Saturday, July 07, 2007

The Phantom Menace

Having seen events undo Duff Wilson’s transparently pro-Nifong slant on the case, the New York Times still has missed the crux of the story. The editorial page remains silent on the highest-profile case of prosecutorial misconduct in modern American history. Meanwhile, a column by the normally first-rate Adam Liptak left the impression that the three accused players might still be getting special treatment—not because they might be guilty, but because Mike Nifong was punished for offenses that normally don’t result in disbarment.

The misconduct that cost the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse case his career certainly seemed to call for a severe penalty: he withheld evidence from the defense, misled the court and inflamed the public.

Yet other prosecutors found by the courts to have done similar things have almost never lost their jobs or their licenses to practice law. Even in the aftermath of prosecutorial wrongdoing that helped put innocent men on death row, discipline has been light or nonexistent.

Let’s remember, again, the misconduct that Nifong committed, based on the results of his ethics trial:

  1. Nifong, facing a contentious primary election, was trailing badly in the polls. After exclaiming “you know, we’re fucked” when the officers in charge told him of weaknesses in the case, he nonetheless gave between 50 and 70 interviews to the local, state, and national media, in which he expressed absolute certitude that a racially motivated gang rape occurred.
  2. After the two main officers involved conceded the investigation had reached a “stalemate,” Nifong ordered them to run a third photo lineup, only this time bypassinfg procedures and confining the lineup to suspects.
  3. Nifong sought the first two indictments without even reading the transcript of that lineup, and overriding police objections that they weren’t sure one of the accused (Reade Seligmann) was even at the party.
  4. After obtaining the first two indictments, Nifong refused even to meet with lawyers for Seligmann or Dave Evans, even though the attorneys said they possessed evidence to prove their clients’ innocence.
  5. After learning from a DNA lab director that the DNA of multiple unidentified males was found upon Crystal Mangum, Nifong turned over to the defense a report that didn’t contain this information, and then falsely claimed to two judges that he had turned over all exculpatory evidence.

Who, precisely, are the “other prosecutors found by the courts to have done similar things”? Liptak doesn’t say.

Take, for instance, the first element of misconduct (the false and unethical preprimary statements). What prosecutor in the last 10 years engaged in behavior “similar” to Nifong on this count? Liptak doesn’t say.

In light of the misconduct even Liptak describes, how can the Times defend its editorial page silence and pro-Nifong news slant throughout the case? Again, Liptak doesn’t say.

----------

The basic argument outlined by Liptak has been expressed, in far more extreme form, elsewhere. The Nifong-as-Christ letter in the Herald-Sun was the most obvious example; here are some others:

John Heath, in the Washington Post: “I wonder whether he would have faced the same public outcry had the students he prosecuted been poor, black and from, say, North Carolina A&T rather than being wealthy and from Duke University. The news is full of examples of poor or black defendants who are convicted, only to have those convictions overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct similar to Mr. Nifong’s, such as the withholding of exculpatory evidence.” [emphasis added] Heath cited no examples of “prosecutorial misconduct similar to Mr. Nifong’s.”

Boston’s Martin Evans, in the Herald-Sun: “Please tell me why the Durham district attorney is under so much fire for bringing charges against three affluent Duke students. People are exonerated every day, some after having spent up to 25 years behind bars as a result of prosecutorial and/or police misconduct. The media does zero follow-up on those stories. How were these kids harmed more than people who actually served time and lost their whole youth to jail?”

Ed Wiley, of Black Entertainment Television: “The speed at which ‘justice’ kicked into high gear for the three White men accused of committing crimes against a Black woman is dazzling. But for many African Americans, including lawyers who have represented Black men falsely accused of rape only to see their prosecutors get off without so much as a rap on the knuckles, the entire Duke case is a study in racism and classism.”

Michelle McMillan, in the Greensboro News-Record: “Mike Nifong should never have had to step down as district attorney. He did what he was elected by the people to do. I wonder if we will go after all attorneys who have prosecuted innocent men and take their licenses. Let’s consider the countless African American men who have been falsely accused of rape with no evidence against them. These men’s lives have been destroyed, but no one cares . . . I say give Mike Nifong back his job. We need fair men like him.”

Michele Alexandre, in blackprof.com: “Anyone who has worked or participated in the American justice system can’t help but to feel utter bewilderment at the announcement of Mike Nifong’s disbarment. Defense Attorneys are constantly combating the manipulative actions of prosecutors and police officials in cases involving non-white accused.”

BlogHer.com: “While it certainly is troublesome to be accused of a crime that you didn’t commit, how many other people are out there who do are incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit? When they get out of jail, are the lawyers that prosecuted them disbarred?”

Such arguments fall flat on two grounds. First, as NYU’s Stephen Gillers observed in the Times article, “The very same facts that made this case attractive to a prosecutor up for election and a huge publicity magnet—race, sex, class, lacrosse stars, a prominent university—also led to his undoing when the case collapsed and his conduct was scrutinized in and beyond North Carolina.”

The above correspondents appear to be engaging in revisionist history, conveniently forgetting the massive early media coverage; Newsweek’s decision to place two players’ mugshots on the cover under the headline “Sex, Lies, and Duke”; or TV commentators comparing the players to Adolf Hitler. None of the correspondents indicate any displeasure with this guilt-presuming coverage. Yet if the case had attracted little or no media attention at the beginning, it’s hard to believe it would have attracted significant media attention at the end.

Second, Heath, et al., engage in the same flawed comparison as the Liptak piece in the Times. Prosecutors, they claim, routinely have engaged in behavior similar to—or even worse—than Nifong, and have escaped any punishment. Who are these flagrantly unethical prosecutors? Like Liptak, Heath, et al., don’t say.

Perhaps ferreting out these unrevealed individuals can be a new crusade for the Group of 88.

167 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can't reason with the people who think Nifong should not have been disbarred for his actions...you have to fight them.

Using the "other people do it too and don't get in trouble" argument indicates the infantile mentality of these people.

Babies. Not adults. They need to be spoon-fed justice.

Anonymous said...

I think that the New York Times has spoken loud and clear: From here on out, all "justice" is to be race and class-based in orientation. There is no such thing as truth; the only thing that matters is the political outcome.

Welcome to the brave new world of the thoroughly politicized society. To read people like those in the NY Times continue to defend Nifong and express bewilderment at his disbarment is to read the future of American justice.

Interestingly, the Times never did this when the Scottsboro Boys were on trial more than 70 years ago. Then, the Times did not hold that "justice" should be based solely on race and class, but rather truth.

Today, the only "truth" that the Times sees now is based purely on race and class. Welcome to hell.

Anonymous said...

Reading these complaints about racial inequities is just too predictable.

Little to these perennial victims realize, the Duke students were targetted because they were WHITE!

What will it take for these people to understand that racism cuts both ways? The key to racism is the misuse of power. Minority status has a lot of power, for example in electing DAs in NC.

Now the victims want to become victimizers. I'm glad they are getting called out on this and other blogs.

Anonymous said...

Like Nifong and Gottlieb, The New York Times knows no shame.

wayne fontes said...

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Some of the exact people who were so eager to get the word out on the blogs last spring now are reduced to fuming something must have happened or they're no angels.

