StrangeSox

I retract my "little" qualifier.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 03:06 PM) I'll admit I read about 3/4's before stopping. But what I was getting (correct me if I'm wrong) is that fantasyland of Happy Valley is now forever tainted and that his views of the people he knew or revered is now the opposite. I've just been reading a lot of those articles and it's so over the top that it's kinda dumb. Even though he's saying this isn't an indictment of the school or the students or the town, he still has to bring out this larger meaning about the life and times of the community, and I just don't buy it. s***ty people live everywhere. They don't define communities or schools or cultures. They're just s***ty people. I kinda agree with what both of you are saying. He's looking at the impact that this will have on a whole community that has strong ties to PSU and Paterno in particular, but he's probably being a little overdramatic and anyone who has so much of their identity wrapped up in a football team might want to take a step back.

He went after the attempt to distinguish "activity" and "non-activity" pretty harshly.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 02:22 PM) I have faith that powerful and wealthy people have more than enough means to muddy the waters enough to make sure that even when the truth is out, there is a large group of people who believe that the real truth is still yet to come by some unforeseen means. And that it's not a real problem anyway because sexual harassment is just a lawyers' invention, exploited by greedy incompetent women with no sense of humor.

The same liebral media who's just out to lynch any black who dares to think for himself. My problem remains with the pervasiveness of the ideology revealed by the reactions to the accusers, not the specific individuals opining it.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 02:11 PM) Rush is an idiot, who cares. The only people that listen to him are die hard neo cons that you have no chance in having a decent non-biased conversation with anyway. So let Rush be Rush. Not the power trio from Canada, anyway...they rule. Just take a look at that Slate article I linked a few posts ago. It's not just Rush but also prominent politicians who are getting to the point of denying the existence of legitimate sexual harassment as a real thing. I picked Rush's name because it was the easiest example of the complete lack of any consequences that will happen if these allegations are proven to be true.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:58 PM) They can turn that volume up to 100%, doesn't matter if it turns out to be false. However, if what they're saying turns out to be true -- and I trust we will find out in time -- it's them that will end up looking dumb. I remain skeptical that if we someone get incontrovertible proof of these claims, Rush will apologize profusely on his air and his credibility will be tarnished.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 02:00 PM) I just don't understand how going one direction it's a character assassination, but going the other it's justified truth-telling. I get that where there's smoke, there's fire, but right now all we have is 4 anonymous women making claims of improper conduct/harassment, and one who has come out. Actually, we have five women now. And two settled lawsuits. The point of victim character assassinations is to dismiss claims by making it seem like the person isn't credible. There's nothing wrong with not immediately buying these claims at face value. There's nothing wrong with pointing out that we don't really know what happened, and anyone immediately accusing Cain of being a proven adulterer and harasser is being a partisan idiot. That's not what's got me so annoyed about this whole episode.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:56 PM) That's iffy...and while it's not the exact same, it IS similar...in either case, both are attempts of character assassination. In the end, if the women turn out to be liars with the past the right wing media is reporting on, then it wasn't the media that assassinated their character, they did it. Same goes for Cain/Liberal minded media. That's not the point. These women could be saints or they could be awful people; that doesn't lessen the offense of sexually harassing them in any way. The attacks against them aren't addressing the claims, they are focusing on the (unknown) people, trying to deligitimize them by pointing out problems in their past. It's an awful and all-too-common way that victims of abuse are treated. This is not at all similar to a reporter finding a story on a politician running for office. That doesn't make it right. That doesn't make it any less awful. And, again, the issue isn't whether the attempts at character assassination of these women are based on accurate claims, but the character assassination itself.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:34 PM) That's like me blaming the liberal media for the ongoing character assassination of Cain. Thing is, if Cain did these things, and paid settlements to keep people quiet throughout the years, as the weeks roll on we will find out and get a better picture of the man Cain was/is...and in that same light, it was Cain that assassinated himself...not the liberal media. That is not at all similar to attacking the accuser and disparaging that person in order to deflect their claims.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:34 PM) It's only character assassination if it's not true. Is it true? If so, she assassinated her own character a long time ago...blaming the big bad republican mainstream media for doing it is a lie. Discrediting claims of rape or abuse or harassment by tarnishing the accuser is a time-tested and despicable tactic. Again, my disgust with open misogyny has nothing to do with partisan politics. I'll outsource the general idea to Slate: This is what I was reacting to; I already said that I unfairly projected the worst of this onto jenks' statements, and I apologize to him again for doing so.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:14 PM) In my opinion his actions were much worse and much less excusable than Paterno. He's the eye witness. Not only did he fail to stop it, but he failed to notify the police. Paterno on the otherhand didn't witness anything, and he's being told a pretty crazy and probably unbelievable accusation (at the time) about his friend of 30 something years. He goes to his superiors, let's them handle it, and probably assumes (reasonably) that if no proceedings were initiated, there might not be any credible claim. Should he have had a follow-up conversation to see what happened? Sure. But for all we know he did and the assholes in charge covering it up lied to him. This turning Paterno into the ring leader and tarnishing his otherwise impeccable record, without any actual knowledge of what he knew/did, is ridiculous. As to the grantland piece, wtf. Terrible. I'm sorry, but as much of a tragedy as this is, and for as terrible as it was handled, you're still talking about a handful of people that are the bad guys here. Not the school, not the student body, not the town. Calm the f*** down. It's not like that place was the Garden of Eden. I'm sure there was crime before Sandusky arrived.... This blog lays into McQueary pretty hard

