The Romney Surprise

Much of the media has been focused on Mitt Romney's still-secret tax returns for much of the summer. It's been only recently that the American people finally began to clue in on the fact that Mr. Romney may have something very serious to hide.

Now, finally, with pressure mounting from both directions, the Republican candidate for President is looking more and more desperate. Like a new father holding his baby at arms length - a child with an overflowing diaper - Mitt can't seem to face the fact that the answer to his problems is to take a deep breath, and clean up the mess.

In short, Mitt's been overreacting, crying about being bullied while still stubbornly refusing to present multiple years of his tax returns. That makes Americans believe that Mr. Romney may have something to hide.

The Obama campaign's current tactic has capitalized on that doubt, in a very brutal and direct way. Importantly, the Obama campaign has brought a crucial point to the attention of a growing number of Americans: As voters, we have very little hard data on how Mitt Romney has handled his business or personal finances.

For a candidate who continues to claim that his business experience makes him the best candidate for President, Romney's refusal to present his tax returns simply adds more questions about his conduct and character.

Without Mr. Romney's tax returns to judge whether he's been lying, or to whom, speculation is rampant about what Mr. Romney could be hiding. As conservative stalwart George Will noted, "The cost of not releasing the returns are clear. Therefore, [Romney] must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them."

One professional speculation is that Mitt Romney simply may not have paid any federal taxes in 2009, by using offshore tax havens like his accounts in the Caymen Islands. Other expert analysis also notes that Romney could have paid tax rates during the last decade that are FAR lower than the rates paid by most Americans. For a candidate who's made it clear he wants to lower taxes on the wealthiest, while raising everyone else's taxes, such a revelation could be politically deadly for Romney.

Other things Mitt's tax records could reveal include that he made have made even more money from Bain Capital than he's previously claimed, that he may have had to pay some serious fines, that he's got more offshore tax havens we don't know about, or even some problematic deductions.

Hovering over all this is the reminder that Sen. John  McCain picked the incompetent half-term Gov. Sarah Palin over Mitt Romney to be his Vice Presidential running mate four years ago. As McCain noted in an interview on Tuesday, the blunt truth, as McCain saw it, was that Sarah Palin was a better choice than Mitt Romney.

Whatever is in Mr. Romney's past, it must be one hell of a load of... unpleasant stuff, if Mitt would rather run for President with the tag "Sarah Palin was more qualified than me" than simply release his tax returns for the last ten years.

No matter how you look at it, it's going to take a lot of paper for Mitt to clean up this mess.

Hot Battered Corn

In case you've been spending your time stocking a freezer, or you've been on a trip to somewhere cold  - like Greenland - the unusual heat and drought conditions striking most of the U.S. have probably caught your attention.

Come to think of it, no matter where you've been on Earth lately, you've probably recognized that the long-term weather patterns aren't what they used to be.

For those ignorant corncob-chomping types at the neighborhood barbecue who continue to insist that this is just another heat wave like the ones that have come and gone for ages now, there was some serious news on Monday.

The National Climatic Data Center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared that for the first time in over fifty years, that more than half the U.S. is under moderate to extreme drought conditions. Further, those conditions don't look to improve this year. If you judge the nation under "abnormally dry" standards, more than 80 percent of the U.S. is in trouble right now.

In short, this isn't just another heat wave - and it doesn't just mean higher electric bills and more sunscreen.

Long-term drought, something much of the U.S. is hovering on the edge of, affects everything from paved highways to barge travel, from grocery prices to energy costs. Of course, the massive corn and soybean crops that have become a hallmark of America since World War II are also being seriously affected. As we noted last Friday, in our "Midwest Roundup" links, the state of Nebraska has shut off all irrigators, statewide, who claim surface water rights - that's more than 1100 farmers overall.

Admittedly, we've been stepping up our efforts this year to penetrate the thick skulls of climate deniers, so they understand that this isn't just another hot summer. Other media organizations have also been stepping up their efforts at educating and informing.