Rachel Sullivan of Rachel's Tavern comes to mind. After spending a prodigious amount of time publicizing the case she now has to hide behind weasel words and implausible scenarios. Jim Cooney nailed it after the AG declared the players innocent with his quote "“He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.”

Anonymous said...

So many people and media sources still don't understand the social and legal significance of this case. And so many of them don't realize people will only know their names 200 years from now because of this case, and see them as those people who were either sensible or idiots.

Anonymous said...

Rachel's Tavern! LOL! I saw that silly blog. There are a number of them (Durham and or feminist and or generally Leftist) blogs that dropped the case discussion entirely or are still trying to squirm out of it. Another is Bunch Of Pants, Pandagon (we know that one). It's amusing to go back and read the posts in March and April of '06 and see what lynch mobs they were.

Jamie said...

Nifong got what he asked for: lots and lots of attention. So did the G88. So did Brodhead. They were all going to fix this terrible "problem". The terrible problem they ended up with is, once you ask for attention and get it, then ask for it to go away, to "move on"...well, sometimes it doesn't.

Nifong paid relatively big-time (but not big enough yet, IMO) because there was no way to step out of that spotlight once he had turned it on. The MSM swarmed to this "rape" because of the harsh, hot lamps Nifong and the G88 used to light their stark little morality play, but they just couldn't control who else was attracted by the glare - KC, Liestoppers, et al. Hah! What the spotlight actually ended up showing has burned some of them pretty badly (but not nearly badly enough yet,IMO), and will continue to do so.

Anonymous said...

Wayne Fontes: I so agree! Did you ever see so many people who wanted to scream to the high heavens to broadcast this case all over when it began, who had it come back to smack them right in the face? Karma at its best.

Anonymous said...

Notwithstanding the ignorance shown by some of those people cited by KC, the other common thread is that life is not fair. Don't we all wish that everything in life is proportional? Unfortunately, we live in a society wherein people have a short attention span. As such, it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. In the Duke Lacrosse case, the grease was provided by no other than Knifong himself with all his grandstanding. And everything else that went wrong in the prosecution of this case was due to his arrogance, willful disregard of evidence, and lack of due diligence.

Anonymous said...

KC - At least he appears to understand this case was about votes and not rape. Actually, a good outline of the events.
The rest of the stuff from the black and white writers, who are so confused, makes it clear that they are stupid. I can not believe to many people read there articles. Truth will out - I cared about the guys and injustice, but the black community is going to have to take care of their own. stuff. , on

Anonymous said...

KC, I think you need to identify this as the "Second Metanarrative". Before the boys were shown to be clearly innocent, this case was supposed to be a microcosm of "what white men have done to black women throughout history." Now this case is supposed to be viewed as a microcosm of "what happens to wealthy white defendants even while poor black defendants are railroaded by crooked prosecutors every day."

As an attorney who actually defended a poor black defendant in a case involving prosecutorial misconduct, I can tell you that, yes, it does happen, but like white-on-black rape, it's so rare as to be statistically invisible.

The 88ists in the media should be forced to show us the last time there was a black defendant who was so obviously innocent and was nevertheless subject to the depths of prosecutorial misconduct shown in this case. Off the top of my head, I think you would have to go back at least to the legal travails of boxing champion Jack Johnson (circa 1915) to find such a case.

Anonymous said...

JLS says...,

As I said the other day as in the case of trying to use the lying Anita Hill to smear Justice Thomas those of the ilk of the 88 gangsters are not going to give up so easily on how this case is remembered.

They are not going to stop smearing Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann. They are not going to give up the something happened in that bathroom claim. And as Anita Hill was rehabbed, so will Nifong be rehabbed. [Wikipieda says, In 1991, public opinion polls showed that 47% of those polled believed Thomas, while only 24% believed Hill. ... By 1992 public opinion polls showed 44% believed Hill and only 34% believed Thomas.]

Ironically Nifong will be a law prof the same as Hill. He may well get a professorship at a very prestigious university.

Anonymous said...

jamie said at 12:31 PM...

The MSM swarmed to this "rape" because of the harsh, hot lamps Nifong and the G88 used to light their stark little morality play

It's important to keep in mind, jamie, that it was the media who created the original morality play and turned on the spotlight -- and that it was Nifong and the 88 who were, mothlike, drawn to the light.

MikeZPurdue said...

Professor Johnson: One comment regarding your
the 5 points you made, a casual reader may mistakenly
assume a time-line progression. It's really
important to point out that Nifong knew about
the DNA from four other non-Lacrosse players in
Ms Magnum's underwear BEFORE he got the indictments!

That is, before he got the indictments, Nifong
1. knew there was no semen found
2. knew that standard DNA testing showed no
match to any of the Lacrosse players
3. extremely sensitive DNA analysis showed
that there wasn't even any transfer DNA matched
to one of the players.
4. there was DNA found from 4 other males
who were not lacrosse players

He knew all of this when he went before the
grand jury to seek indictments. I can think of
any case similar to this in terms of egregiousness!

--Mike

Anonymous said...

Let the revisionists try all they want. This case WILL be remembered as a microcosm of reverse-racism and evil leftist behavior, no matter what they try.

Anonymous said...

How interesting that the writers listed justify injustice so long as it is against certain people; a certain race. How interesting that they aren’t glad a corrupt prosecutor, the likes of which puts their “innocent” black brothers behind bars, has been disbarred. How interesting that they aren’t glad that this event will have effects on justice everywhere, regardless of race, for an injustice for anyone; regardless of race, is an injustice for EVERYONE… but no, they don’t see it this way.

They see race; rich white folk (who happen to be innocent) getting off while poor black folk get railroaded. Rather than fixing the problem of corrupt prosecutors for everyone, they WANT corrupt prosecutors to railroad innocent whites too. Why that’s only fair, right? That’s only just, right?

Their defense of Nifong is a defense of all corrupt prosecutors who abuse the judicial system daily against their black brothers. Ahh well, its a small price to pay to see rich white folk get theirs… totally amazing!

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Johnson: All right, here is a rogue prosecutor for you: Buddy MacDonald of Mississippi. He prosecuted Cory Maye, a black man, and convicted him of killing a police officer. Maye had done so. But the officer was part of a SWAT team that was breaking down the door of Maye's house in the middle of the night. They were executing a search warrant, but had entered the wrong part of a duplex. Maye, awakening, tried to defend himself with a lawfully owned handgun, and killed one of the officers. He was convicted of murder and put on Death Row. Since then his death sentence has been tossed out, and he will be resentenced, likely to a life sentence. In this case, it was a rogue police force that committed the crime---but the prosecution actively aided the cops.

Second, there's the mass commutation of death sentences in Illinois by Governor George Ryan. Ryan thought there were too many wrongful convictions in death cases, and ended the death sentences.

I'll freely concede that Nifong's behavior was worse than the examples I've cited above. But none of the lacrosse players were tried, convicted, and imprisoned, not least because of your writings on their case. But the Nifong-as-Christ people have a point: why was Iron Mike disbarred when Buddy MacDonald and several Illinois prosecutors sleep soundly every night smug in their virtue? The right answer is not to give Iron Mike back his job; it is to start examining prosecutorial conduct. I like Glenn Reynolds's proposal of a federal law that would strip law enforcement and prosecutors of immunity in such , letting them face the same meatgrinder that too many of them are ready to shove others through.

