Can I please have my spy drone back?

What’s a president to do?

Now that the Iranians have one of our drone aircraft, the best thing to do, at least according to comments by our President, is to ask them to return it.  I’m not saying that such a suggestion is childish, although it is, but to think that a country like Iran would even consider giving such a prize back is beyond the absurd.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must be laughing out loud at such a naïve suggestion.  Capturing one of the US government’s highly touted drone spy craft has to rank at the tippity top of Iran’s normally blustery anti US tirades.  What better evidence to prove that the US is spying on them than to show one of our spy planes on TV?  That seems to justify and support all the other accusations they have made over the years. It’s like, ‘see, we told you they were evil.’

But how foolish to think we could simply ask for our drone back and they would say, ‘why yes, how did it get here anyway?’  To think they might treat it like a proverbial dropped hanky is beyond ridiculous.  It would have been better to just ignore the fact that they have it.

But how about setting the darn thing up so that it self-destructs when we lose command? These things cost only a few million, a drop in the comparative bucket when we consider war machinery. Why not set them up to destroy themselves when they fall into enemy hands—that makes perfect sense to me.

So what can the Iranians figure out from one of our drones?  Well, probably how we go about flying them, the frequencies we use for the controls, and all sorts of post-modern aircraft architectural design.  I guess that’s not too much, and I guess the Iranians would just capitulate to such persuasive negotiations.  Hah!

Hawk Iranian General Hossein Salami, deputy commander of Iran’s military, went so far as to say that it didn’t matter where the aircraft originated. It was still an act of invasion and belligerence.

Well, invasion is debatable since it was indeed an unmanned and unweaponed drone; and belligerence is also debatable, since it wasn’t a Reaper or any of the other myriad drones that come armed.  So it’s a spy plane. It’s job is merely to look things over and check out what’s happening. But then, why do we really need these?  Don’t we get enough information from the spy satellites that hover over the world and send back stellar High Definition photographs of whatever we decide we want to see? I in fact ordered one of those photographic gems that showed my wife kissing Santa Clause.

There’s little question that we, as a country, totally miscalculated everything in Iran.  We backed the wrong government under the Shah, and compounded that ever since. The whole Jimmy Carter-era escapade to try to free the hostages was another high-point of diplomacy between the US and Iran.  Interestingly, it took only days after Ronald Regan’s election to have those hostages released.  But then, I guess the Iranian’s realized they wouldn’t be dealing with rhetoric any more, they would be dealing with air strikes and missiles, ala Lebanon.

I can’t tell when this situation will turn around. But I can tell you that in terms of diplomacy, asking for our drone back is beyond naïve. I guess it’s what you do when you have no other idea at all what to do but feel compelled to do something. I read, earlier this week, that we thought about trying to run a mission to get the drone back but opted not to due to the cost-benefit ratio.

But why not have some kind of kill switch built into the drone to make it fry its circuits, or even catch fire?  Doesn’t that make sense?  Maybe I am being naïve here, but I thought things like suicide pills were common to avoid interrogations. Wouldn’t some kind of kill switch serve the same purpose here?

Lock him up, please

All I can say is it’s about time.

The recent CNN report that Jerry Sandusky has been jailed, at last mind you, and didn’t have time to arrange to post a $250,000 bail has been a long time coming. This sad excuse for a man needed to be locked up a long time ago, and that he wasn’t is a shame on Penn State, Joe Paterno, and the Penn State football program.

To think that the hierarchy of that school allowed a child sex predator to remain at large, and in an environment in which his victims roamed unaware of him lurking behind every corner and every shower stall, is appalling. I don’t for a minute believe the school, at least in the person of Joe Paterno, hadn’t an inkling of an idea that something was amiss with their defensive coordinator.

It begs credulity to think that Sandusky could go from the anointed ranks to retiring in one season.  At one minute, he was hailed as the likely successor to the Penn State Football Program, and the next minute he stepped down and took an early out. What could possibly have changed to create that big a difference?

