Now may be the time for remorse and regret — we’ve heard plenty of it already. But it’s also time for JoePa to lawyer up, as it’s now being reported he has. He was fired, presumably for cause, by the university that had employed him since 1950. He is still in clear jeopardy of criminal sanctions by state prosecutors. He has a huge blue-and-white bull’s eye on his back for civil liability from the alleged victims of the assaults and their family members. His reputation is in tatters and his pension presumably is in jeopardy. It is the end of his life as he knew it — just as it was, it must be said, for those poor young boys who were allegedly assaulted.
No matter what ends up happening from here, no matter how much hush money is paid or how many indictments are handed up, the winningest coach in major college football history is likely to spend the next few years, perhaps what’s left of the rest of his life, in and out of courtrooms and lawyer’s offices. There will be no Happy Valley students there to scream his name in adulation. There will be only smart lawyers with good questions demanding answers. For Joe Paterno, the reckoning is at hand.
… was a great day for the National Park Service and, of course, us. On that date President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 95-625, the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978. The bill authorized $1.2 billion for more than 100 parks, rivers and historic sites and trails.
Among the National Park Service units that associate this date with their authorization, enhancement or re-designation are:
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Texas
Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, Canada-Mexico
Delaware National Scenic River, Pennsylvania-New Jersey-New York
Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, Washington
Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site, Pennsylvania
Friendship Hill National Historic Site, Pennsylvania
Iditarod National Historic Trail, Alaska
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, Louisiana
Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, Hawaii
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, Missouri to Oregon
Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, Virginia
Middle Delaware National Scenic River, Pennsylvania-New Jersey
Missouri National Recreation River, Nebraska-South Dakota
Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, Illinois to Utah
New River Gorge National River, West Virginia
Oregon National Historic Trail, Missouri to Oregon
Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site, Texas
New Jersey Pinelands National Preserve, New Jersey
Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park, Hawaii
Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River, Texas
Saint Paul’s Church National Historic Site, New York
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, Texas
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, California
Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Maryland
Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreation River, New York-Pennsylvania
Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, Massachusetts-Rhode Island
The literary works of Edgar Allan Poe continue to thrill readers today. Here he established his reputation as a literary critic, perfected his gothic tales, invented the modern detective story, and wrote poetry. Today his home offers visitors an opportunity to reflect on the author’s life and legacy.
… was renamed on this date in 1978. It had been Alibates Flint Quarries and Texas Panhandle Pueblo Culture National Monument since 1965.
Imagine yourself standing where an ancient civilization once lived, surrounded by colorful flint, that was used to make weapons and tools. Alibates flint is a multi-colored stone with the ability to hold a sharp edge. This agatized dolomite was highly prized and traded throughout much of North America by pre-historic American Indians.
For thousands of years, people came to the red bluffs above the Canadian River for flint that was vital to their existence. Prehistoric people needed raw materials for tools and weapons, and Alibates flint was some of the finest. Many of the quarry pits are located on the hilltops overlooking the Canadian River. These pits vary from five to twenty-five feet across, and were originally about four to seven feet deep. Over the centuries the quarry pits have filled with blowing dust and vegetation, creating the landscape that we see today.
… was designated a national park on this date in 1978. It had been designated a national memorial park in 1947.
Theodore Roosevelt was the nation’s 26th President and is considered by many to have been our country’s “Conservationist President.” Here in the North Dakota badlands, where many of his personal concerns first gave rise to his later environmental efforts, Roosevelt is remembered with a national park that bears his name and honors the memory of this great conservationist.
Theodore Roosevelt’s rugged, outdoor experience here in the North Dakota badlands shaped his attitudes and philosophy regarding the conservation of our nation’s natural resources.
Many watchable wildlife species inhabit Theodore Roosevelt National Park including bison, elk, prairie dogs, white-tail and mule deer, sharp-tailed grouse, golden eagles, feral horses, and pronghorns.
Theodore Roosevelt said the badlands were “so fantastically broken in form and so bizarre in color as to seem hardly properly to belong to this earth.” Discover the “grim fairyland” of Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s geologic formations.
Established in 1978 for the preservation, protection and interpretation of traditional native Hawaiian activities and culture, Kaloko-Honokohau NHP is an 1160 acre park full of incredible cultural and historical significance. It is the site of an ancient Hawaiian settlement which encompasses portions of four different ahupua’a, or traditional sea to mountain land divisions. Resources include fishponds, kahua (house site platforms), ki’i pohaku (petroglyphs), holua (stone slide), and heiau (religious site).
