Attorney Genera lGani Patail’s Politics and Terror in fabricating evidence

There is no doubt Anwar Ibrahim is a charismatic leader. Let me repeat the two most important words in this sentence. Charismatic. Leader. Charismatic – because why else would his every move in politic attract so much attention in the media and amongst the people. Leader – because only a leader takes the risk of leading his party even in a “politically dangerous” UMNO  – in spite of knowing he would be taunted by all if he failed…

Looking at Anwar Ibrahim, the Opposition Leader, deliver his talk, one would never have guessed that he was hounded by the BN government, on a list of trumped-up charges as long as his arm.

He was witty and informative when engaging with the audience; brutal and incisive when mocking Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s administration.

Anwar (right) recently gave a speech at University College London (UCL), entitled ‘The Struggle for Justice and Democracy in Malaysia’.He won over the crowd, who were mainly Malaysians studying or working in England.

Anwar has universal acclaim and the ‘mat salleh’ who were present can’t have attended just because they were curious to see the man whom BN has portrayed as a raving sex maniac, who can’t have enough of women, or men.

For a man whose private life has been paraded around the world with the farcical Sodomy I and II trials, and Sex Videos I and II, Anwar did not look like a condemned person.

With steely determination, he told the crowd that he has vowed to clear his name, restore his family’s reputation and defend his honour. BN painted Anwar as a sexual deviant and lined people up to reveal sordid allegations about him. If true, then Anwar should have felt at home in Soho, the racy red light area with its gay bars, porn-shops and fallen women, close to UCL. But a sexual lunatic he is not.

No compromise

Anwar who is famed for his skill as an orator, talked passionately about Pakatan’s policies, its budget and his vision of a Malaysia that will be shaped by its youth.

He was adamant that the new Malaysia should be governed with transparency, accountability, and where the corrupt would be punished. He offered no compromise on his party’s multiracial policy.

He told the students that they were responsible for determining Malaysia’s future. He said: “Everyone is born to be free. Freedom cannot be negotiated.” He cajoled and persuaded them: “You must make a stand and exercise your rights….” He challenged them: “You must learn to ask questions….”, and warned them that Najib’s administration feared the truth.

He criticised Najib’s performance at ‘Prime Minister’s question time’ in Parliament: “I asked him repeatedly, when the ISA will be abolished. I wanted an undertaking that GE-13 would not be conducted before reforms were implemented…. Najib simply smiled. He was unresponsive….. It was like having a dialogue with the deaf….. Why bother calling it ‘question time’?”

He questioned the conduct of parliamentarians when he quizzed BN about the fund meant to help poor farmers, which was pocketed by BN cronies: “There was a collective silence.”

He castigated former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (right), whom he has forgiven for sending him to jail: “He (Mahathir) levelled charges of sodomy against me because this is taboo with the rural Malays.”

He mocked the religious hypocrisy of the BN elite: “Mahathir’s son bought RM2.9 billion of San Miguel shares but one Malay girl had her life torn apart and was herself almost whipped for a glass of beer.”

With humility he told the audience: “You may listen to me and choose to agree or disagree with me. Or you can support UMNO. It is your right. There is no denying it.”

And he injected a bit of comedy in his talk: “For 13 years, BN and the Malaysian media have hounded me, except for three days last Hari Raya…….I had a three day break when they focused on Mat Sabu of PAS.”

The Malaysians had travelled from the East Midlands, Shropshire and the North-East, and the majority were students, from colleges and universities in and around London. Expat Malaysians, concerned about the unpredictable political landscape, came to hear the latest developments.

The talk was at times depressing, particularly the part about BN being prepared to cheat, to ‘win’ GE-13. There remained one glimmer of hope; the large presence of Malay students in the audience.

For years, the Malaysian government actively discriminated against Malay students. A culture of fear was promoted by the Malaysian high commissions and embassies around the world.

Consequently, Malay students distanced themselves from such talks. Malays are deliberately singled out by BN to keep them ignorant. To keep them from learning. And to keep them from being exposed to other cultures, races and thinking patterns.

Dangerous Malay

A knowledgeable Malay is dangerous. BN knows that a questioning Malay would ultimately lead to BN’s demise. One individual can be silenced. But many?

BN treats the Malay like a semi-literate and a slave. Its brainwashing technique has been perfected so that the Malay mind is trapped by his imaginary tempurung, wherever he is in the world.

If we want a better Malaysia, the Malays must be brought into the loop. If we want to progress as a nation the Malays must contribute and share the limelight.

