The Lions' Pride

Well stated and thanks for the post. I hate to sound over dramatic, but nothing less than the future of PSU is on the line and to leave the direction of PSU to the BoT, unchallenged, is to be very, very short sighted. I'm certain Peetz & company will drive this bus off the road so the time is now to get involved by becoming a part of all the groups you named.

JMO, but you would be better served by making the focus of your movement the University and leaving Joe out of it. Again, JMO, but taking "Action for Joe and PSU" as one blog promoting the event states, suggests that Joe is more important than the University, which is the central theme for those who criticize Penn State in the first place. Joe's family can defend Joe. If you want to galvanize alumni, defend our school. Otherwise, you will be considered "cult members".

True. As unfortunate as many may see it, putting Joe as one of the key points ensures that this movement goes nowhere. That being fair or not is up to one's own feelings.

Professionalism is also a key.

Boulder, I was referring to this thread and link.

Edit: wrong link.

Franco having a cardboard cut out of Joe next to him and a website called framingpaterno.com (or whatever) goes against that.

Listen the BOT should be carted out for a few reasons from their awful leadership throughout this. Its just a very honest point moving forward.

Also, David. If you want people to join you should realize those aren't the only two options. You're leaving out the center, capture the center you capture the will of the people and victory.

Apparently someone else set the cardboard cutout of Joe next to Franco.

What does the framingpaterno.com website have to do with the rally for resignations?

Lastly, I haven't listened to Franco's speech yet, but we all know he has a soft spot -- bigger than most -- for Joe. I would cut him some slack if he mentioned Joe in his speech.

Did you watch the video in the link I posted? That was one of the organizers. He didn't mention Joe. And if you can get someone like Franco to speak at the event, as long as he's clear on what the event is about, you don't really want to tell him to not mention Joe.

> Was that site not mentioned in the OP? Also, it wasn't just a note on the Rally itself, but for the movement as a whole.

Yes, chiro mentioned it as a *separate* thing/effort to support in his OP. The "rally for resignation" was/is in no way associated with framingpaterno.com. Two separate movements.

> So outside of Franco (who has had that cutout multiple places) no speaker mentioned Joe at all?

Going by memory, I don't believe so. Perhaps he got a passing mention here and there, but if you listen to the speeches, it's clear that the rally was not about Paterno.

> Edit: Also, if Franco didn't bring that cutout with him wouldn't it have been a Rally organizer/member that set it next to him?

I don't know, but I doubt it. DavidM probably can answer that.

Please let me clarify exactly what went down. The only speaker who made any substantive remarks about Joe was Franco. He followed a formal statement at the beginning which indicated the rally was about failed leadership, and he was followed by other speakers who did not mention Joe. Anthony Lubrano told a brief story about seeing Joe shortly before he died in which Joe indicated he was concerned about Penn State, not himself, and then Lubrano talked about the need for all of us to defend Penn State. The rally was about the current state of PSU leadership.

Now, to the standup Joe figure. There were some people standing around behind where the PA systems and other speakers were standing, and just as Franco was about to start speaking, this unknown guy I hadn't noticed before walks up with the figure and positions it next to Franco. He had not asked for permission to do it, and if he'd asked I would have said no. The other organizers and I were extremely angry about that gesture, but I thought that removing the figure while Franco was speaking would have been provocative, so I told the owner of the figure to remove it when Franco finished speaking, and he did it.

Frankly, I thought that was the one sour note of the whole rally. And that guy will not have another opportunity to distort the focus of a rally again. Is that explanation clear enough?

See Tom, I do support you guys. I really do. But that's the kind of mentality that will lose you this fight. Its not black and white for the majority of people. There is middle ground. I personally won't donate a dime to any group that attatches themselves to PS4RS, framingjoepaterno.com, or uses the terms Freehdm Fighters or Freeh Fiction. That is unprofessional and counter productive.

When a group like that steps up, I have a nice check to hand over. And it isn;t even my alma mater, I just stand to support any one or thing that is wrongly persecuted and hung ot to dry.

Hey, I'll take the check. Seriously, You're correct. There are people who think the the BOT has done well, those who think the situation is to a degree a disaster but aren't interested in doing anything about it, and those who see a smouldering wreck and are willing to do something about it: write a check, make a post as an advocate, wrote a letter to an editor, speak to other people about the subject, inconvenience themselves to attend a rally or other supportive event.

The second group, relative to this issue, might as well not even have a perspective on the subject, because inertness actually supports the status quo. They are ghosts. Obviously, my job is to try to move people from the second group into the third group.

So we're back to the first group and the third group. Either we fight injustice or we permit it

I was there with my husband, and we did not feel that the emphasis was on Joe at all. It was squarely on the ineptitude of the BOT going back to when they first found out about the Grand Jury indictments, and how they've handled/not handled everything since. Kudos to the organizers as it was very well done.

We'll be there.