While the physical proof may not have been manifest in those earlier incidents, pre-2002; it’s entirely likely that Paterno and the rest of the football team leaders knew there was a rat in the wood pile. Things like this, until they become unmanageable, happen all the time. There’s always that cryptic warning of ‘watch out for so and so’ and the likes of that.

As much as I know about teams, there isn’t much that’s hidden.  The players, I know, are aware of strange encounters, and people, like Sandusky, whose actions are just a little bit out of kilt, so to speak. Such things come to the fore quickly in sports.  It’s not something easily hidden, and there are certainly enough wary athletes who would sniff out Sandusky’s oddities without much additional proof.

Proving things like that are much harder. But with Sandusky there seems to have been substantial circumstantial evidence.  The Penn State investigator isn’t starting his investigation with the 1998 Bowl Game incident that was pushed under the rug.  I think if you look deeply and darkly enough into Sandusky’s past, I am sure there are many other victims, and quite possibly another monster or two, since I don’t believe people like him just crop up. Something probably happened to him when he was a young lad, too.  But that needs to come out. Right now, we have the picture of Sandusky the boogeyman.

There is now more coming out about the actions of the Penn State staff, and the inner workings of The Second Mile.  The interrelationship between the Penn State staff, the Second Mile, and the university itself seems to be loaded with nepotism, favoritism, and special deals.  The initial auditing forays have returned some interesting results. I don’t know if any laws have been broken outright, but there certainly seems to be some cause for wonder. Some of the reports read like the Begat sections of Genesis.

On another front, it looks like Bernie Fine will escape prosecution for his child molesting due to statute of limitations.  Should there even be a statute of limitations in such cases? I don’t believe so. In fact, I think it’s tantamount to murder.

The people who perpetrate these kinds of crimes against innocent youngsters need to be stopped, hampered to such degree that they can no longer hurt anyone, or just plain put away.  There may well be some rationale for their actions; typically people who molest children were at one time molested themselves.  That being the case, they likely need help themselves. But no one can deny they represent a danger to innocents who are incapable of protecting themselves.  That’s when it becomes the province of society to step in and put a stop to it.

All I can say is I hope the civil case against Mr. Fine has enormous negative results for him. And as far as Sandusky is concerned, I would be careful with the soap in your new abode.

Not exacty Jerry's kids

The continuing sad saga at the University of Pennsylvania surrounding former Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky has taken a turn for the worse.

Say it ain’t so, you say?

The papers recently provided yet another instance in which Sandusky is alleged to have sexually abused a teen, making the total now 11:  the original eight victims, two more reportedly out of his own home, and now this one, which dates so far back that the case isn’t even being considered for the upcoming trial. Nope, this is one that Jerry won’t be getting jail time for; instead, this is the first of the cases for which Jerry, The Second Mile, and quite possibly Penn State, may end up forking out big bucks.  This is the first of what I am certain will be a long line of civil suits seeking monetary compensation for the victims.

When this first broke, I felt it was just the tip of the iceberg. These kinds of allegations are rarely made up.  To have so many of them surface telling essentially the same exact story is an indication of modis operandi, and not some great right wing conspiracy.  It is beyond belief that people can still think that all of these allegations were dreamed up, or in some way, all of these victims got together to destroy one man’s life.

At the time, I felt there would be a lot more bad news coming out of this, and sure enough three more victims have stepped forward. My feeling now is that we have only just begun.  This scandal is going to be far worse than it is already, and if and when it is all hashed out, we will be wondering how on earth such a thing could happen right in the midst of, arguably, one of the better universities in the country.

But just as this is coming out now about Mr. Sandusky (expletives deleted), there is much more going to come out all around the US.  This scandal relates directly to the incident at The Citadel and the one coming out of Syracuse. Anyone want to take bets on whether any more such cases will be coming out of the woodwork in the next year or two?

Not me.

I expect there to be a huge jump in sexual abuse cases coming out of colleges and universities.  Why? Because the lawyers will be looking for the next in the long line of big pay days.