So far, Iron Mike has had little punishment. Disbarment is a sham, mostly a disgracing punishment. Iron Mike has shown that his conscience is proof against shaming. I also doubt that any state criminal sanctions will come to anything. Iron Mike has a 30 year career as a prosecutor. My bet is that he has more than enough on any judge in Durham County to keep himself from any greater punishment than having to listen to a lot of roaring and blustering from the bench, maybe a small fine and then walking away, free. No, a federal prosecution is the best hope. Iron Mike will doubtless be sued in civil court, but he doesn't have much in the way of assets, so the lacrosse players won't get much. I think Iron Mike will be hired by a "civil rights" group. I nominate the NC branch of the NAACP. They will pay him, say, what he was making as DA, $110,000 a year. The civil suits will attach a chunk of it. Iron Mike will earn his pay by going on the road, bawling of his sudden conversion to civil rights crusader, and how the evil racist white Establishment turned on him, when the Damascene light shone on him. Such imbeciles as Martin Evans or John Heath, quoted in your post, will gobble it up, and pay big money to listen to Iron Mike spew. Nothing short of jail for Iron Mike will stop this. At the moment, I lay 20 to 1 odds that the state will let Iron Mike off, no jail time. A grim ending.

Sincerely yours,
Gregory Koster

Topher said...

Gregory: "The right answer is not to give Iron Mike back his job; it is to start examining prosecutorial conduct."

Amen. I was going to simply type "first kill all the lawyers," but that's no solution. We need to take a serious look at what's going on in American law schools, since these scumbags are coming from somewhere.

This argument that "prosecutors are just doing what the people elected them to do, be tough on crime" is not a legitimate answer. People don't choose their ethics after the swearing-in ceremony, and the people electing unethical public servants doesn't absolve anyone.

Maybe it's time to start locking up prosecutors and DA investigators who violate the civil and legal rights of citizens. I bet that would bring some of this crap down real quick.

Also stop electing prosecutors; don't give them a chance to pull a Nifong stump show.

Anonymous said...

Knowledge is power. A university is a business that sells power. Power might be defined as the ability to control one's environment. Students attend a school to acquire a knowledge base, skills, and contacts that allow them to get ahead in life. Concepts such as honor, decency, fairness are constructs; ethical behavior is a construct. This blog goes to a lot of trouble to match behaviors to a standard of classic ethics and rule of law. But people are gonna play the hand they are dealt. Women's studies? Take the Ford foundation money and run. University administrators? Take the grant overhead payments and make as little fuss as possible. Prosecutors? prosecute. When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When folks have grown up in a school of hard knocks, or have been raised as children in a deficient or abusive atmosphere, they cannot de novo construct for themselves tenets of ethical behavior and/or traditional values such as faith, hope, or charity. Duty, honor, country -- what does that mean in the ghetto? Conflicts of culture cannot be reconciled on an intellectual basis. That is the basis for these emotional letters supporting Nifong. These folks just don't know any better and do not have the intellectual tools to analyze the complexities of the case. They are not stupid, but are on a different wave length. As many posters have noted, the Duke-Durham conflict is a class issue. Well damn -- if that is the case I am gonna do whatever it takes to win. One great lesson from this ugly episode is that the Duke administration does not know how to use power. Did they keep the crazies on a leash? You gotta have some crazies to keep the feds happy and the grant overhead coming in. Ooops, there they go again. Like herding a bunch of cats. Cops hassling students? Gotta stop, tell the DPD to lay off -- use the political power of the university. Uh, we don't have political power? Uh oh, that is the job of the administration and Board to get political leverage so things can be handled behind the scenes. Behind the scenes? Distasteful! maybe. I am bringing up my child to be an elitist. More money, more power, more social standing. Bluntly put, that is why most students go to college. I hope he will use that power in useful and constructive and ethical ways. If Duke can help me in that mission, fine. If not, they are an unsuccessful business.

mac said...

Gregory Koster 2:00; Topher 3:57

No simple solution to the problems of prosecutorial misconduct
and Duke's administrative misconduct and the 88s sometimes
(or often) bizarre world-views:
it calls for something drastic,
an "other-worldly" approach.

In "Mars Attacks," the Martians' heads all explode when it's accidentally discovered
that Slim Whitman's "Indian Love Call" causes the Martians head to blow up.

Liptak, Heath, Wiley and Evans join a select group of
people (Wendy Murphy, Nancy Grace, John Feinstein, and and and...)
who have or continue to argue that
"something happened," or that Mikey
was railroaded. A select group.

Maybe someone ought to try Slim's tune. Could be similar results.

Anonymous said...

Ah, wish Slim were still with us to sing his "Indian Love Call" 'cause we need a good singin' to clean this trash out of the system. He could start at Duke University faculty rooms. By the way, was Slim Whitman a lesbian. The NYT would know.

Anonymous said...

Uttered by 1::53: "Rather than fixing the problem of corrupt prosecutors for everyone, they WANT corrupt prosecutors to railroad innocent whites too. Why that’s only fair, right? That’s only just, right?"

A perfect question for Chan Hall...

Anonymous said...

Jamie,

You are right. Nifong has not paid enough yet. So far:
1. He is supposed to be disbarred.
2. Judge "no spine" Orlando Hudson refused to take action, therefore leaving the door wide open for Nifong to become a DA again.
3. To my knowledge, non of what went down has had any negative affect on his retirement pay. If it has, it is inconsequential compared to legal costs incurred associated with defending false accusations that were pursued far past the point that they should have been pursued.
4. There is nothing in progress that will monetarily punish Nifong, so how can there be any determent affect to prevent this from happening again?

Likely Nifong will enjoy his retirement. Maybe he will even take up golf. He and OJ could share some rounds together, they'd probably enjoy each other's company.

Anonymous said...

Someone on another blog describes the bitter-enders as the "S.H.I.T. shovellers. Something Happened In There.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the Group of 88: Never underestimate the power of a large number of stupid people.

If only the stupidity were limited to 88...

Anonymous said...

topher wrote: "I was going to simply type "first kill all the lawyers," but that's no solution. We need to take a serious look at what's going on in American law schools, since these scumbags are coming from somewhere."

And with this we complete the circle.

Folks, these people are getting their training from somewhere, and higher education is where. Attorneys, social workers, police, etc., all receive advanced training, and let's not loose site of the fact that this was a rape case. Thus, a significant portion that training was provided by women's studies types who instruct others that 'women don't lie about rape,' all in the, ahem, proper context of 'race, class, and gender/sex.' Like practically all cases of false imprisonment for rape, this case is front and center about 'feminist jurisprudence.' I don't know the numbers for this, but I believe that I read somewhere that most convictions that have been overturned by various Innocence Projects have been rape cases. Now perhaps it's because rape usually involves, um, DNA, which is often used to exonerate innocent men, but perhaps it's because feminist jurisprudence is particularly prone to enabling liars to frame innocent men. Which brings me to my next point...

So far in this conversation we're ignoring the 800 pound gorilla sitting here in the living room with us: Crystal Gail Mangum. Without her Big Lie none of this would have happened. I think we should go after rogue prosecutors who railroad men - black, white or otherwise - but IMO we should also go after people who make false allegations. And while we're at it, we should go after the people who teach said prosecutors and liars that doing this sort of thing is morally Ok because it fits into the 'metanarrative.' The enablers are front and center when it comes to identifying the bad guys in this type of fiasco, so let's not let them slither out of the limelight they worked so hard to shine on the LAX boys.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that the bitter enders are really concerned about specific instances of injustice, like those cited above.