UMNO’s propaganda is based on fear and warns of a threat to Malay survival. BN claims Anwar will sell Malaysia to the non-Malays and that Pakatan is controlled by the Chinese. What BN really meant was that their own survival was in danger.

The Malay elite is at liberty to be open-minded but he subjugates his poorer Malay cousin. The elite cream off the best in life, but leave others destitute. In effect, Malaysia has been ‘stolen’ by its corrupt Malay leaders.

 Warning letters

Informed sources allege that the modus operandi of the consulate officials is to warn Malaysian students to stay away from these ‘opposition’ lectures.

Sometimes, the Malaysian embassy sends out ‘warning’ letters. But as Anwar related, deans of Indonesian and American universities have cautioned the embassies, and threatened reprisals if this practice were to continue.

Some allege that agents of the government masquerade as students, to spy, as they move in student circles.

Most government scholarship holders are Malays, and many come from poor backgrounds. Only the brazen few or privately financed students will attend ‘opposition’ lectures.

The majority stay away for fear of losing their funding. They fear the shame of terminating their studies. They fear the wrath of their families. They fear rejection by the community. But most of all, they fear missing the best chance to lift themselves and their families from poverty for a better future.

Isn’t it ironical that students stay away because they fear BN’s long reach? This emphasises the significance of Anwar’s speech ‘The Struggle for Justice and Democracy in Malaysia’.

Anwar’s proclamation which rang in everyone’s ears was: “With your help, and given fair and clean elections, Pakatan will form the next government.”

Anwar’s talk was oversubscribed and the huge presence of students, including many Malays, is heartening.

Perhaps the culture of fear which the Malaysian government tried to export to student populations overseas is vaporising. Perhaps Najib is not only losing his grip on the economy, but also on the students.

BN’s propaganda and emphasis on the sodomy trials, meant that many students were unaware that Anwar was once DPM or finance minister.

Anwar’s talk was an eye-opener and many students responded positively. This generation of Malay youth wants a well-rounded education and refuses to be cowed by Putrajaya. Overseas, non-Malay students have never felt the crippling grip of the BN government.

Acquiring knowledge at universities around the world is one thing. But learning to live with freedom of expression, where basic human rights are not denied and where university professors are not suspended or sent live bullets in their mail, is a shallow learning curve for Malaysian students.

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Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein Onn announced today that the investigation papers in the latest police probe against Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been submitted to the Attorney General.

The probe is the newest in a series of politically motivated police and prosecutorial actions launched against Anwar Ibrahim since 1998, with the complicity of UMNO, A-G Gani Patail and the top Police leadership. This time Anwar is being investigated for supposedly giving false information to the Police.

Hishamuddin’s statement is surprising, disturbing and suspicious. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is only scheduled to give a statement to the police on this matter on Wednesday November 16, 2011; yet it seems the papers had already been submitted to the Attorney General. This development confirms the deep involvement of the A-G Tan Sri Gani Patail in this latest police investigation against the Opposition Leader.

Gani part of Sodomy I, II and now Datuk T

Serious allegations of Gani Patail’s involvement in fabricating evidence in the first sodomy trial and the ‘black-eye’ investigation have yet to be resolved or answered.

Further, Gani Patail’s animosity towards the political opposition in general and bias in favour of the BN government is a matter of public knowledge. It should be noted that widespread public concern on this matter had forced former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in July 2008 to order that A-G Gani Patail have no direct involvement in the second sodomy trial.

What is clear is that Anwar can have no hope of fairness or justice in this latest police action against him. This relentless and disgraceful hounding, harassment and intimidation of Anwar Ibrahim must stop; the BN government must realise that the people of this country and the global community are watching and judging their actions.

From Port Dickson to Terengganu, Malaysians have been incessantly sated with juicy sex stories.  Some of these stories are made up of genuine ingredients that could perhaps be turned into thrillers but some others are void of the right constituents and evidence as they were  intentionally cooked up for political expediency.

In any case, Malaysian politics is always spiced with a lot of sex recipes for the people to devour. The sex prescription seems to be very popular among some self-seeking politicians to grab on or stay in power. In most cases, however, the one and only purpose of staging sexual plots on politicians is to debase their political career. This ploy has become a political cliché in Malaysian politics. The people on the street, though, are cheesed off with this kind of grubby approach to politics. They are much chagrined as to how one could even be appointed as senator just because the person keeps boxes of sex secrets or he spews out sex venoms to implicate a political  enemy.

