The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
Walter Bagehot
Four Angels From the Aurora Movie Massacre
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| Victim Matt McQuinn and Girlfriend Samantha Yowler Courtesy Facebook HT NY Daily News |
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| Victim Jon Blunk and his girlfriend Jansen Young Photo Courtesy Blunk family HT NY Daily News |
Valiant Jon Blunt, 25, wanted to return to the Navy (after a 5-year stint, mostly serving in the Persian Gulf) with the goal of becoming a SEAL. He brought 21-year-old Jansen to the movie to celebrate her recent graduation at a veterinarian school. Jon threw Jansen under the seat and covered her body with his. He leaves behind two children from his estranged marriage: Hailey, 4, and Maximus, 2. He was supposed to see his children over the weekend. “My daughter can’t comprehend it, and keeps wanting to call him,” said his separated wife Chantel Blunk.
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| Victim Alex Teves and girlfriend, Amanda Lindgren Photo Courtesy Facebook HT NY Daily News |
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| Jessica Redfield / Jessica Ghawi via Twitter HT NY Daily News |
I say all the time that
every moment we have to live our life
is a blessing.
So often I have found myself taking it for granted.
Every hug from a family member
Every laugh we share with friends.
Even the times of solitude
are all blessings.
Every second of every day is a gift.
After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand
how blessed I am
for each second I am given.
Obama Says This, Others Say That
"If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else [government] made that happen.” - Barack Obama
From Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (HT Carpe Diem)
“He didn’t invent iron ore and blast furnaces, did he?”
“Who?”
“Rearden. He didn’t invent smelting and chemistry and air compression. He couldn’t have invented his Metal but for thousands and thousands of other people. His Metal! Why does he think it’s his? Why does he think it’s his invention? Everybody uses the work of everybody else. Nobody ever invents anything.”
She said, puzzled, “But the iron ore and all those other things were there all the time. Why didn’t anybody else make that Metal, but Mr. Rearden did?”From FA Hayek, The Counter-Revolution of Science (HT Cafe Hayek)
We flatter ourselves undeservedly if we represent human civilization as entirely the product of conscious reason or as the product of human design, or when we assume that it is necessarily in our power deliberately to re-create or to maintain what we have built without knowing what we are doing. Though our civilization is the result of a cumulation of individual knowledge, it is not by the explicit or conscious combination of all this knowledge in any individual brain, but by its embodiment in symbols which we use without understanding them, in habits and institutions, tools and concepts, that man in society is constantly able to profit from a body of knowledge neither he nor any other man completely possesses. Many of the greatest things that man has achieved are the result not of consciously directed thought, and still less the product of a deliberately coordinated effort of many individuals, but of a process in which the individual plays a part which he can never fully understand. They are greater than any individual precisely because they result from the combination of knowledge more extensive than a single mind can master.Removing Joe Paterno's Statue: A Critical Opinion
As a writer, I really can't predict how readers will respond to my work. I've written some high-quality essays in this blog which have attracted few, if any, pageviews. And then there have been unexpected hits. I did not get individual blog post statistics until I upgraded my blog design a few months back, so I don't have lifetime statistics on the posts, but my George Zinkhan post is still one of my most popular entries.
For those who are unfamiliar with MBA degree plans, students take a number of core classes in finance, organizational behavior, production and logistics management, accounting, etc., including marketing. Zinkhan, relatively new to the UH faculty, taught my marketing class. I believe that he was Dutch American and like many Dutch people very tall (6'3" according to one news account). Like many academics, he came across as well-mannered, disciplined, quiet, almost aloof. I did well in the class but as an MIS major didn't take additional marketing classes. The next and last time I saw him, I was a PhD student with a shared office on an upper floor at one end of McElhinney Hall; the marketing department office anchored the other end of the floor. Zinkhan and I crossed paths on a rare occasion in the hall one day, and he flagged me down (I remember being impressed that he recognized me by name from a few semesters back). He told me (unknown to me) that he had submitted a copy of my class paper along with about 26 or so other projects, and some external authority had reviewed the papers and ranked mine the best. Zinkhan then hastily added that he thought so, too. To be honest, it made my day: it was an unexpected blessing.