They are trying to find a blanket explanation of why so many black men are in prison. And they are determined to prove that white men are to blame.

So, let me be the first to say that so many black men are in prison because they earned their way in. Lack of respect for education, fatherless families and the catastrophic crime rates that follow these conditions are the unfortunate reality of a large segment of the black community.

White men, by and large, grow up in communities that respect education, familiy and church, and so crime rates are much lower.

Black men are not in jail in such large numbers because of some sort of societal injustice. White men are not to blame for this failure on the part of so many black men. Black men are earning their way into jail. Black men are in prison because they are committing the crimes.

Anonymous said...

According to the rationale given by the PC writers addressed here, every female intern is fair game in the White House because Clinton got off scott free, right?

As to not hearing about black men found innocent in the media, it is so ironic that about 30 minutes ago Fox had on a clip about a guy who was days away from death row being found innocent and released.

As to the case being about racism, I would suggest that high profile cases are more about classism than racism. Does the name OJ ring a bell for anyone?????????????

As for political activism, those with conservative values had best begin work on Congress about the "UN-Fairness" doctrine. The only fairness is for the libs who are angered that Fox News, talk radio, and the blogs have been so effective in delivering SOME conservative viewpoints. Personally, I love the arguments that are being made about our PUBLIC airwaves. That one is the First Amendment--because the number of listeners is increasing, libs are looking to squelch those outlets. Will fairness guarantee that conservatives will have equal time on lib TV outlets (ABC, NBC, CBS, not to mention the publically funded PBS and NPR)? Like so much of the outcry from the black community, the "outrage" is only because the desired outcome is not/will not be met.
As for the Mississippi case, that is a gross miscarriage of justice. Stupid mistake resulted in disasterous death. The man whose house was invaded was only following his constitutional right--to protect his family. No consequence considered for the police, I guess.
A large part of the problem deals with lawyers gone amuk. Like the idiot who sued Mickey D's for the hot coffee or the looney judge who sued over his pants, the problem is that the system allows this type of case to be brought to the system with little or no consequence for the idiots prosecuting. Let's assess the lawyers who file the cases if they are dismissed, by judge or jury, for having no merit. That might cut out some of this crap!

Anonymous said...

Nifong was banking on pulling off his hoax. When he did, he would reap benefits far beyond simply being the DA in Durham, NC. If this case had worked out the way he wanted it, and he had gotten convictions (not an impossibility in Durham and that's what he was counting on), you think he wouldn't have been lionized forever? To all these asshats in the media, guess what? Right or wrong, fair or unfair, that doesn't happen when you indict black men of rape, so all their comparisons of this case to cases where black men were later exonerated are meaningless.

By indicting the people he did (and knowing that there was no truth to it from the outset) and granting all the national interviews thereby creating a firestorm of media commentary across the US, Nifong made the decision to play for big stakes and walk on a high wire without a net. He must accept the fact that having chosen such a course, if he lost his balance, he would fall and get hurt. That's exactly what happened. He lost his balance (got caught withholding evidence) and got hurt (lost his license and job with hopefully more to follow).

It's simple to explain what is going on with these "news" hacks. They lost their grip on the story that was bringing them to orgasm (3 wealthy, white guy athletes from a prestigious school raped a poor, down-trodden black woman forced to engage in stripping to feed her kids) so now they have to INVENT one that says Nifong is being singled out for punishment so they can continue to pile on.

These people are even lamer than the people who keep harping on underage drinking and hiring strippers.

Anonymous said...

Nifong was banking on pulling off his hoax. When he did, he would reap benefits far beyond simply being the DA in Durham, NC. If this case had worked out the way he wanted it, and he had gotten convictions (not an impossibility in Durham and that's what he was counting on), you think he wouldn't have been lionized forever? To all these asshats in the media, guess what? Right or wrong, fair or unfair, that doesn't happen when you indict black men of rape, so all their comparisons of this case to cases where black men were later exonerated are meaningless.

By indicting the people he did (and knowing that there was no truth to it from the outset) and granting all the national interviews thereby creating a firestorm of media commentary across the US, Nifong made the decision to play for big stakes and walk on a high wire without a net. He must accept the fact that having chosen such a course, if he lost his balance, he would fall and get hurt. That's exactly what happened. He lost his balance (got caught withholding evidence) and got hurt (lost his license and job with hopefully more to follow).

It's simple to explain what is going on with these "news" hacks. They lost their grip on the story that was bringing them to orgasm (3 wealthy, white guy athletes from a prestigious school raped a poor, down-trodden black woman forced to engage in stripping to feed her kids) so now they have to INVENT one that says Nifong is being singled out for punishment so they can continue to pile on.

These people are even lamer than the people who keep harping on underage drinking and hiring strippers.

Anonymous said...

of injustice, Mr. Journalist, why don't you get off your lazy ass and go out and investitage one and then provide me with details. In other words, do your damn job. I'm opposed to ALL cases of injustice, but I'm not going to react to vague, unsubstaniated accusations.

Anonymous said...

If you want to know where the money is coming from to fund the "education" about feminist ideology about rape and sexual assault just look here. The Billion dollar a year VAWA has been funding this stuff since 1994. That means that you and I are paying, and paying, and paying. Our tax dollars at work.

I would love to see a copy of Nifong's CV and see the list of feminist workshops he attended that taught him that women don't lie about rape etc etc. We need to help people connect the dots and see that by funding these ideological "educational" events we are creating chaos for ourselves. At this point they are flying stealth and very few people know about their misandry. We need to out them. Quickly.

Anyone know where to get a copy of his CV?

Boys and the Boy Crisis Conference

Anonymous said...

Curious how so many black people who are angry that the Duke LAX players received some justice never seem to notice how many white people are involved in the efforts to secure justice for wrongly-convicted blacks. The original Innocence Project was started by a white man. Most of the state Innocence Projects have a substantial, and in some cases a majority, of white lawyers and volunteers working for them. Genarlow Wilson, the young black man serving a 10 year sentence for a consensual sex act with a teenage girl (when Wilson was himself a teenager) has been tirelessly represented in his appeals by a white woman lawyer. The lawyer currently standing in the way of Genarlow's freedom (the AG of the state of Georgia) is a black man.

As the Duke case showed, racists come in all colors. And all of us, regardless of the color of our skin or the size of our wallets, can be victims of racism and malicious prosecution. Any time a corrupt prosecutor is exposed and stopped, we all win. It's just too bad that some people are so blinded by their racist hate that they can't understand that.

Anonymous said...

listen, maybe the columnists have a point about crooked prosecutors. but the answer seems to be to disbar all crooked prosecutors not to allow nifong to stay because all prosecutors are crooked.

WINDBAG

Anonymous said...

1:30

What is evil leftist behavior??? I consider myself left of center (you would probaly consider me far left :-) ) and I was never under the impression the case was driven by the left. I had the impression it was driven by a variety of diverse groups, with diverse interests who came together in an unfortunate confluence of events.

Many people--and we don't necessarily know their political orientations--believed a woman who lied & lied repeatedly. They also believed a DA who lied--and this is different than the woman who seems to be unbalanced--with malice aforethought.