Despite all the drumming and brouhaha by the political rejects and the pro-government media  on sex and politics, the people have become profoundly immune to the ploys and they cannot be easily swayed by this modus operandi.  “It is an absolute disgust to keep on hearing about this on television or read them in the daily,” said a university lecturer from IIUM.

Sex used to lull and deviate the masses

Each time there is a serious social, political or economical issue affecting the government, sex issues are brought up to sidetrack the theme. Corruption, abuse of taxpayers’ money on superfluous political needs, abuse of loans and misuse of government funds are too common to be ignored by the people at large.

Allegedly, when money was loaned to those politically connected to build up a beef industry for the nation they ended up becoming “sacred cows”.  We hear condominiums were bought with a fraction of the money meant to do cow business.  On the face of it,  the “sacred cows”  were so auspicious that they could even invest in condominiums instead of making the beef industry flourish.

The “slapstick comedy” here was when an Oxford graduate sprang up to his feet to profusely but idiotically defend the “sacred cows” when the latter were verbally bombarded by critics in the Parliament.  When the nation is rife with corruption, high crime rate,  price hike in foods and other essentials and poor economic performance the incumbent government has suddenly become obsessed with sex stories to dupe the naïve and less educated populace – the majority.

To sidetrack the many issues affecting the country they must come up with issues juicy enough for the people to guzzle – usually relating to sex – to lull and deviate the masses. The media is sneakily used to spin the issue to make the masses believe in the lies and façade of the regime. This reminds the people of the same modus operandi used by many dictators in the past to smother their political foes.

On sex traps used by dictators the modus operandi are plain and simple. First the regime must have the control of the relevant government arms – instruments of authoritarian power - who could make the process of political “killing” easy. The media would be put on standby ready to deceitfully spin in favour of the regime. Heave the sizzling scandalous indictment on the enemy, then hound and pressure him to respond. He would be made like a suspect. If he does not respond he would be branded as guilty by the media. If he responds he would be asked to prove that he is not guilty of the allegation against him.

In other words, the adversary has already been assumed guilty before trial and the onus now is on the victim to prove that he is innocent.  If the adversary is brought to court it would obviously become a source of public inquisition.  When there is a court trial the media would play the role to demonise the adversary by resorting to  lopsided reporting. This is to intentionally demean and shame the adversary and make the masses believe in all their concocted lies deviously spun by the media. Even when the adversary has eventually cleared his name after the unrelenting persecution in the court of law the damage has already been done.

This is actually what the dictatorial authority wants to achieve in politics.  This has worked in some countries and it also has failed to be effective in some other countries – all depending on the state of mind of the masses. On the contrary, a person could be a pervert, commit adultery, become a  paedophile or sex maniac, the pro-regime media would not paint him as hideous and repulsive if he happens to be on the right side of the political divide or in the right political team.

Relentlessly gone through this agony

Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto Opposition leader, and many others in the country have relentlessly gone through this agony. Anwar must have suffered long enough in life but being a seasoned and resilient politician he has stayed strong with the growing support from the people. Many of his one-time close friends in UMNO have now turned against him and they keep on demonising him.

In the case of Anwar, another ploy to derail his political career cropped up just recently with the controversial sex video alleging him as the actor in the exploitative sexual scene.  However, evidence has it that it is not him in the video but a look-alike. On the face of it, Anwar has been trapped to prove that he is not the person.

In actuality, every Malaysian knows that this drama concocted by those concerned is another blunder and this has backfired.  There are ample and clear evidence that the man in the video was only a look-alike. For instance, one simple evidence that has sabotaged this evil plan was the fact that the Anwar look-alike in the video did not have a beard but newspaper photographs the day after the alleged incident showed a bearded Anwar.

The tummy of Anwar look-alike was bloated when Anwar did or does not have that size of a tummy. In fact, there were many other evidence to show that it was not Anwar in the video. But to his political enemy that is not important. Their agenda is sorely to smear the name of a political maverick and that matters most to them. His political foes are persistently ready with their “daggers” out to stab and implicate Anwar. These comments from the public should be a testimony to this fact:

“Harassing and persecuting Anwar has earned the sympathy of the people for him. “

“He has suffered enough and UMNO’s way of going for the overkill does not bode well in the eyes of majority of the people.”

“The scurrilous attacks  against him has only earned  UMNO the wrath of the people.”

“Political sex is highlighted to sidetrack the masses from the dire and grim economic  problems facing the country.”

