The organizers? The same two people who stood on the platform welcoming Malik Shabazz, head of a hate group, to Durham in June.
The week's first (and, apparently, only) event? A luncheon of barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes and corn.
The attendees? Nifong's staff, the two organizers, plus two other women--one of whom did not give her name.
Nifong--displaying the political tin ear for which he is becoming famous--celebrated the event. "If you rely on certain media, you might think there is universal disapproval of me. But if you're closer to home, you realize that's not true." (The offices of the state bar are, in fact, in Raleigh.) He continued, "I don't represent the people who write in from elsewhere. I do represent the people of Durham. They're the ones I need to do a good job for. Many people tell me they are very happy with our work [the four who showed up, plus his staff?]. I think the results we're getting in court speak for themselves. The DA's Office has always been about more than just one case."
These are the remarks of a figure divorced from reality.
Update, 6.53pm: The Liestoppers board tracked down a
photo of the three organizers of the luncheon--in this case, as they welcomed the New Black Panthers--a group considered a hate group by both the ADL and SPLC--to Durham
95 comments:
That's beyond divorced - that full-on annulled from reality...
He's a democrat - what do you expect. John Edwards just had his Mel Gibson moment - Israel is the greatest threat to peace in the world. Well isn't that special. And Irv Joyner is a conservative. At least Jim Black has pleaded guilty to corruption.
Wonderland through the looking glass...
How did you spend your holiday?
His employees would not feel "job safe" by not attending. Even if he did not organize it himself, everyone knows he will remember who was there and who wasn't.
He ruined his staff holiday.
Now in the future, they will be asked "Did you attend Nifong's support luncheon?".
These people have no political future.
Nifong has now moved fully into self-parody mode. He would be wise to examine the career arc of Dennis Rodman and others like Rodman, who realized they have a very marketable commodity in their own freakishness, and that the public will pay good money to see and hear more from them, so long as they continue to be wackos.
Kind of like paying to see the bearded lady or the 1,000-lb pig at the fair, writ large. Maybe he can change his name to Nifong the Entertainer. Cedric doesn't have a copyright on that, does he?
I do not believe the office of the DA had a holiday yesterday
How embarassing.
I start to feel sorry for him, but then quickly remind myself what he's done.
On another note, will Nifong's response to the NC Bar charges be made available to the public this Friday?
--Lumpy Gravy
I try a trial separation from reality around this point every year. I always come back to her though. We were meant to be together.
Mike Tyson is more self aware than this guy.
I'll bet Peterson organized it thinking she could get some attention out of it. Nifong, being the egomaniac he is, agreed. Of course I wouldn't want to tell Peterson "NO" either.
I can't decide who is the stranger character; Peterson or Nifong.
Does Peterson have a job? She has way too much time on her hands.
I suspect there were lots of leftovers -- unless Mikey ate them. Too bad Cash wasn't there to help with eating all the food. No doubt, he would have felt he was in friendly company.
I don't understand Nifong. He has a fine lawyer representing him and in all likelihood has been admonished from making any public statements about his plight. So what does he do? Talk about how he means more to Durham than one case (any admission against interest implied in that statement, Mr. Nifong?) reflects a cavalier arrogance that will only harden the Bar committee's views. Heck, even going to this luncheon shows bad judgment - there is not a lot of sympathy to be gained for corrupt and incompetent government officials at a chicken banquet. The stupidity of it all astounds me.
"I try a trial separation from reality around this point every year. I always come back to her though. We were meant to be together."
I feel the same way everytime I step onto a California State University campus.
It's as if I've slipped into an alternate universe.
Wonderful line Vivien.
Nifong's comments tell me just how dangerous this man is. Outsiders, will be hunted down and persecuted in Durham, NC, they are not welcome. Why would any parent want to send their sons or daughters to Duke, with this warped minded DA running around loose.
What none of the "Group of 88" came?
How rude! Where's the love?
This sounds like a farewell party. Nifungu has to answer the State Bar's complaint on Friday. Maybe these folks know something we don't, like Mikey is going to surrender his license and resign. That is his only hope of avoiding total disbarment.