Were those who believed the lies--and went after these three men--all "left"? I think not. There is no one left any more than there is one right.

Anonymous said...

PS It was clear to me early on that there were problems with the accusations. But I'm a leftist woman, what would I know?!!!

Anonymous said...

Dear Kilgore,

All of our tax dollars go to fund things that we may not like personally. I'd rather fund so-called feminist "education" about rape, etc., than the hugely more expensive failure in Iraq...just for example.

Anonymous said...

The fools arguing that Nifong should have his job back because other prosecutors have done worse to poor black people are flat out racists. If they weren't reacists they would call for Nifong's removal AND justice for the poor black folks. But apparently their view of justice is when a black person is falsely accused thats injustice .. when a white person gets falsely accused thats payback. BOTH are wrong .. and yes more attorneys should be held accountable.
dave
hockessin, de

Anonymous said...

It is important to continue, in various appropriate ways, going after Nifong, the 88 For Hate, Hodge, and the rest.

The media & academic plan was a media show trial of the lacrosse players as symbols of a race, a gender, and a class.

Now the academics and some in the media want to roll a defense of themselves and Nifong into an ongoing effort to continue that very show trial, minus the component of an actual court process.

Imagine Nifong touring the country and getting paid high fees for lectures at campuses and the like.

When it comes to unrepentant hatemongers: hit them when they're up, kick them when they're down. (No, I don't mean physically).

Anonymous said...

What academic plan? If you're going to make an accusation/assertion like that, could you be specific?

Anonymous said...

To each his own 9:04. If you like spending billion$ to train our lawyers, judges, police and media to be bigoted and sexist that is your prerogative. I prefer to fight against it.

Anonymous said...

"I wonder whether he would have faced the same public outcry had the students he prosecuted been poor, black and from, say, North Carolina A&T"

No he wouldn't have, because nobody would have even heard of the case if the alleged offenders had been from , say, NCA&T. The press wouldn't have covered it in the first place. Newspapers like the Washington Post don't make national stories out of interracial crime when the alleged offenders are black.

The press gave excessive and sensationalistic coverage to the Duke case because the alleged offenders were white and the alleged victim was black.

Then when the case fell apart and it turned out the white guys were the real victims, some people in the press, like Heath, are dense enough to complain that the victims got more attention because they were white.

The double standard in coverage of interracial crime is yet another issue that came out of this case.

Anonymous said...

What academic plan? If you're going to make an accusation/assertion like that, could you be specific?

Go read their statements -- the statements by the Group of 88, various columnists, etc. I don't mean a plan that was drawn up by a specific committee assigning specific roles. I suppose that a conspiracy-theorist kind of person might misunderstand what I was saying.

They said, greasing the skids of their lynch-mob rush to judgment, that this was all about race, class, and gender. Those were the themes that they were proclaiming, publicizing, and developing.

Now some of them are insisting that "something happened" in that bathroom and some of them are insisting that the themes of race, class, gender are as valid as ever, and that their hatred of white rich males is as valid as ever. In the Ward Churchill era of American academe, these demented parasites & predators will roll their defense into offense and find remuneration and other doors opening.

Anonymous said...

9:28

I think anyone with half a brain would expect you to state your terms. Your post read like one I would expect from a conspiracy theorist. Ooohhhh!!! The academics (undefined & not numbered) went after...

Anonymous said...

9:19/Kilgore,

I rather think that the police, etc., are now being trained NOT to privilege white males. Justice for all does not equal "and more justice if you're a white male" as so long was the case.

And, yes, I'd rather spend my money on just about anything than a war that is maiming/killing young Americans (and non-Americans), many of them from families without much money. If this were such a great war, the children of the president and other officials would have volunteered to fight in it. But that's off topic.

Anonymous said...

I think anyone with half a brain would expect you to state your terms. Your post read like one I would expect from a conspiracy theorist. Ooohhhh!!! The academics (undefined & not numbered) went after...

I stated my terms and specified: the Group of 88. Those are 88 specific academics and you can find their names and information through links at this blog. You may even be one of them.

And in many places in this blog, indeed in this thread's very post, you will find quotes from, and links to, specific columnists doing that which I described. You may even be one of them.

And I specified that I don't think that the whole thing was planned in a room by a committee assigning roles, etc. You may even wish that you could join such a group.

Anonymous said...

This is why I have grown to despise journalists for the most part.Their barely disguised hatred of anything remotely resembling conservative white males is so obvious--unless of course they are begging those same white males for money because nobody's subscribing to their little newspaper social clubs anymore. I used to work for a major Texas newspaper and staff members would openly mock letters that came from conservative white males but would wax philosophical over the most poorly written racist diatribe from a black.

Just the fact that so many newspapers are struggling to hold onto any sliver of "guilt" on these lacrosse players proves my point. Make no mistake here--liberalism these days is a social club and it's members feel vastly superior to the very people paying their bills. Not one of them would walk in a black nieghborhood at night, however.

BobC

Anonymous said...

I just read the Wikipedia article about Cory Maye. I see no evidence there that the prosecutor fabricated a case against a person he knew or should have known was innocent.

Is that the best you can do?

Anonymous said...

There are unfortunate examples of persons wrongfully convicted and then proven innocent by some after discovered evidence or evidence which becomes available because of developed technology e.g. DNA comparison . What Nifong did ( pre-trial publicity - concealment of exculpatory evidence , improper photo line-up ) would have been wrong even if the boys were guilty . The case against Nifong is particularly egregious because he knowing and intentionally pursued a hoax . I doubt anyone can find a comparable case .

Gary Packwood said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

9:42,

In your first post, you listed names and a group. Then you moved to larger designations, "academics" and the "media." In Comp I, you'd probably be ask to provide a transition rather than to be snarky & aggressive.

And, no, I don't want to join any group. Why would I? Do you just want to make [stupid; inappropriate] remarks because someone corrected you? You really do need to learn good sandbox behavior.

You give people with reactionary politics a bad name!

Gary Packwood said...

Vigilante justice was the order of the day when Nifong decided to bring this case to trial without probable cause and ...we still need to a full accounting of why this case should never have been brought ...to quote Duke law professor Paul Haagen.

The Phantom Menace may be the media; the G88 and their friends who apparently do not understand civil liberties and due process.

If Reade Seligmann has gained awareness about prosecutorial misconduct and the need to ensure civil liberties for criminal defendants, perhaps the NYTimes needs to ask Reade to help define V I G I L A N T E justice for the members of their editorial board.
::07/07/07::
GP

Anonymous said...

Thank you, 10:00. This is all true. This is the argument that needs to be made.

Anonymous said...

ANON 9:38 said: "I rather think that the police, etc., are now being trained NOT to privilege white males."

That made me chuckle. If that is the case why is it that:

* Males Get Longer Sentences than Females for the Same Crime
* Men are 20 times more likely to receive the death penalty
* Gender is the most significant biasing factor in determining whether or not someone will be charged, prosecuted, indicted and sentenced, as well as determining the severity of the sentence.

Criminal bias against males

Anonymous said...

Hey Kilgore,

Isn't also true that males are more likely to commit violent crimes than females? (Women are catching up, I think...)

Great to tell us that males are 20 times more likely to get the death penalty. Do they commit more of the capital crimes?

Finish your statements so the reader understands your terms...

