Bye bye JoePa

Over the weekend former Penn State football coach and rapist protector Joe Paterno died. And so of course the reactions around the country were varied, from Penn State tributes, to the more negative, the picketing of JoePa's funeral by a Baptist church.

From Newser:
Joe Paterno's death caused, to put it mildly, mixed reactions: The Hollywood Reporter has a roundup, and it includes everything from George HW Bush's glowing remembrance of the Penn State coach to this zinger from a Late Show writer and producer: "Will there be a moment of silence for Joe Paterno, to honor his silence when he discovered children were being attacked?" But the most extreme reaction came, of course, from those paragons of understatement, the Westboro Baptist Church.

Pastor Fred Phelps' daughter, Margie, announced on Twitter yesterday that the church would picket Paterno's funeral, TMZ reports. "'Penn State Penn Rape' rings in Joe Paterno's ears in hell. He partook of sin for fame & fortune. Worth NOTHING to him now. #PicketFuneral," she tweeted. Another gem: "Stop pimping out your kids to raping coaches @CollegeFootball! WBC must picket Paterno funeral."

What pedophilia?

Now we will begin to see how history will treat Joe Paterno. Has his previous record of victory in college football overcome the shame of the last year? Who knows, but all I know is that in my mind his lack of action within a scandal that affected untold numbers of children takes away anything positive he may have done in his life. Sure building a sick football program is cool, but pulling a Catholic church and overseeing essentially what was a rape farm at Penn State is beyond disgusting. I'm all for respecting the dead, but let's not forget that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Joe Paterno was god at Penn State, and his best friend was a rapist.