Kemp
Wagstaff is as bad, and in some respects worse, than Peterson. When she was on the school board in Durham, her son would attend meetings and act in a disruptive and threatening manner. The cops had to remove him from some of the meetings in order that people could be heard.She played the race card on every issue before the board. Was finally voted off to the relief of all. Board meetings since have been peaceful and productive. Attendance by the public has increased now that her son is no longer attending and scaring people.
I'm waiting for Friday's response. Remember the judge in the case can still charge Nifong with making misleading statements to the court over the DNA.
His lawyer would be an idiot to allow Nifong to put anymore conflicting statements out there, especially sworn to statements.
He has already been quoted with multiple answers to why he did not turn over the DNA evidence.
His lawyers must be telling him to get out now, before he gets charged.
Most likely, if he gave up his license and the 3 players get cleared, the judge will just drop the DNA issue.
As oblivious as Bull Connor. After a hard day of loosing dogs on civil rights demonstrators Bull would insist "The people here love me."
If Nifong were a CEO or private in-house lawyer, he'd have been cashiered months ago. The press would have howled for his scalp. California Hewlitt-Packard executives and some in house lawyers were out within a month of news that they has known of an effor to eavesdrop on other Board members. Boeing cashiered its CEO for an affair. But the man that does what Nifong did? Biding his time to full pension vesting. Only in government is accountability either delayed or ignored like this.
I am starting to wonder if Nifong is seriously mentally ill. He has got to be either mentally ill or completely naive and thinks the entire world is dumber than shit and he is really smart.
KC I realize editing this story down to a manageble book will be a difficult task but I hope you find room for the comic moments such as this.
Did they draw staws to see who had to attend in Nifong's office?
I really thought I was reading a parody from theonion.com at first...then I checked the "peculiars" on line via google, etc. This seems too weird. Surely a man with this much chutzpah will run for Congress where he can be with his own kind.
If Barber attended I doubt there were leftovers, no matter how much food was prepared and how few showed up.
Don't hold your breath for Nifong's response to the BAR charges due Friday. The BAR suggested that they might give him another 10 days if needed. He'll take it. Delay, delay, delay and maybe something will happen to make this go away.
Really dumb move by his supporters: It tells everyone--especially the NC Bar--that he has no support what-so-ever for his actions. Therefore no poltical fallout in tearing up his license.
Thanks should go to Victoria for publicly showing the NC Bar that her 'boy' has no public or politcal support of any kind...in turn putting pressure on the Bar to take some strong action.
Oops, I accidentally posted this in the wrong thread. This is where it belongs.
It is unclear, but there might have been another "notable" attendee at the luncheon. John Stevenson, in his article today describes the party, quoting some of the attendees.
It would be appropriate for him to be present, as he has been Nifong's faithful supporter (Durham Press Corps Division). If he was there, he might have desired to share in the joy of the successes of the subject of many of his articles (and also to perhaps get a free lunch).
An pictures available from the gay affair?
JLS says....
As I said last night, you just can't make this stuff up.
I just laughed so hard I think I wet my pants! Is this man impervious to criticism, is his skull that thick and his perception that askew? Crazy!
-J. Kaiser
JLS says....
Someone on FreeRepublic last night suggested that we all chip in an send Nifong a "Ho-gram" for DA appreciation week. How about it gang?
You would be surprised at how
much support Nifong still has
in Durham.
The courthouse, city hall, DPD,
man in the street and of course
the local paper.
40,000 plus cases a year makes
many friends
I think I see what's coming... these statements, the bath robe appearance on O'Reilly, the goofy looks and mumbling to himself.
The Vincent "Chins" Gigante defense!
Being the sharp cookie that Nifong thinks he is... he might just try shuffling down in front of Brightleaf Square.
40,000 plus cases a year makes
many friends
How can any one individual handle 40,000 plus cases a year.
Even working 16 hours a day for 365 days a year requires that he deal with almost 7 cases an hour.
Are skills in logic and arithmetic really so deficient in Durham?
How can any one individual handle 40,000 plus cases a year.
Even working 16 hours a day for 365 days a year requires that he deal with almost 7 cases an hour.
