President Obama thinks the bad actions of a few individuals in Penn State’s football program is some kind of national crisis requiring the “entire country to do some soul-searching“:

President Obama called for the nation to do some “soul searching” in the wake of a scandal at Penn State University that led to the firing of longtime coach Joe Paterno after it was revealed one of his assistants allegedly sexually abused eight boys and the team did little to stop it.

“Obviously what happened was heartbreaking, especially for the victims, the young people who got affected by these alleged assaults,” he told Westwood One Radio in a Friday night interview, making his first public comments on the scandal.

“And I think it’s a good time for the entire country to do some soul-searching — not just Penn State. People care about sports, it’s important to us, but our No. 1 priority has to be protecting our kids. And every institution has to examine how they operate, and every individual has to take responsibility for making sure that our kids are protected.”

One assistant coach behaved very, very badly and should be locked up for the rest of his life. And those who knew and did not report this matter to authorities also deserve censure (at minimum) and perhaps punishment (depending on the laws in the Keystone State).

But, why must all Americans engage in soul-searching for a handful of individual bad actors?  Is it this liberal mentality makes social problems of individual crimes?

This is a very revealing comment about the president’s mentality.  He would have been better served to respond as did Pennsylvania’s junior senator.  By all accounts, Joe Paterno was a first rate coach who handled this situation in a, well, less than professional manner.

Because this matter has received such prominence, perhaps it is appropriate for the president to comment, but to fault those at fault and express the disgust most Americans feel at the charges, but we’re not the bad actors here.  And we don’t need engage in soul-searching for misdeeds we haven’t committed.

An ESPN News Release

In a shocking turn of events, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reversed the results of the second round Kansas vs. Northern Iowa NCAA tournament game by deeming the Jayhawks to have passed to the next round.

“I like the procedure, because you don’t have to win the game,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi was reacting to Northern Iowa’s upset of the number one seed overall Kansas, which President Obama had picked to win March Madness.

“There will be no busted Barack-ets this year,” Pelosi said, as she made her way out of the Capital en route to a plastic surgery appointment.

“This kind of thing helps Barack get on with his legislative strategy when the Republican Party of No is just trying to defeat him and win the pick em game.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said that he was going to filibuster Kansas’ win.=

As you may have heard by now CBS  has “rejected an ad submitted by a gay dating website to air during next Sunday’s Super Bowl.”

And all this hullabaloo has made me aware of mancrunch.com, a site with which I had heretofore been unfamiliar.  Moreover, since I’m not going to be watching the Superbowl, I likely wouldn’t have heard about them had CBS run the ad.  So, if the site owner’s purpose in proposing the ad were to draw attention to their site, they succeeded.

The ad shows two men making out.  And according to the Hollywood Reporter that was too much for CBS:

The network shot down the commercial Friday in a letter to the site — ManCrunch.com — saying the “creative is not within the Network’s Broadcast Standards for Super Bowl Sunday.”

Also the network said its sales department had difficulty verifying the credit of the site to guarantee payment of the estimated $2.5 million cost to air the ad.

The ad seems a pretty low budget affair, so it doesn’t appear the site has a lot of money to promote itself.  CBS should have just left it at the creditworthiness of the company without raising the standards issue

Saying it did raise that issue, the network has given the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) grounds to fault the network. GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said, “This network should come clean to the public about what’s going on because this seems to be a homophobic double standard.”  Barrios is right to question the company.

Though, considering the questions about the company’s ability to guarantee payment of the cost to air the ad, it does seem to be “a publicity stunt.”  A lot of gay people now know about the site.

So, I’m wondering if the same folks who sued eHarmony for not offering a service to match up gay people will sue Mancrunch for not offering to match up straight people or lesbians for that matter.

HEADS-UP:  In the comments section of the Newsbusters piece on the hullabaloo, a very smart young man defends CBS on capitalist grounds.  You should be able to identify him by the quality of his arguments and the name of his family.

And it seems the Democrats are having trouble grasping what is happening in their backyard.  Must be par for the course in this postpartisan era.  As Peggy wrote yesterday:

The people are here, and he is there. The popularity of his health-care plan is very low, at 35% support. Someone on television the other day noted it is as low as George Bush’s popularity ratings in 2008.

Yet—and this is the key part—the president does not seem to see or hear. He does not respond. He is not supple, able to hear reservations and see opposition and change tack. He has a grim determination to bull this thing through. He negotiates each day with Congress, not with the people. But the people hate Congress! Has he not noticed?

