The Pope Of Penn State

I really didn't want to go here but the more that comes out on this story the more I'm infuriated and it starts with Paterno.  It's not clear to me why Paterno didn't call in the police the second the assistant went to him and told Paterno what he had seen.  But the facts are starting to flow and it's becoming more clear to me that this smells just like the Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick murder cover-up.  This story is immersed with the same stench of moral hazard and corruption that permeates our whole system.

I heard the story first reported on the local sports radio last Saturday, a couple days before it was blown wide open.  My first reaction was to assume that Paterno's legacy was safe.  But as this story unfolds, I now believe that Paterno is guilty of covering up this whole situation and that if he had done the right thing when he first heard about the incident it would have saved a lot of young boys from extreme abuse by a mentally ill monster.

But this is about money, greed and power.  Paterno was good about hiding his money and greed but everyone knew that he was the most powerful administrative figure at Penn State, responsible for billions of dollars flowing into the school during his time there.  Now it turns out that Paterno has the financial means to defend himself  as thoroughly as possible, as he has reached out to the same powerful DC  criminal defense attorney who defended George Bush in the Iran Contra affair.  That in and of itself reeks of implied guilt.
 
Unfortunately this means that the facts as they exist will be sufficiently obscured by a highly skilled legal technician in order to exonerate Paterno from legal culpability, even though I firmly believe, without any doubt, that Paterno knew exactly what Jerry Sandusky was doing the whole time.  In fact, legendary Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer is in public saying that because of the closeness of college football coaching staffs, the whole damn staff knew what was going on.

The bottom line is that Paterno sacrificed the sanctity and innocence of the lives of every child Sandusky violated for the sake of ego and money - for the sake of protecting his own legacy, which in my mind is now incinerated forever.  This whole crime involves Paterno and this is worse than murder because the victims have to live their entire life with the mental torment of what was done to them and that no one gave a shit because the Pope of Penn State was protecting money, power and fame. Paterno may be able to financially buy his way out legal liability here, but he can't buy his way out of going to hell. There is no room for forgiveness here.  Period.