To really test out an editor, just randomly pound at a keyboard and see what they do with it.
Wait; how many more Republican debates are left? Okay, I give in; let’s just nominate Romney.
How do I find this Twitter “Activity” thing? I want to complain about it too!
Buttercup can do all her animals sounds as long as I don’t have a videocamera on.
Just saw the Perry forgetfulness clip. Now I’m less worried about my radio interviews next week. Can’t be worse than that.
I keep wanting to make a joke about Penn State, but the whole child rape thing keeps knocking the wind out of me.
Perry’s mistake was picking just one department to eliminate. He could have started with all departments starting with “E” and thus would solve the education problem, or else he could have started with “A” and worked his way down from Agriculture to Veteran’s Affairs. See what being selective and discriminatory does to you?
I’ve wanted to make a joke about Perry’s 53 seconds. But after 53 seconds or so, I’ve forgotten about it.
Frank: “What does the dog say?”
Buttercup: “Bark!”
Frank: “What does the cow say?”
Buttercup: “Moooo!”
Frank: “What does the donkey say?”
Buttercup: “Let’s raise taxes!”
I’m still behind Perry. A lot of people blank out like that and having every federal agency on the tip of your tongue is more likely if you want to grow them. slit em and forget em is what needs done.
Did you notice how ‘Conservative’ all the Republican candidates sounded last night? I blame Cain!
Thanks, Frank! Romney’s the Man! You won’t regret it! Now let’s start uniting behind Mitt here to form a united front against Obama next year.
Watching the morons at Penn State riot in support of child molestors makes me fear for this great nation’s future. That same thinking got us Obama in the White House.
Perry’s stumble was because he was up past his bed time. Maybe the up past his bed time thing explains Ron Paul.
One of my children only smiled when the camera was off. Buttercup is in good company.
What are these radio interviews you speak of, great macedonian land lord?
So Dan, I’m recently unemployed and I thought about turning my hand toward blogging. I was wondering how much the Romney election campaign pays you. Per mention? Enough to live off of? Just curious.
“I was wondering how much the Obama re-election campaign pays you to run ads smearing Romney, their eventual opponent. Is it per article? Per mention? Enough to live off of? Just curious.” -Dan (in yesterdays Random Thoughts)
Dan, you don’t have to worry about Frank smearing Romney. Romney’s already slick enough.
But was it “rape” rape? Too bad it wasn’t the Film Department instead of the Athletic Department, then we could all just say it didn’t matter because so many good films were being created.
P.S. Frank, tell Joe Foo Happy Ef’n Birthday!
Do you get the feeling the kids at Penn State would have rioted no matter what? Are all college students just Occupiers under a thin verneer of cleanliness, just waiting for any reason at all? Back in my college days (c. 1790) we on the school paper would have been having conniptions with a horror story like this, but we would not have let it interfere with the vital duties of the student. That beer ain’t gonna drink itself.
Frank every time you mention Romney I hear Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. I hate Winnie and his pals. I was forced to watch them during my eldest’s toddler-hood. I want to hear positive CAIN comments out of you monkey boy. The next “oh bother Romney’s our man” comment will earn you a complete Pooh series which Buttercup will love and force you to watch until you have every song and line memorized. Got a VHS player?
Ed, We need Romney so that we have a president in place after the rapture.
You know, all those Republicans sure sounded good last night. Yes sir. What a united front! We’re just one big happy team, aren’t we?!
I wonder if our big happy team has the balls to cut 43% out of the Federal budget and balance the bloody thing?
I agree with EdthePastor. Enough with the “Gee, guess it’s Romney” talk. Just forget his name. Stop saying it. Give positives of the others but just STOP talking about Romney being the guy, STOP STOP STOP! Also, storm1911 – the rioters were not supporting the child rapist. Sadly, supporting a guy who didn’t go to the police when he should have. But if you read the grand jury presentment you will see people who failed to act even worse than Paterno. Not that I’m defending him, but he’s one of the least of the bothersome things in that whole case. NO ONE is supporting Sandusky.
