David McElroy

If you believe the organizers behind the misguided effort called Occupy Black Friday, Americans go on an orgy of consumer spending because it’s the “one day where the mega-corporations blatantly dictate our actions.” So they’re organizing a boycott of stores to “hit the corporations that corrupt and control American politics where it hurts, their profits.”

There’s also a Stop Black Friday website, which sounds suspiciously like the Grinch drumming his fingers nervously as he says, “I must find some way to stop Christmas from coming.”

The boycott includes giants such as Walmart, Target and Dick’s Sporting Goods, as well as lesser-known chains such as Dollar Tree. (Does anyone really go to Black Friday sales at Dollar Tree?) Since this group is convinced that people are doing what “corporations” are dictating, I went over to the Target near my house Thursday evening to talk to people standing in line waiting for sales to start at 10 p.m. I’m happy to report that I couldn’t find an oppressed person in the bunch.

Rebecca was in line with her 17-year-old daughter, Jennifer. I explained to them that some activists on Facebook say that Target and other corporations are dictating their actions, and Rebecca laughed.

“The only way someone ‘dictates’ my actions is if they have something I want to buy at a price I want to pay,” Rebecca said. “I’m out here tonight because I can save some money on things I want to buy anyway. This is going to be a major portion of what I’m going to spend for Christmas presents, and I’m saving money to do it this way. It’s pretty arrogant for some ignorant yahoos to claim I’m only here because someone forced me to. I’m here because it’s in my best interests — to get what I want.”

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Barack Obama pardoned a couple of turkeys named Liberty and Peace this morning, sparing them from becoming Thanksgiving dinner for someone on Thursday. This lighthearted tradition is good holiday PR, but it must ring hollow with the human beings in prison for crimes they didn’t commit.

Some presidents have used pardons in questionable ways, such as the flurry of 140 pardons granted by Bill Clinton on his last day in office. In Clinton’s case, many of the people involved had personal or political connections to Clinton or other Democrats. That’s still not as many as the 204 people who Richard Nixon pardoned in one day near the end of his checkered time in office. (And remember that Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon for his Watergate-related crimes even before Nixon was charged.) More recently, George W. Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence was controversial because Libby was an administration official convicted of leaking information for political purposes.

The evidence is clear that presidents don’t mind using pardons to help their friends and politically connected associates, so why aren’t they willing to use the power to help people in this country who are in prison despite the fact that it’s clear they’re innocent?

If you don’t believe we have a problem with wrongfully convicted people, you’re wrong. That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact. We have example after example of people who have spent years in prison despite not having been guilty of the crimes they were convicted of. If you’d like details, you’ll find plenty of harrowing examples at the website of the Innocence Project, which works to help release people who are demonstrably innocent.

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Joe Paterno has been a living legend in college football for as long as I can remember. I’ve had respect for Penn State’s program for years because of him. Even when Penn State played my school, the University of Alabama, it was always hard to dislike the guy, simply because of what he stood for.

Now that legacy is in ruins. Paterno has been fired by the school where he’s still larger than life. The image he spent a lifetime building has been tarnished beyond repair. And now we have word that he’s dealing with lung cancer. It’s not the way you want to see a man of his caliber exit the public stage.

On this week’s episode of the public radio show, “This American Life,” the entire hour was devoted to what’s going on at Penn State — not the scandal itself, but the reactions of the university community and alumni. (If you’re one of the few who doesn’t know what’s gone on, you can get the background here.)

Paterno was a coach who preached the value of “doing things the right way.” He seemed to care about academics and honesty and integrity. It’s what he built his career on. In a very real sense, it was his reputation for integrity that the school has built its own image upon for close to 50 years. He was seen as a beloved god in State College, Penn., and it’s been difficult for students, fans and alumni to wrap their heads around the fact that he’s a god who failed to live up to his sterling reputation.

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