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 »

The Grand Jury Report   The Pennsylvania State University is linked to the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal because: (1) it employed him as an assistant coach of Penn State’s football team during the period when some of his alleged sexual molestations occurred, (2) it employed him when a specific allegation of sexual misconduct was investigated (but not prosecuted) in 1998, (3) a janitor at the university witnessed, but never reported a specific alleged molestation by the now retired Sandusky in 2000, (4) another alleged molestation by Sandusky, which took place on 1 March 2002 in a university shower, was witnessed by a graduate assistant on the football team, (5) Coach Joe Paterno, Athletic Director Tim Curley, Senior Vice President for Finance and … Read entire article »

The Mid-1970′s Through 1998   As a Penn State alumnus, I have four personal priorities concerning the Jerry Sandusky scandal. First, I want to do my part to assure that all the boys allegedly violated by Jerry Sandusky receive justice and are made whole – as far as possible. Second, I want Jerry Sandusky to receive justice, keeping in mind that he is innocent until proven guilty. Third, I want Penn State University to clean house by removing all the officials – including members of the Board of Trustees — who officially presided over Penn State while Sandusky performed his alleged serial sexual assaults on young boys. Fourth, I want to ascertain what Joe Paterno knew about Sandusky’s behavior and when he … Read entire article »