What do I mean, The Lawyers?  I mean, Big Tobacco has pretty much settled down now for big money lawsuits and the Catholic Church child sex abuse cases are on the wane. So the lawyers are back in their roosts, looking for the next piece of road kill to fatten themselves up on. It’s amazing to me that we continue to find ways to feed them.

OK, so that rant may be a bit over the top, but it is essentially true. And, I am not saying that someone shouldn’t come to the aid of these victims, and that the people who perpetrate these crimes should not be tried, jailed, and then sued for all they have.

When these kinds of allegations come forward, there are always those who choose not to believe them, like Coach Jim Boeheim at Syracuse.  He stepped forward adamantly, and to some extent foolishly and perhaps naively, in support of his long time assistant, Bernie Fine.  He knew that there had been allegations against Fine in the past, and that he had been “cleared” of those allegations.  That doesn’t mean they were investigated properly, and it also doesn’t mean there weren’t more victims.  I think, ultimately, the tape recording of Fine’s spouse likely made Boeheim rethink his initial comments.

Why is it so hard for these people in authority to believe that people like Fine and Sandusky exist right in their own back yards, or front yards for that matter?  In the case of Sandusky, I am convinced that at least Joe Paterno was aware of issues with Sandusky. Why else would he have gone from favored child to retirement virtually overnight?

So we have two examples now on what not to do when such a scandal comes to your door. The proper thing to do is to step out of the way, do not make any brash statements, and allow the investigation to proceed.  When the investigation is over, then you can make statements, such as “We never doubted Bernie Fine’s integrity, but we had to let the legal system run its course” or, “We are horrified at these allegations, and feel for his victims, their families, and anyone affected by his alleged crimes.”

Stupor Committe: the results are in!

What to do? What to do?

It seems like our elected representatives can’t figure out how to handle “budget gone wild.” It seem painfully obvious to any of us who are out here having to foot the bill for their lack of insight or intestinal fortitude. I know, in my house, when the money runs out bills don’t get paid. When bills don’t get paid, we have to find other sources of income or savings to offset the costs i.e. pay the bills.

How easy it must be to simply tax an already burdened public with additional taxes.  Not in my house. There’s only so much I and my wife can do to bring in more money, so the only way to balance the scales is by cutting down on “services” like television, Internet, cell phones, telephone and such like.  We have to content ourselves with less than what we might like.

Not so in our Federal government.  There it becomes a simple matter of making the masses pay more and more.  Who cares that our government bills are so loaded with pork they make Smithfield Farms look like a bit player in the hog market? Certainly not the Senate or House of Representatives; it seems the only thing they are concerned about is carving 30 pounds of meat off a 10 pound turkey and when the bird runs out they turn to you and me.

So, with all that in mind, it seem funny to me that we would have a “super committee” made up of a bunch of these geniuses trying to come up with some way to save a measly $1.2 trillion over 10 years.  Putting them in charge of such a thing is like having Jerry Sandusky running your local day care center.  They have already wasted our money, how can we expect them to do anything that would be beneficial.  Their idea was simply to increase taxes.  Got a shortfall in the budget?  Go to the source and find ways to scrape the public rind even finer.

Thanks but no thanks.  The government for many years now has proved that they are incapable of making solid fiscal decisions.  Part of what they are after wit this super committee is funding yet another of President Obama’s stimulus plans.  Which when you think about it is sure to be at least as effective as the last stimulus.  If the Super Committee really wants to help the country out, they ought to look at ways to stop spending.

In my budget, it’s very simple. Take a look at our spending.  What are must haves? They go in a column on the left.  What are “don’t needs?” They go in a column on the right.  What are nice to haves? They go off to the side to be deliberated on once we figure out how the other changes will enhance (or not) our bottom line.  The point being, without taking on more jobs, we have to assume our income level is going to be whatever it is.  I don’t have the ability, or temerity, to tell my boss, ‘Hey, I need a raise!’  That would likely have a much different result than the one I want, and in fact could put me in even more dire straits.

The simple answer is to stop spending.  You, the Federal government, already get enough of our money. By example, we are hounded by taxes far worse than our forefathers, who 11 score and 15 years ago dumped England over what by comparison would be trivial taxes. Their argument then, “No taxation without representation” could well be uttered now.  Do you really think we are well represented by our current Federal politicos?  I don’t think so.

