Category → Fruit of Contemplation
Something lighter
Odd ways to die from long ago…http://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/2012/10/29/causes-of-death-you-wont-want-on-your-death-certificate/?o_xid=54215&o_lid=54215&o_sch=External+Paid+Media
Good movies hard to come by
Zero Dark Thirty takes its name from the old saw that military duty usually begins at some dark hour long before dawn, when most people are fast asleep in cozy beds.
The movie by that name contains the same message: Americans live comfortably, while brave warriors place themselves at great risk for the greater good, often without thanks or recognition.
It’s certainly a timely message, as our current president is reluctant to lead or give credit to those who do. Americans are in grave danger around the planet, and thankfully we have citizens who still believe in the greater good, even if their current political bosses do not.
Like the movie Act of Valor, Zero Dark Thirty gives a glimpse into the harsh reality of battlefields far away from daily American life, but without which our happy existence would not be possible.
A good message, a necessary movie.
Downton Abbey’s American Roots — Of Course
For the other Downton Abbey addicts and aficionados out there, here is an interesting article I enjoyed reading this morning. All about the family connection between the TV show Downton Abbey, the real Highclere Castle, and Wyoming, America. By the way, the state of Wyoming was named after Wyoming, Pennsylvania; it means “Great Grassy Plains” in the Delaware Indian language.
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/downton-abbey-close-to-wyoming-rancher-s-heart/article_11965d2e-5c28-11e2-8c45-0019bb2963f4.html
The Joe Paterno Empire Strikes Back
The family of late Penn State University football coach, icon, leader, and hero Joe Paterno has struck back at the “investigative” report by former US FBI director Louis Freeh.
Releasing an analysis of Freeh’s report that is similar to one posted on this blog last year (https://joshfirst.com/blog/2012/08/16/the-sandusky-disaster-kids-lose-penn-state-loses-ncaa-loses-theres-still-no-lesson-here/), the Paternos have taken an important step in regaining lost ground.
Lost ground was rapidly created by an uncritical press, willing to serve up maudlin caricatures of what may have happened around convicted child rapist Jerry Sandusky, rather than carefully scrutinize the facts and evidence we have in front of us, and then wait for the facts and evidence that we do not have but yet expect to see come out in the upcoming trials of Spanier, Curley, and Shultz.
A rush to judgment has never been so well documented, and then so well defended by a sea of armchair quarterbacks using 20/20 hindsight. Analyzing the comments on internet sites, like Forbes, ESPN, and any other reporting or opinion venue, you’d think that Joe Paterno was the real culprit, and not Sandusky.
Freeh’s report is as bad as a report can get. It is more representative of a Kremlin kangaroo court than the best America has to offer. After a career-start seven-year stint in Washington, DC, spent writing federal policy and law, my take on the Freeh report is that it is outrageously flawed.
Its worst defect is its use of wild conjecture (e.g. relying on hearsay in one email from Tim Curley to Graham Spanier and Gary Shultz about an unnamed “coach”). Nowhere does it say “While key facts are lacking or presently unknown, it is prudent to await casting judgment….” Rather, Freeh’s report is judge, jury, and executioner all at once, and it clearly aimed to destroy one person: Joe Paterno.
Importantly, Freeh’s report exonerated the sitting PSU trustees, most of whom had sat idly by and never challenged Spanier, even when one or two trustees began to ask him hard questions. Were those lazy trustees culpable? Why not?
Most important, Freeh was used by PSU and the NCAA to lower the standards bar, to decrease expectations in college football, rather than to elevate them. By arguing that Joe Paterno was deeply flawed and a hypocrite, Freeh made the classic morally relative argument that we are all pathetic losers, that there are no real heroes, that there are no really good men, and that no one should expect any to show up anytime soon.
Finally, if the PSU trustees fell down on the job and used the Freeh report to cover up their failings, one cannot escape the sense that at least some of the Paterno family members do not grasp the positive way that Joe Paterno is still viewed by many of us Nittany Nation members.
Last year, while communicating with one of the Paterno kids, I was struck by his inability or unwillingness to recognize the breadth of Joe’s legacy. That is, if Joe Paterno left a legacy, then it is beyond the family to solely claim, because it is carried by his believers. Joe’s legacy belongs to all of us, because he was representative of all of our values, hopes, and expectations, and our support is not about the family, but about the symbol that was Joe Paterno.