And Mrs. Coakley?  Has she not noticed that the people in Massachusetts revere their Red Sox, finding Fenway Park at almost sacred place?  And that Curt Schilling once pitched for the team, helping them win, in 2004, their first World Series in nearly a century?  He’d help them repeat the feat in 2007 when he became “only the second pitcher over the age of 40 to start and win a World Series game“.

Must have been too cold that day for the then-Attorney General of Massachusetts to attend the game.  She must have missed the standing ovation Fenway Park fans gave their beloved pitcher.

In response to Coakley’s labeling him a Yankees’ fan, Schilling quipped:

Never, and I mean never, could anyone ever make the mistake of calling me a Yankee fan. Well, check that, if you didn’t know what the hell is going on in your own state maybe you could.

(H/t Jim Geraghty.)

I am shocked and saddened to hear of the sudden death of Philadelphia Phillies sportscaster and broadcast legend Harry Kalas.  It is fitting however that he died behind the sports microphone — doing what he loved.  What a great way to go.

His voice is known by anyone who followed the Phillies or saw numerous shows produced by NFL Films.  He also did sportscasting work for CBS Radio and Westwood One network.

For me, this is like the passing of a family friend.  He was like your favorite uncle who you watched baseball games with on TV.  Kalas’ voice was distinct, legendary and memorable; and he was an American classic.

If God has a baseball game scheduled today in Heaven, he has the best sportscaster to call the game with him now.

Rest In Peace, Harry.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

… to Sadomasochistic Fascists... (h/t – The Corner)

Formula One’s governing body is keeping its distance from sexual allegations in a British tabloid newspaper about its president, Max Mosley.  This is a matter between Mr. Mosley and the paper in question,” an International Automobile Federation (FIA) spokesman said.  We understand that Mr. Mosley’s lawyers are now in contact with that newspaper and the FIA has no comment.”

The News of the World reported in a front page story that FIA president Mosley, 67, had taken part in a “sadomasochistic orgy” with five prostitutes that reportedly involved Nazi role-playing.  According to a story posted by the London-based Times Online on Monday, Mosley and others “re-enacted a concentration camp scene in which he played the role of both guard and inmate.”

Hey, but at least Mosley has some family connections to the authentic Fascists of old…

Mosley is the son of the late Oswald Mosley, founder of the pre-war British Union of Fascists. Mosley is married with two sons. He has been president of the FIA since 1993.

Methinks Mosley would do well to hire one of Bill Clinton’s Monica-era attorneys.

(Side Editorial Note:  I had no clue which of our Categories to file this under…..)

-Bruce (GayPatriot) 

Have the French figured out how much they suck yet?  The rest of the world has.

Congrats to Floyd Landis for keeping the Tour de France throne in American hands.

And a big fat “ptoooey” to those uppity, rude enablers of Islamism in Europe.  At least the French do seem to do their best at one thing throughout history……

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

I have more exciting news about our expanding GayPatriot family. This week we have a special “Revolving BlogPatriot” who will be covering Super Bowl XL activities from Detroit, Michigan.

(drum roll)

It is none other than Mike, a.k.a. “republic of m“. Here’s a brief bio of Mike that he sent to me earlier today.

I am Mike and I am a Michigander thru and thru. Born and raised in the Flint area (yes in the same area that Michael Moore grew up. No one likes him there either), I have lived in Metro Detroit since 2000. I attended the University of Michigan, where I double majored in History and Anthropology. I was briefly married (yes to a woman, I know it was a mistake), but I am actually gay, and currently single – I know this isn’t a personals ad, but hey you never know. I am 31 and love anything and everything about politics, which is why I started RepublicOfM.com (feel free to visit). If you would like to know anything else, my e-mail address is in the sidebar to your right.

Welcome Mike, and we are looking forward to his reports from the Motor City during this Super Week. (With photos to come, too!!)

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Congratulations to the NCAA National Football Champions Texas Longhorns!

So sorry to those over confident and typically smug California fans of the ‘over the hill’ USC Trojans. Boo, hoo, hoo!!.

Texas owns the White House and now the College Pigskin Crown. Woo hooo!

I’m gonna eat a big Texas steak (and not a frilly California avacado salad) tonight in honor of the new National Champs!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

My new hometown team, the Carolina Panthers, are eyeing a trip to Detroit for the Super Bowl after an impressive win yesterday against the New Orleans Saints (exiled to Baton Rouge).

From recovering from a suspected case of food poisoning, to last-second tweaks to the playbook, to playing a make-shift team with a new quarterback in its make-shift home, to catching some breaks from the outside, everything went perfectly for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Steve Smith scored twice and the defense came up with four interceptions as the Panthers moved back into sole possession of first place in the NFC South with a 27-10 victory against the New Orleans Saints at Tiger Stadium.

GO PANTHERS!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)