Are skills in logic and arithmetic really so deficient in Durham?
Are you claiming that our DA is incapable of allocating so little time to each case that he could not get through 40,000 plus a year?
There is at least one more event planned for the festivities: the opening of the Lacrosse season on Saturday . . .
Who paid for the luncheon?
Nifong may slither out from under much of his woe for either one of no fewer than three, not necessarily separate, reasons:
1. He has some dirt on one or more big names in Durham or state politics.
2. The local/state Democratic Party wants to sweep everything, including the noxious material called Nifong, under the nearest rug as quickly and silently as possible.
3. Influential people NEVER want to be seen making a major mistake, AKA Nifong. One way to minimize the magnitude of the error is to deny it is a major mistake. Creative ways to do this abound.
This is a highly political situation, it's Durham/North Carolina, and literally anything could happen from here.
I sincerely hope the boys get off and Nifong goes someplace and is introduced to a friendly date called Big Bubba, but unfortunately no final outcome is certain. The only thing one can say with some degree of surety so far is that facts, reason and law have NOT been ruling the day in Wonderland.
Who paid?
Re:
"Anonymous said...
This sounds like a farewell party. Nifungu has to answer the State Bar's complaint on Friday. Maybe these folks know something we don't, like Mikey is going to surrender his license and resign. That is his only hope of avoiding total disbarment.
Kemp
2:15 PM"
Response:
The bar used to allow lawyers who could see the writing on the wall to "surrender" their license and thus avoid being officially disbarred. I am 95% sure that procedure has been done away with. (I don't have my bar rulebook handy, and I find it hard to look those rules up on the web.)
One thing is certain. If Vickie and Jackie had ordered Bullock's BBQ and had the luncheon within 20miles of East Campus, you'd have had half the freshman class at Duke show up. Bullock's is SO good.
Joe T. said...
Man oh man. What a bunch of pretending fantasy-world dingbats nifong and co. are.
They are democrats.
Did someone write "1000 pound pig" - has their been a Cash sighting?
I got nothin' - but I contribute anyway...
5:28 wrote:
This is a highly political situation, it's Durham/North Carolina, and literally anything could happen from here.
But don't expect truth or justice to be part of the show. Something strange, sure, but no honesty, no integrity, and certainly no one with morals will rise up to claim the day. Life goes on, another day in the zoo.
How long until we see Crystal Gail Mangum on the Maury Povich show playin' "Who my baby daddy" and having at least 5 guys to chose from. Possible contestants include, according to the comments on the blog so far, Nifong, Gottlieb, other members of the police force, random johns and the taxi driver. Somehow no Duke Lacrosse player has been thrown into the DNA stew.
I have been a paralegal for over 25 years; my husband is a retired police supervisor/administrator (in a well trained and ethical department); our son was a college lacrosse player and we are originally from the same area of the country as the defendants - thus, my family and I have a strong interest in this absurd case.
An observaton - Nifong must be very concerned over Friday's response for his close supporters to arrange "District Attorney Appreciation Week"
This is a good sign
Since the topic is divorce from reality, check out today's Chronicle. Lubiano wrote a letter that caused a firestorm. Very entertaining!
http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/02/20/Letters/Guest.Column.Misrepresents.Professors.Words-2730356.shtml?reffeature=oldpopuarstoriesbox
Wonder who paid for the Luncheon. Nifong? His supporters? The taxpayers?
Did his staff get a free meal? Or did they have to pay to appreciate their boss?
"there" not "their"
No... their, not there.
In Time to address the real classroom issue a physics prof makes some important points:
I know for a fact that some faculty immediately wanted the whole lacrosse team expelled; if that opinion was kept privately it did little harm. However one hears stories, many with the ring of truth, about classroom discussions and even instructor's lectures on the subject that clearly assumed the worst and suggested retribution against the players. There is even a case in which retribution may have been taken in terms of grades. It is these things that ought to be brought into the open and discussed, because if true they outweigh in importance to Duke anything that seems to have happened at the Party From Hell.
There must be students (other than the players, who are reasonably keeping quiet) who know about these things. They should open up about them.