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:28 PM) If you weren't, why are you so quick to defend the obviously innocent women from the big bad republican smear machine? I believe it was you that said, and the character assassination begins...which is simply you siding with the women because it's republicans they're going up against. I mean, of course it's just you looking out for the little people. Politics has absolutely nothing to do with it. Sell your bulls*** elsewhere...your post defending them is ENTIRELY politically driven. And you know it. You're a better mind-reader than jenks. Whether or not this woman is telling the truth, the immediate dismissal of her claims because she's a "gold-digger" or has had a long employment history or has filed for bankruptcy and had a paternity suit is absolutely character assassination. My disgust with the sexist dismissals of women's claims of abuse or harassment and the subsequent attacks on the accusers is not partisan-politically motivated.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:21 PM) You sure as hell are. And I don't care if you're offended. I am?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:20 PM) Then how about you stop hanging him from the f***ing noose, since you have no proof or evidence, no matter how much you WISH there was. I've said very little about Cain in this case. That someone in a position of power would allegedly abuse that power is, unfortunately, not surprising. My reactions have been to the way that the accusers are being attacked or how the entire idea of sexual harassment is being dismissed by some (not here) and the way the campaign is responding. I find it probable that he did, in fact, sexually harass these women. I'm not trying to "hang him from a noose" because of it, though. I genuinely appreciate the rhetorical flair, though.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:16 PM) Yet par for the course. No one is wishing that Cain had harmed people. That's a pretty offensive accusation.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:14 PM) I guarantee you we will find out in the weeks to come if this was true or not. How much would you like to bet? Verdicts don't necessarily have to mean "court verdicts", but if there is proof, or evidence, someone will come out with it...and with or without a court of law, we will know if it's true. It is literally a he-said, she-said case. We know that there were settlements. Beyond that, there's no real hope for proof or evidence.

I don't care if this is true about Cain. His idiotic policies and complete ignorance should be more than enough to sink his campaign; if not, then we truly get the government we deserve. I didn't post anything until jenks' completely dismissed the allegations as a money-grab. The reaction was based more on what others in the conservative world have said in attempts to dismiss these claims, and that wasn't fair to jenks.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 01:10 PM) So thats clearly a buy then. Maybe I can get a cheap one somewhere. FYI there's a one-time code for the Catwoman DLC included with the game--if you purchase a used copy, you'll have to buy that content. I'm taking a pass on this round for that reason and Batman/Skyrim eating up what little gaming time I have.

Batman is incredibly addictive.

The over-the-top misogynistic response to this from the conservative talk radio/internet sphere has been more disgusting than the actual allegations. edit: jesus christ the comments on this article: http://www.suntimes.com/8592168-417/sneed-...-month-ago.html

And the character assassination begins

Another take on the causes of the financial meltdown, via Sullivan, that pushes the blame away from the banks a little bit:

The Daily has identified one of the accusers

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Nov 8, 2011 -> 10:41 AM) My brother's Credit Union gave him like 5 free ATM withdrawls per month, no matter where. Plus use of their own. A lot of banks have a "we won't charge you to use another bank's ATM!" policies, but that doesn't mean you won't get hit by the bank that owns that particular ATM for a fee.