Storm, that’s just wrong. People who haven’t spent years following Penn State football have no idea what kind of man Paterno was and is and they seem to have no idea that they’re being led by the media. The Penn State students are not protesting the firing of Paterno because they’re scared of losing football games and they’re not supporting child molesters. Joe Paterno did more for their school than anyone (It’s simply unheard in modern college football for a coach to be as worried about Penn State’s academics as was Paterno), and he deserved a fairer treatment than what he got last night. The Board of Trustees actually admitted to firing him when, “We don’t know all of the facts.” They admitted to having no real evidence! In short, they fired him because he was the most notable person at Penn State and removing him would get the media coverage off of their hides. Anger is pretty understandable in response to treating any man that way, let alone Joe Paterno. This anger is especially understandable when Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, the two men who were truly responsible for what happened, are still technically employed, still being paid, still retaining their Penn State lawyers, and still on the road to receiving pensions.
Does it really surprise anyone that the same media who gave us John McCain and Barack Obama would make Paterno into the main villain instead of focusing on the people at Penn State (Tim Curley and Gary Schultz) who were truly responsible for what happened? News coverage in the western world today is a joke; it relies in sensationalism and driving storylines to make money. Calling for the firing of Curley and Schultz doesn’t do anything for the media because no one would care; “who the hell are Tim Curley and Gary Schultz?” But every football fan knows about Joe Paterno and many football laymen know about Joe Paterno.
I see far too many people on conservative blogs going along with this media feeding frenzy. Of course, I’m biased because I’ve always respected and admired Joe Paterno for being a great man, but I cite this story and this story. The guy from the HuffPo may be accused of being biased as a Penn State grad, but he seemed pretty reasonable to me for someone writing for the HuffPo. Meanwhile, the second piece was written by an Ohio State grad. I can’t possibly accuse an Ohio State grad of being biased in favor of Penn State.
Frank, please moderate my comment. I guess I’ll send an email about it to Basil too, BTW.
Even though my comment’s in moderation hell, I’ll post this anyway. It’ll make sense when my other one is moderated.
This is the second article I meant to link to.
I like John Nolte’s tweet about the Perry meltdown:
@DamnCat (#3):
Frank: “What does a RINO say?”
Buttercup: “Me too! Me too!”
Frank: “What does a Romney say?”
Buttercup: “Me too! Me too!”
Frank: “Is Romney a RINO then?”
Buttercup: “Daaaaaaaaaad! Get a life!”
“Wait; how many more Republican debates are left? Okay, I give in; let’s just nominate Romney.”
So, I guess you didn’t watch the debate last night…the one where Cain kicked everyone’s a$$es so bad that even Ludlow at CNBC said he was blown away…?
Here’s my dark joke about Penn St.: People think it can’t happen where they are, and for those Protestants out there (including myself), don’t feel smug. The rate of pedophilia is roughly the same in Protestant churches as it is in Catholic churches. It just gets reported differently.
I grew up with a string of boys who were sexually assaulted. I was not immune. Now men, they had something taken away that they will never get back. Never. They will carry it.
As for the riots, where the eph were the students mourning the violent harm done to innocent boys by officials of their school? Do they give a rat’s *ss about them? Nope. Let’s have a violent pity party for Joe Paterno instead.
By accounts, Paterno knew. Even if he didn’t know, a strong case could be made for firing Paterno because it happened on his watch. Well, that case could be made except that Paterno is God at Penn St., and their fans find it difficult to name a misdeed for which God Paterno should be dismissed.
I live near Binghamton University. We recently endured a basketball team drug scandal that was tame by comparison. The coach and AD were fired even though they may have had no knowledge about it. It was a rough, but clear message to leaders: make it your business.
I better head to my bomb shelter. I unintentionally angered marco, whom I usually agree with, and he has a submarine full of nuclear warhead tipped missles. As far as the scandal goes there is more out there on this, sadly.
If you know a child has been hurt, nevermind raped, you report it to the police if you are a decent human being. I’d say he was okay about reporting it to his superiors until he never followed up to say, “Hey you know that whole child rape thing? Have you called the police, or should we do that now?” I have no idea how a person can think otherwise and call themselves right with God. Mind you, I’m not just going to Hell – I’m flying the plane there because I’m not even close to being right with God – but even I’d man up and do the right thing.