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve was established to preserve significant examples of the rich natural and cultural resources of Louisiana’s Mississippi Delta region. The park seeks to illustrate the influence of environment and history on the development of a unique regional culture.
The park consists of six physically separate sites and a park headquarters located in southeastern Louisiana. The sites in Lafayette, Thibodaux, and Eunice interpret the Acadian culture of the area. The Barataria Preserve (in Marrero) interprets the natural and cultural history of the uplands, swamps, and marshlands of the region. Six miles southeast of New Orleans is the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery, site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans and the final resting place for soldiers from the Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam. At 419 Decatur Street in the historic French Quarter is the park’s visitor center for New Orleans. This center interprets the history of New Orleans and the diverse cultures of Louisiana’s Mississippi Delta region. The Park Headquarters is located in New Orleans.
Richmond, VA. is home to many famous Americans including one of the nation’s great entrepreneurial spirits, Maggie Lena Walker. Come visit her home in the Jackson Ward community. Through exhibits and guided tours you will experience the life of this great African American woman, who was born during slavery and achieved success despite segregation and the limited opportunities offered to her race.
… was upgraded from national monument to national park on this date in 1978.
People are drawn to the rugged beauty of the Badlands. These geologic deposits contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds. Ancient mammals such as the rhino, horse, and saber-toothed cat once roamed here. The park’s 244,000 acres protect an expanse of mixed-grass prairie where bison, bighorn sheep, deer, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets live today.
Four Spanish frontier missions, part of a colonization system that stretched across the Spanish Southwest in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries, are preserved here. They include Missions San Jose, San Juan, Espada, and Concepcion. The park, containing many cultural sites along with some natural areas, was established in 1978. The park covers about 819 acres.
It was on this date in 1865 that Andersonville prison commander Henry Wirz was hanged. The Library of Congress tells us:
Henry Wirz, former commander of the infamous Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia, was hanged on November 10, 1865 in Washington, D.C. Swiss-born Wirz was assigned to the command at Andersonville on March 27, 1864. When arrested on May 7, 1865, he was the only remaining member of the Confederate staff at the prison. Brigadier General John Winder, commander of Confederate prisons east of the Mississippi and Wirz’s superior at Andersonville, died of a heart attack the previous February.
A military tribunal tried Wirz on charges of conspiring with Jefferson Davis to “injure the health and destroy the lives of soldiers in the military service of the United States.” Several individual acts of cruelty to Union prisoners were also alleged. Caught in the unfortunate position of answering for all of the misery that was Andersonville, he stood little chance of a fair trial. After two months of testimony rife with inconsistencies, Wirz was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death.
View a photograph taken just before the hanging and another just after the trap was sprung.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called “Gitche Gumee.”
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
when the “Gales of November” came early.
The ship was the pride of the American side
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin.
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and good captain well seasoned,
concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
when they left fully loaded for Cleveland.
And later that night when the ship’s bell rang,
could it be the north wind they’d been feelin’?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
and a wave broke over the railing.
And ev’ry man knew, as the captain did too
’twas the witch of November come stealin’.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
when the Gales of November came slashin’.
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
in the face of a hurricane west wind.
When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin’.
“Fellas, it’s too rough t’feed ya.”
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
“Fellas, it’s bin good t’know ya!”
The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
and the good ship and crew was in peril.
And later that night when ‘is lights went outta sight
came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
if they’d put fifteen more miles behind ‘er.
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
they may have broke deep and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
of the wives and the sons and the daughters.
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion.
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams;
the islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below Lake Ontario
takes in what Lake Erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
with the Gales of November remembered.
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the “Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral.”
The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call “Gitche Gumee.”
“Superior,” they said, “never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early!”
The ship was thirty-nine feet tall, seventy-five feet wide, and 729 feet long.
Lightfoot’s lyrics had one error — the load was bound for Detroit, not Cleveland.
There were waves as high as 30 feet that night; so high they were picked up on radar.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was only 17 miles from safe haven (Whitefish Point).
Today is the 236th anniversary of the founding of the United States Marine Corps (1775).
From the Halls of Montezuma,
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country’s battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean:
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine.
Russell Johnson is 87. You know, The Professor on Gilligan’s Island. Johnson has another 150 or so cast credits at IMDb.