Lawrence Evans
Professor Emeritus of Physics
LOL!!!
LOL!!!
I'm dying.....too funny.....this is like a circus.
The only thing the photo above needs is Mikey in his checkered bathrobe standing beside Peterson sporting that very serious chapeau.
Felon Jackie Wagstaff, as always, standing by to show how "dangerous" the situation is.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
These people are gettin' busy, I tell ya.
LOL!!!
LOL!!!
ROTFLM-T's-O !!!
Debrah
Maybe people are finally getting it now.
The full extent to just how sleazy Durham is. This kind of bizarre event is typical.
Everytime some criminal--usually a "black acitvist or leader"...and now Mikey, who is their new hero--in Durham is caught and is held accountable in some way, there is always an outpouring of support from the community.
They seem to condone and support illegal and criminal behavior.
I agree with another poster that "Banana Republic of Durham" would not only be a nice new title for KC's blog.......but also KC's book.
Debrah
Wahneema could use some grammar and spelling lessons.
Someone provide a link to the Chronicle article.
Please.
If Lubiano is at it again, it should provide a few chuckles.
Debrah
Here is the Chronicle letter from Lubiano:
Lubiano's words misrepresented. Again. :-(
Oh, here is Lubiano's original comments that she posted on thugniggaintellectual's web site, this is the permanent link.
Social Disaster Voices from Durham by our dear friend Lubiano
It currently has 0 comments, which I imagine could be remedied by any number of you.
Comments are moderated on MAN's site. Big surprise.
To 6:44 re: resigning from bar. I don't know about NC, but it is not uncommon in Ohio for an attorney who is "up against it" to turn in his ticket. This stops the process and almost everything is kept under wraps [investigations, like NC's, are confidential until the chocolate pie hits the fan and the Supremes have to rule - I was fascinated to read the Bar Association's complaint against Nifong - as an attorney, that complaint has real "pucker power"]. In return, however, the lawyer is permanently disbarred.
For what it's worth, the worst individual, who also was an attorney, I ever ran into was a bright, articulate, narcistic sociopath [my opinion], who could convincingly lie about everything/anything, and often did. When the Bar finally caught up with him, after many outrageous events and national headlines, he thought he could lie his way through, and almost did. Only a dogged Disciplinary Counsel pushed for total disbarment, which eventually occurred. Has anyone had any personal contact with Nifong? Does he have any shame? Will he try to lie his way out of this? How tough is the Disciplinary Counsel? Will politics prevail?
2:44
I talked with my Bar counselor friend after work and he agrees that Mikey will probably file an extension, but over at LS Board they posted a news story dated 2/09 that states his attorney will not file an extension.
As to surrendering your license, I don't know if that is still possible, I am not an attorney. I'll ask Bar Counselor tommorrow.
Kemp
Oops - should have been "UNlike NC's". Sorry about that.
Actually, having read Lubiano's original piece, the Princeton student and many others HAVE misread her. Her letter to the Chronicle is correct with respect to what she said in that specific piece.
Here's the piece: http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html
(scroll down)
and here's what she said toward the end:
"I want to help clarify thinking and discussion around what has happened in the aftermath of March 13th. If a crime occurred, I want to insist that the victim need not be spectacularly represented or constructed as a perfect victim; the offenders need not be spectacularly represented or constructed as perfect offenders; the crime need not have the contours of the worst possible set of actions that can be imagined for great harm to have been done to this young woman. Gendered violence is much more often banal and routine as much as it is horrific. I want us all to remember that."
Her point was that both sides were trying to construct "perfect" narratives here, when the reality was both more complex and mundane. Read the whole piece. She has indeed been unfairly misrepresented in her use of "perfect victim" and "perfect offenders."
Many other things she said or did over the last year are just as unfair and reprehensible, but that doesn't excuse deliberately misreading her writing.
Can this whole thing get any more bizarre ? Let me guess Fong and CGM's love child shows up on Jerry Springer to announce to the world that she is secretly attending Duke and is on the men's LAX team.
