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Sunday Roundup

Posted: 11/13/11 12:00 AM ET

There were three big stories this week: the sex abuse scandal at Penn State, Mississippi voters' rejection of the so-called personhood amendment, and "the, uh, what's the third one there? Let's see... sorry. Oops." Wait, I just remembered the third one: Rick Perry's epic debate brain freeze! Over in Hollywood, the Academy Awards had more drama than a Best Picture winner, with show producer Brett Ratner self-immolating then resigning, first-time host Eddie Murphy following Ratner out the door, and Billy Crystal riding to the rescue. But it was Penn State -- with its unconscionable cover-up, legendary coach Joe Paterno's rapid fall from grace, and the deeply misguided student protests -- that held the spotlight. It was a harsh but vital reminder that our moral obligation to do the right thing goes well beyond our obligation to follow the letter of the law.

 
 
 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mostberg
05:57 PM on 11/14/2011
The Penn State case indicates - most significantly - that the sexual abuse of boys is treated differently than the sexual abuse of girls. No way this kind of cover up would have happen with little girls. For reasons we should try to analyze there is a severe bias here. Most of us have a theory on that I think.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
haimchaim
02:39 PM on 11/14/2011
HuffPost will get things right .. Arianna has the top Bloggers & stories .. be alert HP is tops in partnership with our leading business world
09:27 PM on 11/13/2011
The American Dream.
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09:09 PM on 11/13/2011
Rick did spark my interest with his debate comment about reevaluating the way we give other Countries billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars when we're in debt and can't afford to take care of our own.

+1 for Governor Perry.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
captnEarl
08:15 PM on 11/13/2011
apparently you don't consider the Ohio win a big issue...actually the weeks biggest!!
09:16 PM on 11/13/2011
Not nearly as big as what everyone is making it to be. Gov. Kasich overplayed his hand and it was a poorly written document. If kasich doesn't include the fire and police unions in the bill and doesn't take such a ridiculous stance against collective bargaining the results may have been different .

As usual both sides are making this a bigger deal than it really is.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
giftsthatpurr
zestful life
10:22 PM on 11/13/2011
It was great!!! Good news for workers. (However, cons will down-play it.)
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mjune
08:12 PM on 11/13/2011
I am scared of the opportunists who will move in on the Penn State Sexual Assault investigations, something that should be handled with great care and integrity, in cluding from the press.

Example: Why invite Linda Kinney Baden onto Huffpost? She showed her questionable ethical boundaries by quitting the defense team of Casey Anthony in order to be an HLN commentator about the trial, which she freely discussed on the air.

This is how it starts--first it's one ethic then another boundary and pretty soon right and wrong start looking pretty similar when a decision has to be made.

If we are going have soul searching, then it needs to begin in our professional actions along the way.
07:53 PM on 11/13/2011
The first crime committed in the Sandusky 2002 child rape scandal was not five adults failing to do the right thing – after the fact.

It was 28-year-old Mike McQueary walking away after witnessing the 58-year-old former coach raping a 10-year-old boy in the Penn State football shower room.

Imagine what lesson was emblazoned on the boy that day.

When McQueary walked away, he made it clear to the boy who saw him that he was unworthy of the former quarterback’s protection, that he was invisible and forgettable. When Penn State students rioted and pushed over a TV van because they were upset their beloved hero was ousted, the message was clear: “We don’t care about the suffering of children when stacked up against our scared football habit.’’

One child, eight children, a hundred children, it doesn’t matter, the game goes on.

The boy, now 19, was sent a powerful message, then and now – that his suffering doesn’t matter, that powerful men get away with crimes, that nothing is more important than money and football.

In the end, the boy is left alone. He has no option but to get up each morning, go to school and probably continue to deal with Sandusky preying on him. And maybe, the boy thought, it was all his fault. Maybe he should have called out, cried “help!” Maybe then the big man with red hair would have done something.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
giftsthatpurr
zestful life
10:25 PM on 11/13/2011
You are right! Children invariably believe it is their fault. It breaks my heart. That ten year old's innocence was ripped from him.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MammaLu
Good food makes good people
07:28 PM on 11/13/2011
America, what has happened to you?
07:16 PM on 11/13/2011
I've always said that just because you have the right to do something doesn't make it the right thing to do. I guess I'll now add that just because you aren't required to do something doesn't mean you shouldn't do it anyway. Shame on Paterno and the powers that were at Penn State. Do you think they would have looked the other way if it had been their own children or grandchildren in the shower?
06:14 PM on 11/13/2011
It's It's kind of like exact words. Don't guide your life by following exact words but instead the moral interpretation of words. I'm 41 - I'd guess that most people my age remember the Brady Bunch episode in which Mr. and Mrs. Brady taught Greg that only following words exactly can make for a very messy life. (Greg was washing his car in the middle of the night.)

http://www.lessontech.blogspot.com
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
W L Simpson
02:32 PM on 11/13/2011
The beauty of overlong campaign periods , is the opportunity for greater exposure of the
"Hoof in mouth disease"
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LMPE
I connect the most dissimilar things
01:56 PM on 11/13/2011
I still hope that Stephen Colbert and/or Bill Maher one day get to host the Oscars.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
writeon1
Pundit in my own mind
01:20 PM on 11/13/2011
It is a very jarring reality to realize that young college people would be so misguided as to back an enabler rather than have compassion for the victims. Is this the culture taught at home or school? Very disturbing.
03:36 PM on 11/13/2011
Hhhhhggh
04:20 PM on 11/13/2011
I've taught college, they don't learn it there... they come that way.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Shifu
Train and be ready
05:47 PM on 11/13/2011
me too and you are totally correct
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
kenrynne
Smiling Skeptic, Former Senate & House aide.
01:20 PM on 11/13/2011
Obama/Crystal in 2012...sorry Joe...we need more laughs.
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12:58 PM on 11/13/2011
11/13/11
12:59pm
NYC

As we all know, there are bigger stories but they are being covered up.