And AMEN to Burmashave. By the way, if anyone cares to support my coup to take over the world, I promise to bring back medieval-style punishments for those like Sandusky.
If my kids grow up and riot, nevermind rioting over something like the Paterno deal (and NOT making a public display of support for the victims of Sandusky and crew) they’d be getting a call from me saying, “Congratulations! You can pay for your own college degree from here on out!”
Burmashave, I’ve been following Penn State football, the fanbase, etc, for as long as I’ve been alive. Take my word for it, Paterno is not a god at Penn State and he’s not a god among the fans. And he’s certainly not a god in Pennsylvania, where many people of anti-Penn State sports rooting persuasion hate him.
When Penn State simply lost a football game, the Penn State fans were often out for his head. This was not the NFL, where such treatment could be justified. This was at the college level, where football is supposed to be about teaching young men.
And I might add that opposing fans and coaches (Perhaps most notably, Barry Switzer) have long critiqued Paterno. And that comes with the territory of a man who tried to make his program the best on and off the field, athletically and morally. A lot of people resented him and a lot of people disliked him.
The complaint about Paterno in this case is that he fulfilled his legal obligation but not his moral obligation. There’s some truth in it. He unquestionably fulfilled his legal obligation. State law required him to report to his boss (Tim Curley – Gary Schultz, another administrative higher-up and a vice president of campus police, was also present at the meeting) what the graduate assistant had told him. He did precisely that. That Curley and Schultz failed to investigate (as state law required of him), and that Curley and Schultz then perjured themselves, is no fault of Paterno’s. The Attorney General’s office, for crying out loud, commended Paterno for his honesty and forthrightness in speaking with them.
Paterno knew. He also did exactly what he was required to do by Pennsylvania state law in the case of knowing. One can make the argument that he should have done more, and Paterno said he should have done more in his retirement statement.
But the media’s coverage of this case has been absolutely despicable. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if some people, thanks to the press, think Paterno himself raped those kids. When was the last time you heard anything about Jerry Sandusky, Tim Curley, or Gary Schultz – the real villains in this? It’s all about Paterno because the media is a business – and a poorly run one at that.
And, finally, if Paterno was truly a god at Penn State, Tim Curley likely wouldn’t have perjured himself instead of doing his job (Only Jesus Himself will get me to forgive Tim Curley’s utterly incompetent and disgraceful behavior), and you can be sure that he wouldn’t have been fired and the BoT wouldn’t have admitted to firing him without having a full knowledge of the facts (I cannot fathom how someone could be so dumb as to admit publicly to terminating an employee without evidence).
One more thing: As much as I think Paterno has much to regret, I agree it is crap that Curley adn Schultz are still employed while Paterno isn’t (though I will assume that is just a matter of legal formality and I hope that they too will be axed – literally – and lose any pay/pensions). And I’m done.
Man, I come back from being away for a while and I can’t even get funny.
And, finally again, as of this moment, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz still retain their lawyers, still retain their pensions and pay, and are still officially and technically employed by Penn State. What those two men did was infinitely worse than anything Paterno, university President Spanier, or anyone
To fire Paterno (when “the facts are not clear” about his involvement, quoth the Trustees spokesperson) and continue to employ those two incompetent jackasses is simply staggering, utterly preposterous. I’m ashamed to even inhabit the same state as those people.
Paterno was and is a great man, and I’m proud to say I followed him and his program for many years. He made a mistake in not doing more besides completing his legal obligation and he admitted to it in his retirement statement. So far, he is the only person at Penn State to accept any responsibility for what happened. It’s an utter travesty up there right now, and it angers me to no end to watch the media fail hopelessly in how they cover it.
@Marko: I didn’t know that Curley and Schultz were still employed by Penn St. Yes, they should have been first up against the wall.
Also, there’s Calhoun and Witherheit (the janitor who caught Sandusky two years prior to the shower incident and his superior to whom he reported it) as well as McQueary. They are just as wrong as Paterno. NOW I’m done.