After reading KC's blog tonight, think the Fong should have Denny Crane defend him. Fong's trial could easily be the most absurd episode of Boston Legal.
To Stephen Horowitz:
I'm not convinced that the McGinley article does misrepresent or distort Lubiano's essay. Her essay does call the students "perfect offenders." Her central point seems to be that ALL acts of racism and sexism -- most of which, she says, are "banal and routine" -- should nonetheless be treated with the utmost gravity and societal outrage, EVEN IF they (unlike the Duke case) don't feature "perfect offenders" (i.e. white, male, well-off athletes), or a "perfect victim" (poor but upstanding, black, single mother, honor student, as the accuser was initially represented as being), or a "perfect crime" (an alleged violent gang-rape accompanied by racist abuse.) Libiano doesn't criticize the use of the concept of the "perfect offender;" she advocates it. And she does place the lacrosse players in the category of "perfect offenders." Her essay did not (as her letter now implies) urge people to stop demonizing the lacrosse team as "perfect offenders" and to stop glorifying the accuser as a "perfect victim." Far from it. Rather, it urged the reader to find and condemn racism and sexism everywhere -- not to wait for golden opportunities such as that presented by the "perfect offenders" on the Duke lacrosse team.
(I posted this earlier on the Chronicle site)
Horwitz -- sorry
Does it really matter what Lubiano meant to say, said or whatever? The fact is that this woman is dumb as a box of hammers. That she is teaching others is a sad commentary on identity politics in the academy. Can anyone imagine this woman producing anything of any intellectual merit? Can anyone imagine this woman writing a simple essay discussing any historical topic? Her writing is laugh out loud bad. One can only imagine the amount of people who had to lie to her in her academic career to have gotten this woman to the point where she actually thinks she can actually hold her own in a debate.
PrincetonTownie says...
The "perfect offender" misreading is, indeed, a misreading.
However, it is not Mr. McGinley's misreading. The "Daily Princetonian" editorial is a summary of Charlotte Allen's "Weekly Standard" piece titled "Tenured Vigilantes". Mr. McGinley specifically acknowledges Ms. Allen's article in his first paragraph.
Isn't it a bit much for a Duke faculty member to accuse a Princeton freshman of "lies" rather than dealing directly with the issues raised by Ms. Allen who, as a Stanford and Harvard graduate, is presumably well prepared to decipher Prof. Lubiano's rhetoric?
9:36
Thank you for your comment regrding Lubiano's absurd equivalencies.
Her stupidity is a testament to the relevancy of black studies.
I'm tired, but I promise to post a satirical equivalency of my own.
Johnson will probably delete it.
Polanski
I just read, or attempted to read Lubiano's piece ...
Maybe because I am not very bright, or maybe because she writes in such an inscrutable style, I have no idea what point she was trying to make, but she sure did it with "spectacularity."
7:15 PM Jamal Matsuzaka said... Bullock's BBQ is SO good.
I just talked to a friend here in Houston who is a local expert on BBQ. We have about 14,000 local experts on BBQ in Houston.
BBQ in NORTH Carolina!! He was incensed.
He wanted to know if it is beef or pork BBQ and do they cook with sauce on or sauce off? Chips of Hickory or Mesquite, Lemon, Jk. Danls?
He also wanted this Blog address. I declined. We don't need BBQ WW III here.
At least Bullock's BBQ in Durham is now on the mind of folks here in South Texas.
You're welcome!
NC is pork and wet sauces... Texas is beef and dry rub
McGinley as per 10:06 PM
Her central point seems to be that ALL acts of racism and sexism -- most of which, she says, are "banal and routine" -- should nonetheless be treated with the utmost gravity and societal outrage, EVEN IF they (unlike the Duke case) don't feature "perfect offenders" (i.e. white, male, well-off athletes), or a "perfect victim" (poor but upstanding, black, single mother, honor student, as the accuser was initially represented as being), or a "perfect crime" (an alleged violent gang-rape accompanied by racist abuse.)
...treated with the utmost gravity and societal outrage...
That last statement is the modern day equivalent of the 1958 Edsel.
You just can't sell it in the USA.