“Nothing much would be done to investigate corruption that is draining the country dry but when it involves cooked-up sex stories they are quick to investigate.”

“This is well highlighted through the pro-government media. Not all Malaysians watch or read the pro-government media. They are appointing political rejects as senators to help “kill” the Opposition leader. I doubt if UMNO members agree with this kind of appointment. They are just waiting to burst their voice out.”

“Political suppression is common in many countries but this would not last long. The suppressor would at the end of the day succumb to people’s voice. This has happened in many countries. Libya for instance.”

“The media and politicians should debate more on economic and social issues affecting the country rather than harping on trivial, unfounded and perceived notions of another’s personal character.”

The maverick Anwar

Anwar served as Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister from 1993 to 1998. Early in his career, Anwar was a close ally of the then Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad but later on emerged as the most prominent critic of Mahathir's government.

In 1999, he was sentenced to six years in prison for “corruption”, and in 2000, to another nine years for “sodomy”. In 2004, the Federal Court reversed the second conviction and he was released. In July 2008, he was arrested over allegations that he “sodomised” one of his male aides and faces new “sodomy” charges in the Malaysian courts. This is however perceived by many as a political conspiracy at the highest level to end Anwar’s political career.

On 26 August 2008, Anwar won re-election in the Permatang Pauh by-election and returned to Parliament as leader of the Malaysian Opposition. He advocates the need for liberalization, an independent police, judiciary and free media, to combat the endemic corruption that has pushed Malaysia to become relatively less competitive economically and close to become a failed state.

A political maverick, Anwar on the whole succeeded in giving the Pakatan coalition a good publicity in Malaysian politics. Anwar has succeeded in bringing three opposition political parties – PKR, DAP and PAS - into a formidable coalition within a short duration. In other words, with or without Anwar the two- party or -coalition system in the country has now become a reality. The people owe this great accomplishment to Anwar. The country of course needs a two-party system for better governance. Anwar should be given the credit for this process to become a reality in the Malaysian political landscape.

There might have been some minor or remote hiccups leading to the creation of the Pakatan pact but the dust has now settled and apparently Pakatan are again ready to take on Barisan Nasional in the next general election with more confidence. The component parties have evolved unscathed after the many storms in the tea cup and have emerged in symbiosis to be more appealing to the masses and sturdier in pose than before 2008.

The Pakatan coalition is now steered by none other than its de facto leader, Anwar, even when he is not the president of any of the component party. This position of his makes little difference, though. The relatively young multi-racial political coalition has since its existence been unremittingly goaded on by Anwar. Anwar is not alone in this struggle. He is supported by many competent and futuristic leaders in the parties that has formed this pact.

Anwar has a public persona of a devout Muslim. He has ingratiated himself with people of all races to gain the popularity he needs as a politician. Whatever sex video caper is created to discredit Anwar is not going to foil his attempt to win over Barisan Nasional in the next general election. Sex ploys by political enemies have failed miserably despite all their strenuous efforts to undermine Anwar and Pakatan.  The people are not blind to justice.

No matter how Anwar is perceived by his friends and political foes, he is definitely not a spent force in Malaysian politics. He still has the charisma and is capable of drawing huge crowds as a good orator. He is capable of mesmerising the crowd with his oratory skills. He still has a sizeable following in the country and is well accepted by friends and leaders abroad. If truth be told, Anwar cannot be easily erased from the local political scene. It’s an irrefutable fact that Anwar has an insuppressibly optimistic personality that endears him to the people.

Mahathir’s perception of Anwar

Even in his Memoir(2011), the former Prime Minister has written some favourable words on Anwar despite the fact that he sensed, or rather was aware, that the latter was trying to mount a direct challenge on his presidency of UMNO:

“Anwar also had qualities that could contribute towards UMNO’s standing among intellectuals. He was well-read… .” (p406)

“… as I knew that he had the qualities to make a good leader.” (p407)

“He was not seen as a Muslim extremist.” (p409)

“Anwar is quite a remarkable man.” (P409)

“We have a good personal relationship.” (p410)

“Anwar cultivated people and knew how to win their support.”(p410)

“There is no doubt that there was a special aura – a charisma – about him… .(p410)”

“Anwar was very hospitable.”  (p411)

“Publicly… Anwar cut an impressive figure.” (p413).

Of course, their relationship began to sour when Mahathir became aware that Anwar was about to challenge his headship of the party.