No you’re not.
Storm, I’m not mad at you.
I’m disappointed in Paterno, but I know he’s still a good, honest, humble American as evidenced by the way he’s handled himself. I’m sickened by Sandusky, a man I always looked upon as a great teacher. He was a great teacher. He also stands accused of holding a double life I don’t want to think about. How some human beings can manage such double lifes scares me. I hate the media with all of my soul for being as sensationalistic, biased, and factually bankrupt as I always knew them to be. One has to wade deep into this scandal to have a clear idea of what actually happened. I find no fault with anyone outside of Pennsylvania who doesn’t have a clear idea. If you got your news on this from most news sources, then you were hosed from the very start. I’m furious at Penn State’s leaders for abdicating their responsibility and using Paterno as a whipping boy to distract the press’s attention from their own failure.
I never thought I’d see the day I would talk about Penn State this way on a political humor blog.
In some ways, this Penn State thing reminds me of the Ribbon Creek/Matthew McKeon Incident. Only the entire Corps stepped up and took responsibility instead of letting one man die alone for all of their sins.
@DamnCat # 3: Oh, please, please, Frank, teach Buttercup to do this!
To really test out an editor, just randomly pound at a keyboard and see what they do with it.
Where I used to live, that was known as the San Francisco Chronicle method. I think that Andrew Sullivan uses it, as well.
So is Joe going from Penn State to the State Penn? Too soon?
I like the way the media is portraying the Penn State thing as a “sex scandal”… NO IT’S NOT!!! It’s a CHILD RAPE SCANDAL you idiots!!!
If the facts being reported are even close to the truth: Paterno did report the details of a rape, which he received from a credible eyewitness, to his superior. Paterno also must have known that they were then OBLIGATED by law to report the allegation to the police. When Paterno was never questioned by the police and continued to see Sandusky using the facilities (including the locker/shower room) with the young boys for years he should have done more to protect those boys. For someone who earned the nickname “Joe Pa” to use the “I followed orders” type of defense, rather than admit that he could not believe that his friend was a rapist, is something that he will have to live with. Should he have been allowed to finish this last year? I don’t know, maybe. He certainly does not appear to be anywhere near as culpable as the others who, according to MarkoMancuso, are still being protected, paid, amd asisted in any degree by the school. When the Catholic Church was confronted with the evidence of children who were raped, it was not only the individual priests, but the bishops, the dioceses, the lay-people and other clergy who did know or suspected what was going on, and the pope himself who shared the blame. Rightfully so. The fact that a witness came forward and detailed what he saw happening to that child, one of many we are told, and it seems that the first concern many had was to pick up the rug and sweep it under so that a sports program wouldn’t suffer, is bad enough. But, and I have never heard this focused on in reports of the situation, these were “At Risk” boys that Sandusky was “mentoring” !! These children were already damaged..which, in my mind, makes it even sadder. Paterno certainly was not the biggest culprit, but he was the biggest name, you are right about that…He could have made the most noise about what was going on…I don’t know whether he didn’t want to believe what he was told about a friend, or whether he was afraid of losing his job if he pushed the issue. Either way, I admit is is sad that Paterno will be the name everyone remembers from this scandal, Sandusky will probably become a trivia question as he (hopefully) rots in hell. I just wish the protests were against what happened to those children, instead of about having to lose a football coach because of what happened to those children. (Sorry Frank, I know this went way beyond your Twitter attention-span!)
I offer my apology for painting all Penn St. students with the same brush. Wapo reports there will be a candlelight vigil for the victims on Friday with a raising of funds for victims of sexual abuse. I hope it gets the coverage it deserves.
I was wrong. I apologize.
I’m with Edthepastor and Anna. When Romney was introduced at the Michigan Debate he got the biggest cheer. They know Romney’s in Michigan. The other wackos are OK. They will make the addle brained independents say “Well he’s better than Obama and those wackos on the right”
The Romney campaign doesn’t pay me anything. I’m not trying to be a troll and i have never viciously attacked the other Republican candidates like Frank (and a host of other bloggers do.) I will vote for whoever gets the nomination, but I just believe that Romney is our only choice to defeat Obama. You don’t like Romney for whatever reason, fine, but then i hope you feel morally superior when we have another four years of Obama. We have a golden chance here to put Obama out of office and you guys are hacking Romney down at the knees. Why is the Party committing suicide like this?