1 other thought
This case has generated a lot of antiblack hostility--most of it earned.
Affirmative action is ripping the counrty apart, inch by inch.
This is now the legacy of the Duke case--they got away with it--G88, Mangum, NAACP, Brodhead...
Professor, can we stop fucking around with Murphy, and start constructing a metanarrative of our own on the principal archvillain at Duke?
You know... the enabled--last name rhymes with dickhead.
Polanski
Affirmative action is ripping the counrty apart, inch by inch.
Let's be honest here and leave the PC crap. It is race privilege, nothing else. This is an example what happens when liberal justices "interpret" the law. Constition clearly rejects race privileges.
10:55
Well said, but where's the outrage?
Brodhead literally gave the AAAS department a promotion for its vile behavior. He fires the coach on extremely shaky grounds--really, all Pressler did was allow his team a little nooky and booze at the frat house. Geez, what a catastrophe! Then he indicts the entire lacrosse program by canceling the season, even though he knew early on that Precious was a sociopath.
He refused to meet with the boys' parents; and his silence reinforced the natural sleaziness of the G88 and Nifong, et al.
Does ANYONE believe on this board that had Brodhead come out strongly against all manifestations to the fastfood crucifixion of the boys that Nifong would have had the temerity to perpetrate what he indeed perpetrated?
If I had been Duke's president, this is what I would have said to Nifong:
"I've spoken with some good men associated with this case, and I also understand that there is no forensic evidence. Everyone I trust thinks this woman is a liar and a sociopath--in fact she's a proven liar and sociopath. If I conclude that you are pursuing this case to pander to the black vote, I'm gonna fuck you up. You won't know what hit you, motherfucker. So you better be sure before you proceed.
"Got it, boyo?"
Polanski
"...treated with the utmost gravity and societal outrage..."
That's what FOX, CNN, MSNBC have done with the death of AN Smith and the fact that B Spears shaved her head.
As for 88 professors condemning three of their students, well, there is no room for any outrage there, because, after all, they are the perfect offenders.
Notice she can now fall back on using the word "offenders" to detail how they were horrible neighbors, allowed underage drinking to go on, as well as hire (gasp) strippers!
The Gang O'88 have offended society, and yet, lubiano and holloway and thugniggaintellectual have yet to realize the true outrage ...
"Castrate!"
When it comes to affirmative action, race privilege and outrage, there is nobody whose name brings out the hypocrisies on all sides better than Clarence Thomas.
JLS says....
re. Anon 10:18
"The fact is that this woman is dumb as a box of hammers. That she is teaching others is a sad commentary on identity politics in the academy."
But she is really really angry which is important in angry studies.
11:21 re Clarence Thomas
No disrespect, but I don't get your point.
Polanski
a selected blurb from a posting by an attendee at the Shut Up & Teach presentation:
"Wahneema Lubiano almost brought me to tears during the shut up and teach session with her passionate reminders of our successes. Of the fact that we don't need to look to the media for what our success is...because they will not represent it...because it is just THAT powerful. In Wahneema's definition BlackStudies (oneword...i'd like to think...like the title of Audre Lorde's poem) is homeless and Moten affirms this. BlackStudies is never complete and was created by students and is and must be always critical. (Citing Bambara and Spillers among others). It is clear to me that Wahneema creates the context in which creative critique is possible...is (to also paraphrase Bambara) irresistible.
*here i should note that this past thursday i...along with the rest of the artistic response crew spent a miraculous day at Bennett College while they hosted Aishah Simmons and Monica Dillon. Aishah Simmons (besides her gracious shout out of UBUNTU) also mentioned that Audre Lorde (through spirit and poetry) and Toni Cade Bambara (in person) were the women who let her know her brilliance and means. So it is infinitely appropriate that we performed an arrangement of Lorde's Litany for Survival and it is is appropriate that Wahneema calls on Bambara's words and style to create the space and the demand for critique and community building in the academy.
So Charles Piot gave a reflection of the blog of one particular vector of hate towards the 88 faculty member who spoke out in support of students andagainst the repression and silencing of issues of sexual violence. Mark Anthony created a genalogy of black public intellectuals (co-produced by each other and the times in which they lived) who will use alterntive and mass media forms to "fight fire with fire. . . ." The Listening Project Blog
JLS @ 11:30
I could kiss your ass--that was perfect.