I was visiting my folks in Texas; my maternal uncle was a diocesan priest in the Fall River area but preferred his milestone ordination anniversary to be a quiet, simple family affair with my mom, his only, younger sibling. I was staying at a local hotel and remember scanning the headlines, only to discover from national news alerts that my former marketing professor, now with the University of Georgia, was on the run and wanted as the chief suspect in a multiple homicide involving his wife and others. At first authorities thought that he would attempt to flee to Holland where I think he had relatives, but then they found his body a few days later, having attempted to disguise his suicide (Why? So law enforcement would spin their wheels trying to find him?)
I've never known someone whom has murdered another human being; it was a surreal feeling. Zinkhan didn't seem that much different from scores of academics I have met over the years. He had published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and served as an editor and reviewer for major marketing journals; he served for several years as chairman of his department at the University of George and had held an endowed chair for years leading up to the tragedy.
The point is, after a horrific crime like Zinkhan's, and I want to ensure readers know I'm not whitewashing his crime, I hate the idea that's the only thing people will remember him for. He was a very good professor over almost 3 decades (to which, I'm sure, hundreds of students besides me will attest) and had a first-class mind. I understand why people are upset over the murder-suicide; nothing can ever justify or excuse what he did during those last few days of his life. He destroyed his hard-earned legacy of decades as a distinguished scholar and teacher. As I wrote the above, I read a relevant webpage (freerepublic.com) and saw virulent attacks by people whom never met the man.
(For those unfamiliar with the story, Zinkhan apparently had a secret recording of his wife's affair with one of the two other murder victims, Tom Tanner. He was planning a divorce but hoped to reconcile with his wife, lawyer Marie Bruce. Zinkhan drove in a car with his 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, confronting Bruce and Tanner at a theater reunion picnic, resulting in an angry argument between Zinkhan and his wife. Zinkhan reportedly then returned to his vehicle for a pair of handguns. Tanner was the first victim; Teague became a victim while trying to calm the situation. Zinkhan left the scene, dropped off his children and then fled the area.)
Other examples come to mind. As familiar readers know, I enjoy the spectacle of scripted pro wrestling. Chris Benoit, at an average 5'9", was an unlikely competitor in a sport where big men up to a foot or more taller and over 100 or more pounds heavier dominate. Other than the obvious David vs. Goliath storyline, it's simply not credible than an average-sized man can compete at the same level without diminishing the bigger characters. What Benoit lacked in size, he made up with technical wrestling expertise, agility and high-flying maneuvers. Then in June 2007 over a weekend with a Sunday PPV where ironically he had been booked to win a now defunct championship title, Benoit killed his wife and their young son, whom many suspect had Fragile X syndrome, before hanging himself in the proximity of a weight machine. When WWE chairman Vince McMahon, Benoit's boss, learned of the murder-suicide, he immediately distanced himself and WWE from Benoit, and 5 years later, I don't think I've seen or heard a single reference to Benoit on any broadcast. Again, I understand the nature of Benoit's unforgivable crimes, but it doesn't change the fact that for several years, he was an entertaining, skilled wrestler, one of the best I've ever seen.
Pete Rose remains one of the greatest MLB players of all time, the all-time hits leader, but to this day, MLB has banned Rose from its prestigious Hall of Fame. Rose was a manager at the time and had a gambling problem. From my understanding, the gambling did not involve betting against his own team in which one would have an obvious conflict of interest. Now I don't approve of gambling, but to what extent does a Hall of Fame maintain its integrity by pretending his entire stellar playing career before the gambling problem never existed? What if a current Hall of Famer got accused of domestic violence or worse? Would the Hall expunge his election, pretend it didn't happen? Everyone knows if Pete's gambling problem hadn't surfaced before his eligibility for election, he would be in the Hall. I understand MLB's sensitivity to the gambling problem in the aftermath of the Black Sox scandal, but there are ways to sanction Rose without denying an honor he earned.