Maybe because people here put country before party, Dan.
Jimmy – If you really did that you wouldn’t have a problem voting for Romney. No matter how bad you think Romney may be, it’s not 1/10th as bad for the Country as for four more years of Obama.
Well, like I said, Burma, at this point, with the way the media coverage is, I’m lucky I’m not arguing with people who think Paterno sexually assaulted the boys himself.
If you’re not reading Joe Posnanski’s take on the story, you should be.
Obama = Socialism heavy
Romney = Socialism lite
Yeah, that’s better for sure except for one problem…
We’re out of money for ANY kind of Socialism. (Margaret Thatcher has come home to roost.)
I will not support a Socialist Republican in the Primary. I won’t even acknowledge at this point that they’re relevant.
Socialism IS the problem. Romney is NOT the answer to it – and has proven that he HAS no answers.
As they used to say 235 years ago: “Join or Die.”
Rick Santorum is the kind of guy you hope your daughter marries. (dull but dependable)
Michelle Bachmann is the girl you wish your daughter was more like.
Rick Perry is the jock, Mitt Romney is the rich kid, Newt Gingrich is the smart kid, Ron Paul is the crazy uncle, John Huntsman is the outsider, and Herman Cain is The Fonz.
So, in a perfect world, Santorum or Bachmann should be president; but only Cain can split the monopolistic black vote.
Or as I read somewhere, “African-Americans will vote for Obama, but Blacks will vote for Cain.”
We shall see.
My opinion of Child Molestation hasn’t changed – 1 large millstone, 1 short length of rope, apply to neck, add deep water. Repeat as needed.
I laugh every time I hear people voting for Cain… Seriously the man has never created a job in his life, he saved one company from going out of business; Hardly qualifications to be president.
Just because he has never WON an election doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried 3 times… And to say he isn’t a politician is a JOKE… but the joke is he was even worse… he was a lobbyist. – One of the VERY THINGS WRONG with Washington DC.
He has proven himself incapable of damage control
He has no foreign Policy experience
And dont get me started on 999 (the only thing he actually talks about… by ALL means… lets give Nancy Pelosi a new way to tax us…
@Jimmy… You sure you’re not a democrat? you are using Obama talking points against Romney.
First of all… the man brought Massachusetts back from a HUGE deficient, balanced the budget WITHOUT raising taxes.
He battled the democrats to keep his promised Not to raise taxes… vetoed over 800 Liberal bills to do it…
He slashed over 400 state programs.
He is the only one in the race that has been involved in creating 10s of thousands of jobs.
He is the only one that has both extensive private sector and public sector executive and leadership experience
He is the only one (capable of beating Obama that has submitted a very specific plan of what federal programs will have to go immediately
He is the only one that has submitted NOT just a tax plan… NOT just a energy plan… but a 59 Point plan that will get the American economy back to being the most powerful economy in the world.
So… welcome to the democrat party… where the facts and Voting record don’t matter… just your silly talking points and rhetoric.
I laugh every time I hear people voting for Cain… Seriously the man has never created a job in his life, he was a regional manager for burger king and he saved one company from going out of business; Hardly qualifications to be president.
Just because he has never WON an election doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried 3 times… And to say he isn’t a politician is a JOKE… but the joke is he was even worse… he was a lobbyist. – One of the VERY THINGS WRONG with Washington DC.
He has proven himself incapable of damage control
He has no foreign Policy experience
He had to pass questions off to Newt because he had NO clue what the question even Meant..
His speech at “American’s for Prosperity, couldn’t have been filled with more fluff if he had used a feather pillow
And dont get me started on 999 (the only thing he actually talks about… by ALL means… let’s give Nancy Pelosi a new way to tax us…
And if that isn’t enough… he has started talking in third person. – I’d say that is closer to the crazy train than the Cain train…