No need for intelligence, reasoned argumentation, good writing and scholarshipp--THE ONLY PREREQUISITE FOR ANGRY STUDIES CACHET IS TO BE...WELL...ANGRY!
I'm extremely angry about my tiny tatter, and I will publicly demand my right to enter this most angry sinecure.
My first seminar topic:
"I Have a Small Package, but a Big Heart"
President Brodhead, can you direct deposit my paycheck for me? I'm too angry to go to the bank.
Polanski
a selected blurb from a posting by an attendee at the Shut Up & Teach presentation:
Marx is God and Piot is His Prophet -- or something like that. There is not much one can do with such a mentality, other than try to be a sane and honest (and decent) person.
To Gary Packwood 10:21
Please tell your friends to give NC BBQ a miss and go directly to Windsor, Ontario, and the Tunnel BBQ - slow cooked, dry spices, and secret sauce. Maybe they can catch a Wings game too! (Detroit is just across the river you know) And Gary, I've eaten BBQ in Houston, and I feel sorry for you.
MTU'76
Polanski,
You, kind sir, are the sociopath, the cold warrior fighting against those hordes of black woman getting ready to attack you. You are indeed a legend in your own wee brain (a much more central defect in your anatomy). We pity you, small man.
12:02
You pity me--God bless you.
How do I get a job at Duke?
I'm pitiful, so that's a good start.
Please write a reference for me.
Polanski
P.S. Gary, Did you know that in San Francisco (where I am for now) when you go to KFC a bucket of left wings costs more because nobody wants the right ones.
MTU'76
Explaining my 11:21:
Clarence Thomas may have been perfectly capable, and properly rewarded on the merits of his accomplishments, as a student, a lawyer and a lower-court judge.
But the notion that his selection from a position of relative obscurity at age 43 to replace Thurgood Marshall was anything but right-wing affirmative action at the Supreme Court level is, to say the least, disingenuous. It's not like those particular dots are difficult to connect.
Hence the hypocrisy on both sides: the left can't support Thomas because they see affirmative action as something that only the left should use, and the right can't recognize Thomas as a beneficiary of affirmative action for the very same reason.
12:33
Agree, and remember that affirmative action was set in motion during the Nixon administration. Everyone knows Thomas is a lightweight, but I'd argue that Thomas is a superior jurist to Marshall. Read Woodward's book on the Supreme Court, "The Brethren." Marshall was described as a lazy lightweight who was unable to write a good legal opinion. I understand Thomas can argue his points quite well, so I salute him.
Republicans are total hypocrites on the affirmative action issue.
Polanski
On the question of whether Nifong can just turn in his license to make the Bar investigation go away...he certainly could contact the NC State Bar Membership people at any time, and withdraw his already installed membership (active already for the year I'm sure, as most state bars--like California where I'm a member--collect dues or certify membership for the calendar year by Feb. 1 of the year in question). Should he choose this path, he could then argue that the Bar investigation was moot, as he was no longer an attorney--though always a lawyer, having graduated from law school.
Naturally, the Bar investigation committee would not necessarily buy this argument. Although their own powers go no further than disbarring Nifong, or any other attorney under investigation, even should an attorney resign under some arrangement whereby there was an agreement never to seek reinstatment to practice law again--and the legal contours of that certainly involve some specialized knowledge of North Carolina rules of professional responsibility for attorneys there--the Bar in NC, like elsewhere, probably has the right to refer findings from their investigations to authorities capable of bringing criminal charges, contingent on the findings, extent of evidence, and potential laws broken.
Though speaking of moot...and more importantly still...the casualness with which Nifong yawns at his critics suggests that Nifong has no intention of resigning from anything. He appears to feel as cozy and comfortable--and comforted--in Durham as Bull Connor in his day was in Birmingham--kudos to the post above BTW which drew the Connor parallel, although the poster seemed to be saying that Connor, like Nifong, was out to lunch in thinking the locals supported him. On the contrary, it was real and substantial support that kept Connor at it for so long; just so with Nifong in this case.