A recent poll from the Washington Post and Stanford University seems to show that those efforts to sow some real insight about climate change haven't fallen on completely deaf ears. Most Americans now understand climate change is real, and that major weather events like droughts are getting worse.

We don't mean to sound like some kind of monster, swallowing up all hope for a better tomorrow.

Even Republican surrogates for Mitt Romney, like former Deputy Secretary of Energy Linda Gillespie Stunz, have admitted that candidate Romney would be open to possible carbon-pricing legislation - the formerly Republican idea of "Cap and Trade."

Further, there are still plenty of technological innovations that we can develop and use to make our lives better. For example, anthropologists recently figured out the water delivery system for a 2000 year old Mayan village that was hit by drought for four months every year - but kept their people hydrated year 'round.

The point is, we all must be willing to accept that we have a problem and that we need to develop innovative ways to deal with the causes and effects of global climate change.

Especially if we'd all like to keep enjoying some of the best things in life - like eating hot buttered corn - instead of watching our corn crops be constantly battered by the heat.

Pressure Cooker Overflow

Child molestation and the inverted power structure that surrounds college football are two subjects that a great many Americans are too squeamish to talk about or even read about.

Like a seafood stew that's simmered in a pot too long, the culture of "King Football" as CBS's Dennis Dodd calls it, must be ended. The culture of silence that surrounds child molestation is also one that is long overdue for a swift and final death. For too long, Americans have attempted to ignore both subjects, like a child who insists you've disappeared because they've hidden their eyes from you.

With the trial over, and the official report on the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State finally released, it's obvious that simply closing America's collective eyes didn't make the monsters go away.

The report on the Jerry Sandusky case, as compiled by former FBI director Louis Freeh made that sad fact all too clear when it was released last week. Four of the most powerful people at Penn State - and indeed, some of the most powerful people in all of college sports - protected a child predator and a college football program while they let the real victims suffer in silence for years.

We've watched as story after story has rolled out insisting Penn State be vilified for their blatant lack of responsibility. We've seen more than one call for the NCAA to give the football program at Penn State the "death penalty" as they did to SMU in 1987. We've even read comments from some of the same knee-jerk reactionary fans who raced into the streets of Happy Valley last fall to defend the so-called honor of Joe Paterno, now insisting that Paterno's statue should be torn down right away.

Those foolish people weren't correct last year when they defended Paterno to the hilt -  and they're not right now.

We do agree that the statue should be torn down. Any legacy of goodness Joe Paterno once had has been erased by the sad and disgusting refusal to deal with the multiple acts of child molestation by Paterno's assistant and friend, Jerry Sandusky.

The sick culture of coaches and players as demi-gods should also be torn down, though that's a completely separate commentary all by itself.

We also agree that Penn State should be penalized by the NCAA, by the State of Pennsylvania, and possibly even by the Feds. Finally, we believe the individuals responsible, most of whom are no longer with the university, should be punished most sternly of all.

We don't however, believe the students and professors currently at Penn State should have to suffer for the transgressions of those in positions of responsibility who failed so horribly at being decent human beings. Guilt by association will travel with those students and professors their entire lives, when they hold up their diplomas and resumes with the name "Penn State University" in bold type.

For now, those who are nominally in charge at Penn State will have to struggle through the bureaucratic minefields that anyone else would have to encounter, if they were to challenge a long-held status quo. The troubles Penn State's trustees will face should be no less painful and frustrating than the institutional denial that Jerry Sandusky's victims encountered.

What should also happen in the interim is that both the former and current executives in the school and the athletic department should be marched through the campus at Penn State once a day, regardless of weather, down to the statue of Joe Paterno. They should be forced to scream aloud, at the top of their lungs, the quote from Paterno that is etched there: “They ask me what I’d like written about me when I’m gone. I hope they write I made Penn State a better place, not just that I was a good football coach.”

When those executives, trustees, and coaches finally have their spirits crushed and can take no more, then maybe some small measure of justice will have been truly served for the kids abused by Jerry Sandusky. Justice for those boys who cried for help for years and received none.