“While I still saw Anwar as an effective leader, I felt that his desire to oust me was premature.”  (p413)

“… I felt confident that should he mount a direct challenge to my presidency, I would still be able to defeat him.” (p415)

Anwar could be, by and large, perceived as a political freak endowed with intelligence, knowledge and skills not many politicians could bout. Thus, he has emerged more popular than ever in Malaysian politics despite all the dirty campaigns laid against him since he was chucked out as the deputy prime minister in 1998 by Mahathir. Regardless of all the subsequent political bashing and the disparaging remarks made against him by the local media and blogs, he has emerged unshaken but grown more mature and much sturdier politically.

Politics is a matter of perception and  insightfulness. In fact, no amount of character assassination and insinuations could bring down a seasoned politician the calibre of Anwar. Many politicians, including those in the ruling coalition, have emerged to become leaders despite all the allegations against them. Anwar, in particular, has been exposed to continuous character assassination by his adversaries, but ironically the more this has seemed to have fortified his political path. Indeed, Anwar just appears to have gained more sympathy and popularity despite the many ruthless political onslaught against him.

The political scene leading to the next general election is going to be more interesting. Anwar’s offensive against politicians in the ruling coalition relating to many issues such as corruption, accountability and many other social delinquencies is not going to recede. It is going to be a battle of wit involving  issues and abuse of taxpayers’ money by the incumbent government and the economy.

Pakatan has indubitably evolved into a coalition more significant than Anwar himself. Pakatan today is “larger” than Anwar’s image. Presently, even without Anwar the coalition could project their other capable leaders to lead Pakatan into the political limelight. PAS, PKR and DAP have many young and capable leaders who could replace Anwar in case he is being totally incapacitated in politics.

Defamation is an offence

The masses, more often than not look at the politically motivated sex arsenal to degrade political foes from many other perspectives. Many devout Muslims would not easily succumb to all the dirty tactics deployed by the incumbent regime and their apple polishers. They are bound to feel that some politicians are merely paying  lip service to religion.

Their perception is that religion is more often than not used by some for political expediency. They observe that some religious rituals are deliberately performed by self-seeking individuals as a political stunt, for political publicity and connivance.

Despite the country being  claimed to be an Islamic state, many aspects of Islam is not adhered to when religious decrees do not favour the regime. Defamation and accusations are serious offences in Islam and yet Muslims go round defaming others without real evidence. These comments from the public are a testimony to this fact:

“This singling out in prosecution can be politically correct but it is morally wrong as it smacks of injustice.  People could take advantage of the law just to tarnish a person’s image – a political enemy.”

“Defamation or fitnah is an offence in Islam. A Muslim should not fitnah (defame) a person for some invested interests.”

“If a person accuses another person of wrongdoing he must come up with evidence. ‘Selling’ oneself to the media and the public by telling them that someone has committed an offence is an act of fitnah, as this will give a wrong perception of the accused.”

“The onus is on the accuser – not the suspect - to prove that the suspect is guilty of an offence, so come up with concrete evidence.  If the intention of accusing someone is just to craft out a bad image of a person, this constitutes an offence in Islam.”

“A court case involving an accusation can drag on for many months and this will cause a lot of moral damage to the one who is accused, even if the accused were finally found to be innocent.”

“Islam is more sensible in that if you accuse a person of wrongdoing come up with evidence, or else this is tantamount to fitnah and the person who arbitrarily accuses another person just for some thrills or political motives should be punished accordingly.”

“In the case of a sexual offence (zina) the accuser has to produce four reliable witnesses who could prove to the judge that the offence actually took place. If this can be done and the offence is proven, then punish the accused accordingly.”

“If the accuser fails to prove the offence, he has to be punished instead. It is a two-way justice for all. The process in Islam is so clear and this will help deter irresponsible people from making false accusations that could defame a person’s image in society.”

“In Islam, a person’s image is highly regarded and any form of fitnah or insinuating any form of sexual act on a person cannot be accepted. Islam does not judge a person through the media or attention-grabbing political propaganda.”

“The irony is that being an Islamic state the country does not take Islamic values into consideration. Politics has won over religion in this case.”

Enough of these mucky tricks

When a regime runs scared of the Opposition it would resort to anything to save their skin. When a regime is bankrupt of ideas  on how to win an election they would have to desperately rely on trivial matters such as sex issues to delude the masses and disgrace their political nemeses. The motto to the desperate is: Never mind if the approach is nasty, dirty or unprincipled as long as the end to them justifies the means.