Were I a Carolinian, I would be more embarrassed for Durham than outraged by Nifong. That he feels so insulated from "outside criticism" suggests to me he's not getting nearly enough criticism where the heat should be the hottest--but appears to be the most accommodating--from the legal community in Durham itself.
TO 10:18PM---
Well, you have to give Lubiano credit for one thing.
She didn't use her looks to get a job.
GIS!!!
GIS!!!
Debrah
Bill Anderson 11:39PM,
Duke And The Cultural Marxist Program
Might interest you.
12:53AM,
Scalia may be smarter than Thomas, but Thomas is the clearest thinker on the court.
Sometimes brains aren't everything.
BTW compare Thomas' brains to any one else on the court except Scalia and he still leads most of the pack.
Thomas may have been an affirmative action hire, but he is actually qualified for the job.
TO 11:33PM---
Seems that big Wahneema had the crowd mesmerized.
Persuasive and creative......"POWERFUL".
Well.......I don't know about all that. People tend to assign a deeper meaning to things that are amorphous as a way of inventing "importance and truth".
I can only give the African American Studies crowd credit for one thing: a chameleon-like stage act for the times.
I mean, who changes their identity with every passing decade?
First we had Negro.....
Then we had Colored.....
Then Afro-American......
Then Black.......
Then it was African American.......
Now it is sometimes back to Black.......or......
Other times, it is back to African American.........
The Gang of 88 profiles a new one by squishing the words together: BlackStudies.
How profound is that?
Hey, perhaps if all Americans change what they call themselves every decade and design new formulations to "life's struggles".....
....a six-figure salary will be waiting in the wings.
It pays to be flexible.
And have no standards.
Debrah
A feature worth noting:
Every single black person in the public eye who labels himself or herself a Republican or a conservative---almost without fail---is a very good speaker.
It's almost a no-brainer when you compare them to the other side of the aisle.
Black Republicans tend to come across as smarter and better educated.
Debrah
re pushing together BlackStudies
Actually, that's clever, to the extent that the implication that BS (how perfect is that?) is a sui generis, important discipline--a singular sensation.
I plan to address this canard in the future.
Polanski
9:52am, Simon,
From what I understand, the legal stars on the court are the 2 new hires (forgot their names), Ruth Ginsgurg, Scalia, and Breyer.
The weaker are Thomas and the twerp the elder Bush nominated.
Google this if you doubt me.
As far as I know, there is not 1 slacker on the court.
Polanski
Polanski, you don't have to address anything.
BS is exactly the right letters for Holloway, Lubiano, and company.
Maybe they'll hang onto that one.
Polanski,
Ginsburg is a Communist and interprets the Constitution to get outcomes consistient with Communism, Scalia is not consistent. Breyer I'm not so familiar with.
I like Thomas because he can actually read the Constitution and knows the history of the document and the concerns of those who created it.
Thomas did excellent work on Kelo and Raich. So clear even a layman can understand them. Since we are bound by these laws wouldn't it be nice to actually understand them and the decisions the court makes about the laws?
So I like Thomas because he can read. A skill not evident in the other 8 justices.
Thomas on Raich
Respondents Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything–and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.
Roberts and Alito showed their brillance during their Senate confermation hearings - those Senators had no idea what they were talking about. With the huge problems in this country, abortion is the only subject those Senate clowns talked about. The Democrats were so bad (including Ted Kennedy), I am no longer a liberal Democrat,but an Independent. Last election, voted Republician.
NC BBQ?!?! Dear God.
Having lived in both places pork BBQ may in fact be the root cause of the problems in Durham.
I'd never had it and will never forget the first time I did. My company, after ranting about how great the food was, handed me a bottle of sauce. It poured and tasted like Vinegar... because it was.
My company became quite offended when I mentioned that one could place saucers filled with Vinegar in a room to absorb cigarette smoke odors after a party.
Needless to say, I was hugely disappointed until I discovered that one of my favorites would air freight ribs, briskets, etc.
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