The Mama and Papa’s little girl is 52; that’s Mackenzie Phillips. Known, of course, as the older Cooper sister in “One Day At a Time,” the young Phillips, I thought, was best as Carol in “American Graffiti.”
Tracy Morgan is 43.
It’s the birthday of Ellen Pompeo. Dr. Grey’s anatomy is 42 today.
Roy Scheider was born on this date in 1932. He was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for “The French Connection,” and the best actor Oscar for “All That Jazz,” but we may know him best as Sheriff Martin Brody in Jaws. Scheider died in 2008.
Richard Burton was born 86 years ago today (1925). Burton was nominated for the best actor Oscar six times and best supporting actor Oscar once. He never won. Burton died at age 58.
In fact, over the past decade, growing evidence shows pretty conclusively that social mobility has stalled in this country. Last week, Time magazine’s cover asked, “Can You Still Move Up in America?” The answer, citing a series of academic studies was, no; not as much as you could in the past and — most devastatingly — not as much as you can in Europe.
The most comprehensive comparative study, done last year by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, found that “upward mobility from the bottom” — Daniels’s definition — was significantly lower in the United States than in most major European countries, including Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark. Another study, by the Institute for the Study of Labor in Germany in 2006, uses other metrics and concludes that “the U.S. appears to be exceptional in having less rather than more upward mobility.”
A 2010 Economic Mobility Project study found that in almost every respect, the United States has a more rigid socioeconomic class structure than Canada. …
“To Paterno’s supporters, those of us who called for and then praised his firing are a braying mob of self-righteous haters using vague information to ruin a good man. I can live with that.”
“The last lesson in unusual politics comes from Costco, longtime home of the $1.50 hot dog and gummy bears by the barrel. Using its newfound powers as a corporation-as-a-person granted them by the Supreme Court, Citizen Costco spent about $20 million on an initiative to persuade Washington voters to privatize the liquor business. No corporation, or individual, had ever spent so much money in the state on any voter measure.”
First off, let me say you have a fine, fine football team. The running game and the defense are just fantastic. I’ll make this quick because you’re busy. Tuscaloosa probably has a part of town where Latinos are concentrated. If not Tuscaloosa, then certainly Birmingham. In that part of town there will be a makeshift soccer field, or maybe even a real soccer field. On this field you will find children of all ages for whom kicking a ball is easy, second nature, and who haven’t lived lives steeped in American collegiate football lore and therefore wouldn’t be super-duper nervous if asked to kick a weird-shaped ball through uprights that to them would seem a gaping target. After you’ve chosen your boy, explain that he will receive a college education at one of the top 100 state universities in the nation if a few dozen times a year he kicks the weird ball through the uprights for you. There may be a moment of confusion when the boy thinks he has to actually hit one of the uprights with the ball, and then when he realizes he merely has to kick it anywhere between the uprights, both of you will laugh, and laughter knows no borders.
“Weary of plastic litter, Grand Canyon National Park officials were in the final stages of imposing a ban on the sale of disposable water bottles in the Grand Canyon late last year when the nation’s parks chief abruptly blocked the plan after conversations with Coca-Cola, a major donor to the National Park Foundation.”
Coach Sandusky was investigated for inappropriate conduct with a child in 1998 while still a coach at Penn State. Are we to believe Joe Paterno didn’t know this? And that no alarm bells were set off in 2002 when the new incident was reported to him.
“There’s been a lot said in the last couple of days about how these revelations have tarnished Mr. Paterno’s successes as a coach. That’s kind of beside the point, isn’t it?”
“Of course, nobody in the field except Jon Huntsman, the Incredible Vanishing Mormon, has any serious experience at dealing with foreigners. Michele Bachmann has negotiated with nobody except the voices in her head for 10 years, and Rick Perry believes there are only two countries in the world — America-Fk-Yeah! and Meskinland. Newt Gingrich’s most memorable overseas experience was bitching about his seat on Air Force One, and all Ron Paul knows about people in other lands is that we shouldn’t give them any money. (He feels much the same about other Americans, too, so that’s a wash, I suppose.) Mitt Romney’s experience in foreign affairs is limited to bobsledders, and Herman Cain’s experience in foreign affairs is — please, god in Heaven, let this be so — merely limited.”
“I love Lloyd Criss, and I would love him even if I wasn’t half scared to death of him.
“First off, he’s big enough to fill a huddle all on his own. Hell, a picture of him weighs 5 pounds. He’s the only thing in Texas that big without John Deere stamped on it. He’s double big.”