To the masses they have had enough of all these mucky tricks. They see spicing politics with sex issues is fast becoming a cliché now. They see a regime that with intent makes use of the government arms to remain in power. They see many cases of abuse of power by the police. They see the reputation of the judiciary has hit a new low. They see corruption and abuse of taxpayers’ money become a way of life among politicians and politically connected people.

They see the economy has hit the poor most when prices of almost all essentials are spiralling out of control. They see no concrete formula by the incumbent government to stop this debacle. They see no workable steps taken by the incumbent government to manage this problem thus causing unbridled inflation and reduced value of money in the people’s hand. They see salary increase or one-off payment to the people as not a long term solution to inflation and yet the government cannot see to this effect.

The next general election would see a much enlightened electorate determining the future of this country. Anwar’s ingenuity has set the pace right by creating another coalition pact to match Barisan Nasional. The two coalition system that exists today would give a better choice for the people to decide for the best team to govern the country next.

In May of 2009, as President Barack Obama prepared to replace retiring Justice Anthony Souter on the US supreme court, he let something terrible slip - something that could threaten the very fabric of our civilisation! He said he would try to pick a new judge for our highest court who possessed "empathy", or the ability to identify “with people’s hopes and struggles” when making decisions that would intimately affect their lives.

In other words, slightly different than how Justice Clarence Thomas does it, which generally involves applying lessons learned from all-expenses-paid, first-class corporate speaking gigs and serial viewing of the wacky antics of Long Dong Silver.

Predictably, right-wingers from Senator Orrin Hatch to former Republican National Committee Chair (and lobbyist for every destructive interest in existence) Ed Gillespie were just beside themselves, hissy-fitting at the outrageous notion that someone who actually cares about people might become a sitting justice on the High Court.

It is this degradation of American culture since the Reagan years - on steroids in our current Citizens United era as corporations have become people - that says the only healthy emotions are the ones that highlight one's personal greed and lack of compassion for others. This is the cultural sickness that has been on full display for all its misanthropy this past week.

The most egregious example occurred in State College, Pennsylvania, with the growing and nausea-inducing scandal engulfing Penn State University. No, our culture didn't create the paedophilia of former Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Sadly, this has been with us since the dawn of time.

But the greed of a big college football programme and the fortune and fame it creates allowed it to go on for years. This certainly played a defining role to decisions made by everyone from an assistant coach, who witnessed Sandusky's anally raping a 10-year old in the shower; to the lack of action by the university's president; to the post-2002 Rick-Perry-memory hole of the sainted (now) former coach Joe Paterno.

All of them spent at least a decade, perhaps closer to 15 years, covering up the behaviour of a serial-child rapist, who used the football programme's reputation and facilities to both locate his victims and commit his crimes.

For these men in positions of power, "greed was good", a lesson learned by the lunkheaded Penn State students who chose to "riot" Wednesday evening upon news of Paterno's firing by the Penn State University Board by turning over a car, breaking windows and performing other acts of mass stupidity. For them, being able to party hardy post-victory and continue the cult of Paterno was more important than the lives of potential peers violently victimised by a beast.

The personal responsibility touted by these protectors, and in particular Joe Paterno - rock-ribbed Republican friend of the Bushs and former Pennsylvania senator turned presidential candidate Rick Santorum - was no match for the avarice their politics and personal-belief system would seem to espouse. Santorum, who sponsored the Republican-registered Sandusky for the "Congressional Angels in Adoption" award, based on the non-profit Sandusky founded to provide care for foster children, was still defending Paterno, last we heard.

So in case you're scoring at home, to Santorum being gay is terrible, because homosexuality is just like "paedophilia". But if the person performing or covering up child rape is a friend, paedophilia's A-ok. So does that mean Santorum supports gay rights - as long as the non-straight in question is a friend of his?

This has been an another edition of Deep Thoughts with Rick Santorum.

Speaking of deep thoughts, the same big money created Santorum's debate mate Herman Cain, avatar of the right-wing greed culture and a man who thinks "right of return" has something to do with sending back a pizza because it took longer than 30 minutes to arrive. Cain's existence in the presidential race is courtesy of those libertarian Iran investors affectionately known as the Koch Brothers.

The fact that Cain has been accused of being a sexual predator is of no particular importance, because what he has done to women pales in comparison to what he could do for them and their big-money buddies with tax cuts, subsidies, deregulation and other items in the Norquist goody bag.

A philosopher that conservatives once believed in, Edmund Burke, famously said that "all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". For too many at Penn State and among the Herman Cain express train, just doing nothing would be a step up.