By Bill O'Reilly

All Americans should be horrified and a bit sad by the situation unfolding at Penn State University.

Eighty-four-year-old legendary football coach Joe Paterno has been fired after 46 years at Penn State for failing to take aggressive action against one of his former assistants, whom a grand jury has indicted on 40 counts of child sexual abuse. Paterno says he notified college officials when he was told Jerry Sandusky was seen molesting a child, but he did not call the cops, and the coach should know that is unacceptable.

It's very simple: If you see or you hear about any child being physically abused in any way, you have an obligation to aggressively protect that child. That means the Penn State assistant coach who testified he saw the 67-year-old Sandusky molesting a little boy in a locker room shower should have immediately stopped that abuse, walked in and prevented Sandusky from doing any further harm. That's what Mike McQueary should have done, but he didn't. He reported the incident to Paterno, and nothing was done to Sandusky. Disgraceful.

Penn State University has finally done the right thing by cleaning house and sending a message to everyone: Protect the kids or you're out. But what about these moronic students who caused a near riot objecting to Paterno being dismissed? I mean, what is wrong with these people? Do they have no sense of decency whatsoever?

Sandusky, Paterno and the rest of them are innocent until proven guilty, but eyewitness testimony in front of a grand jury is enough to force responsible people to take action. The fact that Sandusky was given $100,000 bail and no ankle bracelet is also a disgrace. And now we find out that the judge who did that, Leslie Dutchcot, worked as a volunteer for Sandusky's charity. Judge Dutchcot should have immediately recused herself from the case. What is wrong with her?

The bigger picture here is that child molesters -- rapists -- are the lowest form of human life. You may remember "The Factor" went on a huge campaign to have Jessica's Law passed in all 50 states. Pennsylvania has a watered-down version, a 10-year mandatory sentence for child rape first offense. If you do it again, you get 25 years. But that's ridiculous. Why give a child predator a second chance?

So far, six states have not passed Jessica's Law: Hawaii, Illinois and Vermont are progressive situations, states that do not like to make judgments about evil. But New Jersey, Idaho and Colorado are simply inexplicable. In 2008, Jesse Watters confronted Jon Corzine, then the governor of New Jersey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE WATTERS, "O'REILLY FACTOR" PRODUCER: We just want to know if you support Jessica's Law 25-year mandatory minimum sentence for child rapists?

JON CORZINE, D, FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Well, we have one of the toughest laws in New Jersey, and we're the ones that started this movement, and I support those laws.

WATTERS: You guys have 25-year mandatory minimum for child rapists?

CORZINE: You know, we have what Megan's Law, which actually started this whole movement. So I don't know how it matches up exactly with that, but we have one of the strongest set of laws in the country.

WATTERS: I'm not sure if it's the mandatory minimum though, sir, with all due respect.

CORZINE: That I can't tell you because I haven't actually, you know, wasn't prepared for the question today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Corzine simply wasn't prepared, period. He did nothing to get Jessica's Law passed. Now that Chris Christie is in charge of New Jersey, we hope that situation will change.

There should be no second chances for child rapists, and no quarter for people who do not act aggressively against them.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

Back in July, actor Justin Timberlake was invited to the Marine Corps Ball by Cpl. Kelsey De Santis. Well Timberlake showed up on Saturday night, ironically in Richmond, Virginia, much to the delight of the corporal and the Marine Corps in general. Since the actor is very busy, that was a very nice thing to do, so Timberlake is a patriot.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.