Anonymous said...

10:27

Can you break down your generalizations by race, class, gender, and crime?

DaveW said...

I'm not sure I disagree with them so much KC.

I believe it is true that the only reason we're seeing this pay out with Nifong facing sever sanction is that the victims were well heeled and could afford to lawyer up to their eyeballs.

Didn't Lane Williamson go out of his way to draw a distinction between Nifong and 2 other lawyers that hadn't been so severely treated?

Of course, a lot of the reason Nifong reaped the whirlwind is that he so blatantly race baited this with the media and together they created a firestorm of race based outrage.

I'm not defending Nifong by any means. But I don't think the most fundamental wrongdoing - which to me was withholding the DNA and lying to the court about it, which I see minimally as obstruction of justice - is that unusual. I think that's especially in evidence when you look at the police, courts and medical collusion.

No, Nifong isn't unique. The Duke LAX guys are just lucky to have good lawyers - otherwise they'd be rotting in prison right now.

Shadoo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

10:13 - Read the linked article about criminal bias against men and you will get a great deal more than I could offer in this format.

Did you know that women commit most of the child murder? Should we blame all women for that? lol

gg

Anonymous said...

Where'd you get the women & child murder? Are you counting abortion? I ask, because in my part of the world--the midwest--there have been some murders of children by fathers/boyfriends of the mothers & the comments (including on FOX, hardly left wing) that women almost never kill their children. Interesting that we can come up with opposed representations.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Dwilkers. Good post.

Anonymous said...

I particularly like haskell's analysis (4:22AM) of the role of background and perspective in the subsequent view and organization of facts as one seeks the truth. Yes... and it is quite unfortunate that faith, hope and charity or duty, honor and country are not topics of a formal University curriculum. Oh and another course could encompass the notion of integrity.

But, I'm quite certain that the 88's of the world would see such traditional values as being of the white, anglo-saxon protestant male tradition and accordingly, not a proper subject for their diversity curriculum.

Also, for these subjects to be taught, it would likely require that hiring be tilted toward white males -- for, reiterating haskell's point about perspective, only those who have lived as a part of a tradition encompassing those concepts could properly convey meaning. (I may be inappropriately assuming that these traditions are not so particularly associated with other groups within our "society" -- and I use that word guardedly.)

And haskell...I too am raising my children to be elitists ... elitists of thought and character and tolerence and yes, duty, honor, country ... our country. Their country.

Anonymous said...

The true believers in the metanarrative remind me of a stadium full of Christians who are gathered together because the date and the hour of the Rapture has been revealed. When the night becomes a new day and the crowd wants an explanation why everyone is still there, the preacher explains the world has been spared because of the faith of the gathered congregation. If someone asks, "But I thought the faith of the congregation was what would bring on the rapture", his logical deduction is condemned as heresy. I hope this analogy is apparent and the comparison makes the metanarrators squirm.

Brant Jones

Michael said...

re: 10:02

The force (media) was very strong with Darth Nifong.

As far as mothers in violence to children goes, there are the Susan Smith and Andrea Yates cases. Raising kids can be very stressful, especially when there's added financial stress and lack of parenting skills and women spending more time in the care of young children can result in violence to their charges.

Anonymous said...

To Nifong: When you live by the sword…

To Durham residents: Demand the PD clean up town of murderers, rapists, assaulters,(even though the appear to almost always be black). Clean up your yards, get rid of all the garbage around your neighborhoods. Demand your kids go to school ready to learn—everyday. Demand teachers teach. Visit your elementary schools.

To the g88: You can still have your basic philosophies, but use you intellect to argue your premise. Just try it. See if you can sustain all you say. A wonderful example is Camille Paglia. I mean she voted for Ralph Nader and has gone from supporting Hillary to wishing Pelosi would run for President. So, she is clearly left. She has been described as “antifeminist feminist, antigay lesbian, antiliberal liberal. I don’t agree with her, but she reaches her conclusions with well-reasoned statements.

To MSM: Get your facts straight. Having to make so many corrections is wasting a lot of ink.

KC and others: Keep up the good fight. They say that if you repeat a lie enough times, people will start to believe it. Keep going after the lies and the liars.

To Undergrads: If you are WHITE, or a CONSERVATIVE, or CAN THINK, remember, you are a target of the MSM, feminist groups, academics that shout, and the so called civil rights protectors. Be strong, you are in great company –Camille Paglia, Walter Williams (Ph.D. UCLA), William Kristol (Harvard Ph.D.), Antonin Scalia (Harvard Law), Charles Krauthammer (Harvard MD). There are so many more, but I wanted to be inclusive—one lesbian, one black, one Jew, one white, and one disabled guy. All super individuals, not because they belong to a certain race or have a certain view point (they don't), but because they are thinkers and can express themselves with reason.

Anonymous said...

Is Liptak a Communist?

Anonymous said...

Michael at 11:01

How do you know the two names you cited aren't exceptions? Indeed, I believe at least one case involved post-partum depression. I was asking for numbers/sources for the assertion.

Yes, childrearing is stressful. Are you assuming only women do it?

Anonymous said...

All I can add is Clackamas County, Oregon District Attorney Terry Gustafson was disbarred for lying about destroying records. She was as arrogant as Mike Nifong.

I sat on a committee that investigated Bar complaints as the public member; most cases of prosecutor misconduct were settled. The reason, they knew they made a mistake, were sorry and didn’t make matters worse when confronted with their ethical violations.

Lots of District Attorney’s are disciplined. When they are it rarely makes news.

The New York Times just doesn’t get it and won’t ever get it. No wonder rats find the new Times building such a good home. And to add to their pain Zack Randolph is now a New York Knick. For those who don’t know Portland is a pretty sleepy town except for its music scene. And yet he was involved in dog fighting, shootings at strip clubs, enough blow for a snowstorm and my personal favorite street racing. Think of the trouble he can get into in New York with his posse “The Hoops Family”. When the Times contacted the Portland Police about him all they said was good luck.

Anonymous said...

11:12 Much worse, he is a progessive

Anonymous said...

10:21 - Here is a link to info on child murder from HHS in the US. Note that "mothers only" perpetrators are 31% while "fathers only" perpetrators are 14%. It's interesting that children under five offers a different breakdown where both fathers and mothers are about equal in the frequency that they kill their children.

If we included abortion it would have been a landslide.

Anonymous said...

Obviously, the journalists who regard the disbarrment of Nifong as a sign of racism in our society have made a very interesting point. Apparently, Nifong assumed that if a prosecutor can get away with railroading poor black defendants into prison, then he can also get away with railroading rich white defendants into prison. That was a big mistake.

Anonymous said...


Prosecutors, they claim, routinely have engaged in behavior similar to—or even worse—than Nifong, and have escaped any punishment.


I think it is important to understand that a person who would say that is a person who would do what Nifong did, and wants to ensure that the punishment for doing so is light.

Anonymous said...

Kilgore,

I looked at your link & it doesn't break down useful information like the percentage of children who live with mothers only/both parents/fathers only. I believe that "fathers only" is quite a small percentage. Parents v(mother/father) & other is also important.

What you asserted needed, as I noted, explanation.

Anonymous said...

11:03..
I share your appreciation of Camille Paglia (and I am politically conservative) and try to read everything I see from her. She uses intelligence and humor to make her points, and has very little tolerance for b.s.