So let's get to the topic of Penn State's legendary late football coach, Joe Paterno. A prominent statue of Joe Paterno was removed from the proximity of the stadium over the weekend (see video below), and the NCAA is set to issue strong sanctions, short of a football program "death penalty" on Monday, in the aftermath of the trial and conviction of former assistant coach Sandusky on dozens of sexual abuse charges.
Let me be very clear: this blog has not been favorably disposed towards Jerry Sandusky; I heard enough during Bob Costas' remarkable interview with him that I would never leave the former coach alone with my kids (if I had any). [I find it remarkable that Sandusky's lawyer let him do the interview.] Still, I was uncomfortable by how many people (including Sandusky's own adopted son) were coming out of the woodwork as soon as it was clear that Sandusky was in serious legal jeopardy, and political correctness was running amok: everybody or everything associated with Jerry Sandusky, especially Penn State and head coach Joe Paterno.
Joe Paterno was in his 80's; I suspected that his main motivation for continuing with coaching as he had was an ambition to set the all-time win record for college football coaches. And there is no doubt that exposure of questionable Sandusky allegations would been scandalous.
The connection is somewhat tenuous. There was an allegation that Sandusky showered with a boy at a Penn State facility in 1998. The district attorney declines to press charges, but word gets back to Paterno, whom tells Sandusky that he'll never succeed him at Penn State. Sandusky retired in 1999 but with emeritus status, giving him access to Penn State facilities on an ongoing basis; the university dismisses speculation that Sandusky's retirement was related to the 1998 allegation. [I certainly don't understand how or why Sandusky was allowed continued access to facilities given the nature of the allegation.] A temp janitor Jim Calhoun reportedly observed Sandusky performing oral sex on a boy in 2000. It's not clear that the complaint goes beyond Calhoun's supervisor; there are concerns by the janitors about political reprisals if they came forward. Then in 2002 we have the infamous event of McQueary whom reportedly catches Sandusky engaging in anal intercourse with a boy. McQueary reports to Paterno, whom contacts the athletic director Curley whom in term contacts the VP of Finance Schultz (to whom campus police report). Curley reportedly interviewed Sandusky, whom denied any wrongdoing. Neither Schultz nor Curley allegedly report the allegations to authorities, and McQueary himself never does.
From where I'm sitting, Paterno (1) effectively told Sandusky to retire after the 1998 allegation, (2) escalated the 2002 issue to the athletic director, and (3) was not a target of the prosecution. Even after the scandal breaks near the end of the football season, Paterno proposes a face-saving retirement at the end of the football season. Not good enough for the university which summarily throws a legendary coach under the bus and terminates him.
Even though I think it was imprudent for the university to grant Sandusky access to Penn State facilities after he retired, it is clear that the 2000 and 2002 incidents occurred without knowledge or consent of Penn State administrators or Paterno. I think Calhoun and McQueary, who claim to have observed crimes, should have gone to authorities, although it's not clear whether they knew the identities of the victims, especially if Sandusky chose to deny the incidents ever happened.
Could Paterno have done better under the circumstances? Yes. No doubt he was aware that the Sandusky allegations were scandalous and could taint his own legacy simply because they occurred on his watch. But I think this political grandstanding by Penn State at Paterno's expense is overdone and petty.
Political Humor
Inspired by Obama's famous Roanoke speech gaffe:
Some favorites from http://didntbuildthat.com/
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| Courtesy AFP Getty Images / HT didntbuildthat.com |
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| HT didntbuildthat.com |
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| The great Tom Edison HT didntbuildthat.com |
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| Barack Obama: You didn't save THAT(Ford Motor Company) HT didntbuildthat.com |
The Baby's, "Head First"