Most of us know that when you don’t have any money, or when money is in short supply, things have to change.  You cut down to one-pack a day or one six-pack a week.  You make sure there’s enough milk to feed the baby, and enough money to pay rent, water and sewer, and the power bill.  In short, you sacrifice to make ends meet.

But not our Congress; they simply try to find ways to get even more blood out of the stone. One of the proposals being bandied about is to cut down on exemptions for charitable donations.  Right, like that might make a difference because it’s not technically a tax. But from my perspective, it will end up costing me more in my taxes.  My donations to charitable organizations likely won’t change if they eliminate that deduction, but how much of my money goes to the government will. The real problem is that our stable is full of self-indulgent horses; they need to be turned out and replaced with new stock.  True political reform starts with the voters, not with the elected officials.

Sticking out with a sore thumb at the Potato Drop

It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.  It wasn’t in the game plan, and certainly wasn’t in the back of my mind. During my seven-year stint in the military, I probably made thousands of parachute landing falls, and well over a hundred live parachute drops from moving airplanes with no problems whatsoever.

So, to say I was surprised to find myself being driven to Southside Regional Medical Center early Saturday morning, holding a Boy-Scout kerchief against my bleeding and obviously broken thumb would have been an understatement.  That it would happen during a charity event was even more surprising. How many times have I climbed in and out of tractor trailer beds I can’t even begin to count?  This time seemed no different than any other, but the result was much different.

It seems funny that something like a broken thumb would happen to me. I am not typically clumsy and don’t normally put myself into situations where I might get hurt. But after bouncing off the pavement at the Wesley United Methodist Church parking lot around 7:30 a.m., I had no doubt that my thumb was broken.

Truthfully, I don’t even remember falling off the back of the truck.  One minute I was in the trailer and the next I was up and walking toward the audience of potato packers. A minute later, I was loaded into a car and on my way to the emergency room with my hand raised, and a small trickle of blood coursing down my forearm.

All of that was outside of the original game plan.  The game plan was to unload some 20 pallets of potatoes, and move them to a staging area where they could be broken down into smaller lots for food banks and feeding programs throughout the Tri-City Area.  This was the second year in a row that the United Methodist Men's groups from Wesley, Ivey, and Highland were putting things together to help the needy and hungry in the area.

We had been doing the potato drops in the past through the Society of St. Andrews, which would facilitate the drops by coordinating between the farms with excess potatoes, and the church groups that would disburse them.  For a couple years, we were unable to get potatoes, and it became apparent to us that the fuel costs were keeping us from completing this great mission event.  That’s when we decided to ante up the $2,000 to offset the fuel costs. Amazingly enough, once we provided the funding the potatoes became available.  In addition, we also had to rent a fork lift and pallet jack in order to unload the truck.

That’s pretty much where my day began.  At 5:1 5 a.m. I found myself in the back of the truck, working with the forklift operator as we started to unload the spuds.  We got the first five or six pallets off, and then started to have to use the pallet jack to move the pallets into range of the lift.

We were very careful during this process, as we didn’t want anyone to get crushed with the load of potatoes or stuck between the lift and a hard place. We took our time, and eventually wheeled the last pallet to the fork lift area.  By that time, the fork lift operator knew exactly what to do and the last pallet was taken off with ease.

One of the three of us working the truck sat on the edge and pushed himself toward the ground.  In hindsight, I should have done the same. But I thought I could step on the edge, swing my foot around, and catch it on a step about midway toward the ground. Everything seemed to work right in my mind, until I realized that my plant foot opted not to stay planted. Quicker than an eye-blink, I realized I was falling parallel to the ground, so I reached out with my left hand to sort of cushion the fall. I didn’t realize at the time that my thumb would take the brunt of the cushioning, but I did a short time later as I could feel the pressure building up in my glove.