So many other "progressive" columnists have become mind-numbingly predictable and repetitive. What passes for journalism and commentary is abysmal nowadays.

Michael said...

re: 11:18

I posted those two as examples in that it does happen. Yes, Yates case may have been post partum depression or mental problems in general.

The potential reason for women doing it is that they traditionally spend more time with kids than males do. Even in the day-care center environment.

Anonymous said...

Below is an excerpt from the H-S editorial page. They cover various items from the past week and try to make things witty......well, they try. LOL!

I bring this last paragraph here to illustrate the constant bent the staff employs toward the issue of race.

No matter how geographically distant....no matter how different the very subject matter might be, one or all of the editorial staff will try to bring a racial aspect to the mix.

I have only to think perhaps they are following the lead of NCCU and various other entities in Durham by trying to gear their coverage toward one segment of the population.

For some race-obsessed bastard over there, the nuance is steered away from the trivial Gore III coverage and somehow conjures up Rodney King.

Oh, no! Can't we all just get along?

Pedestrian, that:


* The son of former Vice President Al Gore got into a little trouble this week. Al Gore III, 24, was arrested and charged with speeding and drug possession. He was released from a California jail after his sister posted bail.

An Orange County sheriff's deputy stopped Al III about 2:15 a.m. traveling at 100 mph in a blue Toyota Prius on the San Diego Freeway. The deputy allegedly smelled marijuana, searched the car and found marijuana along with a cache of prescription pills for which the younger Gore does not have prescriptions.

The arrest of the younger Gore is unfortunate, but it shows the extent drug abuse has penetrated society. No family, no matter how affluent, is immune to the scourge.

We wish the Gore family well in working through this problem. It's not the first time Al III has had trouble with the law over drugs and speeding. Let's hope, for his sake, that it's the last.

But on a lighter note, we found it interesting that Al III was clocked traveling at 100 mph in a Prius. That's almost as suspect as the story Los Angeles police told about Rodney King traveling at 100 mph in a Hyundai when he was stopped on the freeway and beaten in 1991. Speed just doesn't come to mind when you think about the Prius or the 1980s-something Hyundai that King was driving.

Why would a car built to conserve fuel even have 100 on the speedometer? We're thinking 65 mph would be the appropriate top speed for a car driven by the conscientious folks trying to keep Mother Earth healthy.



Debrah

Anonymous said...

Carolyn says:

For those who want to believe in the Hoax, facts are irrelevant.

If you try to stop those who believe in the Hoax, you discover - facts are irrelevant.

Sorry, K.C.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

The NYTimes....on down to the local bottom-feeding Herald-Sun are having a very difficult time handling what has transpired.

It shows in every phrase they turn on their editorial pages. With respect to the Times and the local News & Observer, the editorial staff has all but dropped the issue after the initial response to Roy Cooper's findings and then later to the NC Bar Committee's findings.

The role playing by the Times doesn't surprise me; however, given the Pulitzer-level work done by Joe Neff at the N&O, I have been disappointed with the editorial coverage of the total exoneration of the lacrosse players.....and then Mikey's demise.

I recall so well how the guys on their editorial staff made a huge production of these rape charges in the beginning, but now you see no columnists...no clergy....no rape counselors....no "activists"......complaining about the horrific residue left by Crystal Mangum and what her criminal deeds have done to true future rape victims.

One would think that issue would be an important one for those who are so sensitive to "victims".

I've thought about going another round with Torrey and submitting another scathing--yet truthful--column regarding all of this, but right at this moment, I just don't have the energy. Perhaps later.

It's like pulling teeth dealing with people whose sole existence still depends upon myths of the 20th century.

They will have to die and take all those double standards that are a dead weight on society with them to their graves before it might be over.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

TO Polanski--

I can agree with you on Camille Paglia. She is magnificent and takes no prisoners.

Debrah

Anonymous said...

11:30 wrote:
Apparently, Nifong assumed that if a prosecutor can get away with railroading poor black defendants into prison, then he can also get away with railroading rich white defendants into prison.
--
You hit the nail on the head here. I've been thinking this but hand't landed on a way to express it. I believe this is exactly what happened.

Now that I am aware, I am as outraged over injustice being perpetrated against minorities and the poor as I am about Durham's persecution of the 3 innocent Duke students.

Anonymous said...

Newpapers are declining in circulation big time. Can it be that the white people - those that actually buy papers, are feed up with the liberal left agenda? Can not imagine, Duff brough many white readers to the Times with his articles.

Anonymous said...

Polanski Pagalia link, I hope...

Anonymous said...

Pagalia v2.0

Anonymous said...

Camille_Paglia

Debrah

Anonymous said...

excerpt from Paglia's new book


http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2005/04/07/paglia_excerpt/index.html

________________________

An interview of Paglia

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/birnbaum_v/camille_paglia.php

Anonymous said...

I know that Paglia just came back to Salon after her book tour.

I hope she writes about the g88

Anonymous said...

Provocative Paglia.

From more than a decade ago these words could serve as the segue into the abyss of the Duke Lacrosse Hoax.

I believe in enlightened multiculturalism based on scholarship, but I hate this kind of moralistic trumpeting about imperialism of the West and the atrocities of white men versus women and people of color. I'm tired of that.

Are you listening, Duke's Gritty Gang88?

Debrah

Anonymous said...

While probably true that Nifong would have won a plea bargain had he gone after someone who could not afford to defend themselves. It is equally true that going after a working class person would not have gotten him the headlines that insured his “victory.” There would have been no outcry from the group of 88 and no NBP.


Had the NAACP supported the wrongfully accused they could have lobbied that into a fairer judicial system for both blacks and whites. Instead they played the race card and lost creditability. The same principle applies too much of the black media.

Anonymous said...

The NYT still doen't realize that the World Trade Center is gone. The World Trade Center is gone in part because of their, the New York Times, own world view. They have little perception of any reality that they can articulate beyond their left of center view point. They even now misrepresent what happened at Duke University in Durham, and this purposeful misrepresentation allows this paper continued support for the attitudes that led to a fiasco. The country will not see the rebuilding of the World Trade Center anymore than the country will see among many of the would be academics at Duke and elsewhere an acceptance that they were wrong or that they need to make an apology for their outrageous and regretful behavior in the hoax they helped to initiate and perpetuate.

Anonymous said...

That is an excellent point about the World Trade Center. I would think that those who were close to the site would still remember, or care. But the opposite is true. Sad commentary...

Anonymous said...

Don't hold your breath waiting for the "something must have happened" crowd to proclaim the LAX students "innocent."

That would be like American muslims denouncing the terrorists in their community.

Because of their unwavering bias against those who are of a different color and/or religion from them, it's never going to happen.

Jamie said...

Imagine a smirking black DA, up for election, railroading a group of black youths in order to grab white votes in a 50-50 black-white community. The accuser's a white woman, a pole-acrobat with a wild personal history and multiple accounts of the "crime" that took place. Revelation after revelation, the case crumbling around his ears, Mr. black DA will not back down. Think he'd be disbarred?

Know what? Even if he was, something happened.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

11:41 said: I looked at your link & it doesn't break down useful information like the percentage of children who live with mothers only/both parents/fathers only.

I gave you the cite for US Govt stats on child murder showing that women killed their children more often than men. That was my original statement and I backed it up with the link. I trust if you want to look further into this matter you will let us all know what you find. Good luck.

