Yesterday’s Preliminary Hearing: What We Learned Concerning Joe Paterno   Yesterday, District Judge William Wenner ruled that the charges made against Penn State’s Athletic Director, Tim Curley and Penn States’ Senior Vice President for Finance and Business, Gary Schultz – charges of perjury and failure to report sexual abuse – will move forward to trial. Yesterday’s preliminary hearing featured nearly two hours of testimony from Mike McQueary (the “graduate assistant” in the grand jury report), as well as testimony from McQueary’s father, John and the former chief of the University police, Tom Harmon. In addition, the complete grand jury testimony of Joe Paterno, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz was read into the record. Mike McQueary’s testimony today differed from that found in the grand … Read entire article »

New, Previously Suppressed Grand Jury Testimony and Joe Paterno   I have a question for all the half-witted, moronic jackals in the news media who — having simply read the grand jury report of November 2011– rushed to denounce Joe Paterno for his failure of moral leadership in handling allegations of sexual misconduct against Jerry Sandusky. It’s the same question I have for the moronic Pennsylvania state police commissioner, Frank Noonan, who provided fodder for the jackals’ feeding frenzy: When did you first learn about Dr. Jonathon Dranov? Who is Dr. Jonathon Dranov? Well, according to Sara Ganim of the Harrisburg Patriot-News, Dr. Jonathon Dranov is a friend and colleague of Mike McQueary’s father, who was present when McQueary (called the “graduate … Read entire article »

DeLillo’s Jesuit Priest, the Media Jackals, the Incited Mob and Joe Paterno   Having spent years immersing myself in Russian literature (some of it in Russian) and having dabbled in French, German, Czech, English and American literature, I’ve gained a modest acquaintance with the world’s great literature. It is from that perspective that Don DeLillo’s Underworld struck me as the greatest novel I’ve read (possessing a very slight edge over Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude) In Underworld DeLillo persuasively demonstrates a point he has argued elsewhere, namely that serious literature can compete with history, if not surpass it, when it comes to providing a deep understanding of our past. There’s a tremendous section in Underworld (pp. 536-43) about Father Paulus, … Read entire article »