Some have said that I was just interested in getting out of bagging 40,000 pounds of potatoes, and I am not saying that they aren’t right, but the bagging exercise was completed in record time, with everything separated and carted off before 10 a.m.  When I got back from the hospital, around 10:30 to get my car, I noticed the lot was clear and a stack of pallets stood in the grass at the back of the lot. Next time, I think, I’ll let someone younger help unload the trailer.

PSU College Board of Trustees Make the Right Moves

It seems a shame that a man like Joe Paterno, who has done so much good for an institution like Penn State, will now be remembered for what is beyond the shadow of a doubt, the most reprehensible college football scandal of all time.  When word hit the street about Jerry Sandusky’s actions with young boys, it was almost too astonishing to believe.

But what was even more beyond belief was how the school officials handled the situation.  Paterno did the absolute minimum when he was told of the offenses that one of his graduate student coaching assistants witnessed.  He went to the AD, Tim Curley, and the college’s senior vice president for finance and business, Gary Schultz, and told them about the allegations.  That in itself should have started, at the very least, an internal investigation to find the truth.  But instead, Curley denied ever hearing about such allegations, and both he and Schultz have now been charged with covering up the abuse allegations.  Both men have since resigned.

Late Wednesday night, as word of Paterno’s firing started to filter into the mainstream news, JoePa uttered his dismay at the turn of events, he said “I wish I would have done more” back then. But he didn’t, and by not following up on the reported abuse, and by not demanding an investigation, he jeopardized the reputations of both the college and his football program.  Of all people, JoePa should have known that this incident wasn’t simply going to go away.  Not following up on it turned into the exact beast he feared, and now he and the rest of the administration have to pay.

He offered to resign following the end of this football season.  But in the end, that was not to be. Wednesday the Penn State University College Board said “"We cannot begin to express the combination of sorrow and anger that we feel about the allegations surrounding Jerry Sandusky.  We hear those of you who feel betrayed and we want to assure all of you that the Board will take swift, decisive action."

Swift and decisive happened later that night when the board called JoePa to tell him his services as head football coach were no longer needed. They also canned university president Graham Spanier.  It’s mind boggling to me that people would even be concerned that those two were fired.  Paterno knew.  There is no question that he knew about the allegations, nor is there any question that he did the absolute minimum in terms of handling the matter.

The bigger question is how could he have lived with himself over the past 12 years knowing that this kind of evil, and Sandusky’s treatment of those eight kids is nothing but evil, existed at Penn State?  Not just that, but the entire incident took place through the college and the football program.  Sandusky was a trusted coach.  He played on that trust when he developed his program The Second Mile. He systematically used the program to provide himself with more and more victims.  His actions, as outlined in the grand jury’s indictment, are beyond horrible.  Just reading them is bad enough, to know that they are likely true boggles the mind.

So what should JoePa have done? After contacting the police about this alleged crime, he probably should have called the AD and the school president and let them know that he felt compelled to call the police.  He should have thrown Sandusky under the proverbial bus, and let him fend for himself.

But that’s not what happened. He should and probably will agonize over his inaction for the rest of his life.  He had his chance. Things like this don’t just go away.  There’s an old Chinese proverb that states you can’t wrap fire in paper, and that is apparently what this group of school officials tried to do.

Not being an attorney, I can’t really say at which point JoePa did all he was legally bound to do. But I do know a bit about ethics, and he certainly didn’t follow through on this the way he should have.  How would he have acted had the victim been one of his children?  Does one really have to go that far to understand the enormity of this crime?  Sandusky was hit with 40 child abuse charges.  At what point do we start to think that there may be a little fire with all that smoke?

Common sense tells you this matter was serious.  Common decency required Paterno and his cronies to do the right thing.  That they didn’t do the right thing is nothing short of a condemnation of the school, the football program, and the people involved in the cover up.  It would seem to me that everyone in this mess deserves what has happened and what is bound to happen over the next year or two as the authorities sort out the mess.  In the meantime, the PSU Board of Trustees has done exactly what needed to be done, and their actions were indeed “swift and decisive.”  We can only hope that the court case that comes out of this is also swift and decisive.