.

I now call upon all citizens to share and sacrifice. I would include the majority of Americans who pay zero income taxes. That’s right; 51% of Americans pay no income tax. Isn’t it time all Americans shared this sacrifice? Isn’t it time for everyone to have some skin in the game?

Note to Parents and Grandparents: Thanks for Nothing

        It is not uncommon in these times of great financial uncertainty to hear talk of passing on a huge debt burden to our children and grand children.  What is not discussed is what our predecessors have done to us. We are the children and grand children. We are now left with the burden handed to us by our parents and grandparents.

        During the recent debt reduction negotiations our President repeatedly called for a balanced approach. Of course he was referring to adding tax increases to any proposal to slow the growth of government (in Washington slowing growth is referred to as a ‘cut’). He may be right. In order to shoulder the burden heaped upon us by previous generations we will all likely have to pay higher taxes.

        Rather than think about what we might be doing to future generations let us consider for a moment what has been done to us. Previous generations of voters have stuck it to us. The chickens are coming home to roost.

Don't Discount Newt

       A Republican pollster says about the current Presidential campaign “we’re in the personality phase of the campaign but eventually it’s going to move from personality to policy”. Enter Newt Gingrich.  Liberals of course snicker and sneer which is what they did in 1994. That is, until Mr. Gingrich, the Republican Congressman from Georgia, lead the party to its first House majority in 40 years and Congressman Gingrich became Speaker of the House.

       It is interesting to hear Democrats today tout the 1990’s as the time when our country had a balanced budget. When President Clinton was replaced by George Bush, according to some Democrats, there was a budget surplus (not really, but I’ll save that examination for another time). If one studies history accurately you will see that these same Democrats did all they could politically to keep this from happening.

       In the spring of 1995 President Clinton revealed his plan to balance the federal budget after relentless Republican pressure.  In 1994 he said he thought a balanced budget could be obtained in 10 years. The speech in the spring of ’95 he had moved his balanced budget goal to 7 years. This was the direct result of pressure from the newly elected Republican house majority and Speaker Gingrich. Liberals were angry. Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, Erskine Bowles, George Stephanopoulos and Laura Tyson said they were considering resigning because of the President’s budget proposals. President Clinton had, according to memoirs, remorse and thought he might have made the wrong decision. And these are some of the Democrats that today brag about the balanced budget of the 1990’s.

       Newt Gingrich was the driving force behind the federal balanced budget of the 1990’s. So we may be talking today about President Obama’s attractive personality or Donald Trump tossing the “f” bomb at a recent appearance but at some point, as pointed out by liberal pundit Walter Shapiro in the New Republic, we will move from personality to policy. Even die hard ideologues know that when that occurs, Newt Gingrich will be a very formidable opponent.

Presidents Bush and Obama Are Wrong About Islam

Within a month of the September 11^th attack on the World Trade Center in New York City President Bush said “Our enemy does not follow the great traditions of Islam. They’ve hijacked a great religion”. President Bush and President Obama are trying to have us believe that Islam is no different than Judaism or Christianity. That it is a religion of peace. Our Presidents are wrong.

Playboy magazine’s German edition features actress Sila Sahin on the cover of its May edition. She is Turkish Muslim. Her nude appearance in the magazine has so angered Muslims she has received numerous death threats. Is there any other religion that has done so? Islam teaches that to disagree with its law and politics is punishable by death.

Authorities on Islam teach that the Koran must be read so that the parts written last override the others. This holds that parts of the Koran written after Muhammad went to Medina are the ruling parts. I refer to Suras 9 and 5. Sura 9, verse 5, reads: “Fight and slay the unbelievers wherever ye find them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war. But if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them….”

Sura 9, verse 29, reads: “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Apostle, nor acknowledge the religion of truth, even if they are of the 40 people of the Book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

Sura 5, verse 51, reads: “Oh ye who believe!  Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors; they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them for friendship is of them. Verily Allah guideth not the unjust.”

Sura 3, verse 28 introduces taquiyya which dictates that Muslims should not befriend infidels except as deception, always with the end goal of converting, subduing, or destroying them.

Brian Kennedy, author of the book Shariah: The Threat to America in a recent address to the Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington D.C. quoted studies by the Pew Research Center showing that eight percent of American Muslims who took part in the survey said they believed that suicide bombing can sometimes be justified in defense of Islam. Assuming the estimates of 3 million American Muslims in the U.S. this would mean that 240,000 among us hold that suicide bombing in the name of Islam can be justified. Among American Muslims 18-29 years old, 15% agreed with that and 60% said they thought of themselves as Muslim first and Americans second. Also according to the Pew survey 5% (150,000) say they have a favorable view of al Queda.

Given these numbers and the teaching of Islam I believe it quite reasonable to believe that organizations in the U.S. such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American Islamic Relations represent a real domestic threat and should be treated as such.

The average Muslim in America probably does not understand the Koran in such detail and perhaps the above paints an unfair picture of this “average American Muslim” belief. But it does paint an accurate picture of the teachings of Islam and clearly shows that Islam is different from Christianity or Judaism.

 Islam is making a difference in our world, one body at a time. Islamic terrorists have carried out over 17,000 attacks since September 11, 2001. In April, 2011 alone there were over 150 jihad attacks killing 802 people in 19 countries. What we see among our leaders today is a desire to see Islam as they would like it to be rather than how thousands of Muslims understand it. Islam is not a religion of peace.