To that end, wouldn’t it be refreshing to see the family rally the troops, rather than look so deeply inward. Casting the Freeh report as a culture war attack on rare core values, rather than on a person, would more accurately frame this subject.
Unlike the vast majority of people with an opinion on this subject, I have actually read the Freeh report. It sucks. It is unprofessional. It is unworthy of Louis Freeh’s name, and it is unworthy of Penn State University’s name. It is nearly useless in understanding all of what happened with Jerry Sandusky, and how he continued to molest and rape little boys when some adults around him either suspected or had been told he was a pedophile. Shedding light on 33% of an issue raises more questions than it answers. Truth is not what was sought, but it is what is at stake. Bigger truths, like traditional core values that are under attack everywhere, suffer from this.
So, it is my hope that the Paterno family, and former governor and US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, will continue their efforts, and also expand them to encompass the bigger picture. Good luck, folks, we are standing with you.
Of Damsels in Distress & Lawyers, Part II
Following up on yesterday’s flamethrowing broadside…This morning Sherry and I visited with her legal counsel, “Attorney B.”
Let’s just say that communication is important if you want people to know what you are thinking and doing. Sherry had been communicating, but had Attorney B?
Attorney B admitted that (it turned out) his files were incomplete, that there was no record of Sherry having paid her bills (she had), her contact information was inexplicably incorrect, all of his letters and document copies to her were going to the defendant (!) and not to her…man, it read like a Murphy’s Law of what can go wrong will go wrong with your case.
But, Attorney B apologized earnestly, kept his head on straight, didn’t get defensive, got his file straightened out, and is now moving forward. He called me (and Sherry) not long ago to apologize again and commit to making sure the case is properly handled going forward. Good guy. He impressed me, because so many professionals, including and maybe even especially attorneys, cannot accept or admit their own mistakes.
Attorney B, if someone asked me what you are like, I’d say you are a true professional. Mistakes happen, even bad ones. The question comes down to how they are rectified. It’s kind of scary for all of us to have reached this particular point in this particular case, but you got Sherry redirected in the right direction. You ate your humble crow pie like a man. Frankly, you’re an inspiration to me, a guy who has to eat humble crow pie more than your average dude because of my own gregarious and informal personality.
The nice ending to this is that Sherry goes home after a long week of working hard, snuggles up with her man and a glass of wine, and can rest easier, knowing that her advocates are going to bat for her and making headway. Three cheers to good people all around.
Now for my own glass of wine….
Entertainment with Meaning Part II
For those of us still living in the 20th Century, modern music like this may occasionally supersede Flatt & Scruggs. This song and artist certainly do:
In the midst of war, flowers
In the midst of this political battle over retaining plainly stated Constitutional rights, I’m planning a wildflower hunt this spring. The location is in Middle Paxton Township on private land I manage. Amid all this testy unhappiness, it gives me something to smile about. I admit that my wife, children, and work give me much to smile about, but native wildflowers are a special weakness of mine. Finding a patch of trillium, wood sorrel, or Jack-in-the-pulpit always gives me hope. For these beautiful, delicate, gentle creations to survive and grow, much must be right in their small world.
And if there’s a small patch of All Right here, and there, and over there, then how much more there must be elsewhere. In a time of strife, these tiny, pretty thoughts remind me to be happy and remain hopeful.
See you little guys in April!
NCAA takes a shot to the gut
Good for Tom Corbett.
Pennsylvania’s governor has filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for its unfounded collective punishment of Penn State University, its students, its football players, and associated businesses and communities that depend on PSU’s reputation.
The indication that the NCAA has nothing to stand on is their spokesman’s response: The victims of Sandusky are “affronted.”
Say what? The NCAA is speaking for the kids now? What did anyone at PSU have to do with Sandusky? Two officials, maybe three, covered it up for a few years, and they will hopefully all rot in jail. But no one else out of the millions of people associated with the school had anything to do with it. Collective punishment is the domain of dictators, meant to instill terror. Invoking deep emotions instead of intellectual honesty shows the NCAA’s cowardice. A cowardly dictator? So much for the NCAA standing for much.
It’s my hope that the bizarre punishment levied against PSU will be tossed aside. Justice must be done, and done right. Here’s one step in that direction out of several steps that should include a public hanging of Jerry Sandusky and long jail sentences and huge fines for Shultz, Curley, and Spanier, none of whom should receive a public pension.