Paglia is a breath of fresh air. I think she was the one who said that building things was "male poetry" or something like that.

Gotta love her.

Anonymous said...

Tom Ehrich's new column appeared today:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070707/LIVING/707070328/1007/LIVING

Please remind him that the readers have not forgotten his shameful last week's column, for which he still hasn't apologized.

Anonymous said...

Paglia's speech at MIT was in 1991, but it could have been given last night. It's instructive that none of famenist and their departments have changed.

The way she is criticized reminds me of the criticism that KC has received from the left. They try to brand her as a conservative or a neocon--though there is plenty of proof that neither is such.

Anonymous said...

A shorter link to the same Ehrich article:

http://tinyurl.com/387lfk

Anonymous said...

I am sure if a Sulzberger was amongst those indicted, the Times would have taken a different slant.

Anonymous said...

off the subject, but dealing with education in NC

Half of the nursing school students fail end of year test. The school provided a Cliff's note type of 12 day class for the flunkies. The article says:

Some of the students who took the course said they were frustrated by the overall experience. Three students who passed the course said they learned more during the 12-day course - taught by Dr. Frances Eason of East Carolina University, an expert on preparing students for the national licensure exam - than they did in their two years of coursework at the university.

A bit scarry --

Topher said...

People Paglia and KC Johnson are the only possible salvation of the academic left - brilliant, committed, balanced intellectuals who see their jobs as actually making people think - and _synthesize_, come up with something better. Too many profs who claim to teach "critical thinking" simply want students to turn on their upbringing and view their congenital/social value system as some kind of hostage situation.

On today's journalism: no offense to any reporters reading this, but today's journalism education is a fraud. People getting "journalism" degrees spend their formative years in a hermetic think tank of questionable intellectual rigor. They come up uneducated about English/history/science and become activists because they want to "change the world."

As someone who wrote for his college paper, I can say with fair certainty that the amount of 'education' required to prepare a reporter for the career is pretty low - it shouldn't take more than a semester to teach libel law, how to deal with sources, and the inverted pyramid. The rest is people skills.

I'm guessing you gotta go to J school because that's who the newspapers hire. Reporters used to be blue-collar, now they all have bogus graduate degrees.

Solution: abolish the journalism school, make it a subset of the English department and make reporters actually learn something real in school. People like KC are much more qualified to report these kinds of matters with proper tact and balance than some J-school hack that got onto a newspaper staff.

Anonymous said...

kilgore said:


"11:41 said: I looked at your link & it doesn't break down useful information like the percentage of children who live with mothers only/both parents/fathers only."

I gave you the cite for US Govt stats on child murder showing that women killed their children more often than men. That was my original statement and I backed it up with the link. I trust if you want to look further into this matter you will let us all know what you find. Good luck.


The problem with the raw stats is that, if we find, for example, that 95% of children that live with only one parent live with their mother, then we can expect, even if men are twice as likely to kill their children as women are, that more children are killed by their mothers than by their fathers.

Anonymous said...

I think what tickles me the most in this whole fiasco is the utter shock from my Liberal friends about the MSMs penchant for spinning the "news." Folks, they've been doing it for years, it's just that, apparently you didn't notice because the spin was in your favor--needless to say, MSM is arch-Liberal, so anything that supports that bias would be welcomed by people of the Liberal persuasion. And don't get me wrong, my Liberal friends love this country as much as I do, but their prism is much different from mine. I've known about left-wing bias from the NYT, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, Washington Post, LA Times, ad nauseum. It's nice to see KC and others on this blog gaping in disbelief at last. Take my advice, don't believe anything, ANYTHING, reported in the MSM until you have honestly researched it. Take that lesson away from the Duke LAX Frame-up, and some good may come from this thing after all.

Anonymous said...

6-6-07 11:42,
You are exactly right. We must fight these people. They are slowly, insideously going about undermining our freedoms, our institutions and our very way of life. The U.S.A was based on freedom of choice and self determination and we are losing the battle against those who wish to control us. The educational system and government and press must be purged of these people.

Anonymous said...

I apologize for this being off topic, but I just finished reading Ben Himan's typed notes on Liestoppers. I read something that has never, to my knowledge, been discussed in the MSM and I'm curious about this. To wit:

"All three [Evans, Flannery & Zash] agreed to go to the hospital and have a nurse do a sexual assault suspect kit. I transported them to the hospital and the kits were completed. I then transported them to their house and dropped them off at around 3/17/06 4:05 hrs"

I don't know the nature of such a test, but my hunch is that these tests could have, in fact, produced exculpatory evidence for Evans. Were the results ever produced to the DPD?

Thoughts? And why were these tests never discussed -- or were they and I just missed them?

Anonymous said...

Inre: Paglia

One wonders if Paglia only wants a do-over because everything she and the hippies/beat people wanted, they got. Only it doesn't quite turn out the way they envisioned.

This is much like Marxism, Socialism and other Utopias...they never, ever work and those that believe in them, stand in disbelief incorrectly thinking the ideals are sound, but the operation was flawed.

Isn't she another who is just eating her own?

Anonymous said...

2:24

Your stats mean NOTHING without more information. Not that I think you're throwing around information without knowing what it means, but you are. Do I respect you? No. I think you don't know what you're talking about, but you love to throw around factoids. Dufus.

Anonymous said...

1:13 writes:
Had the NAACP supported the wrongfully accused they could have lobbied that into a fairer judicial system for both blacks and whites. Instead they played the race card and lost creditability.
---
so true. They need visionary leadership. We should be about justice for all.

Anonymous said...

ANON 3:33 said: "Your stats mean NOTHING without more information. Not that I think you're throwing around information without knowing what it means, but you are. Do I respect you? No. I think you don't know what you're talking about, but you love to throw around factoids. Dufus."

And this is a good example of the problems with the lax case. This poster clearly shows us the problem that transpires when ideology meets evidence. Evidence that contradicts the ideology. Then come the fireworks and the name calling rather than rational discussion.

And so it goes.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Topher said...

I think it would be unfair to lump Camille Paglia in with hippies and Angry Studies professors. As long as I've seen her work, she's always decried the VAWA-style feminist victimology, academic sclerosis, speech codes and other forms of scholastic bullying.

She's also argued for a "revalorization" of the trades and educational reform to reemphasize classics at the expense of modernism.

She has a somewhat socialist proposal for social programs, but I think it results from an actual concern for people at large.

Anonymous said...

It may well be the case that many others who are innocent have been convicted through prosecutor misconduct, and many of those so convicted probably are African American. If so, the remedy is not to reinstate or forgive Nifong. The remedy is instead to identify other such prosecutors and disbar them also. The prosecution will straighten up once the consequences are real.

William Jockusch said...

The sad truth is that Liptak is correct. Far worse cases of misconduct have generally gone unpunished. If you don't believe this, go here:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/pm/default.aspx?act=sidebarsb&aid=39

I would argue that the problem is not that Nifong is being punished, but that others have not been.

William Jockusch said...

One other thing -- the worst case of unpunished Government misconduct in court that I am aware of is that of "expert" DNA witness Pamela Fish. She won several murder convictions with perjured testimony. I don't believe she was ever criminally charged.

Anonymous said...

to 9:28 and 9:42, responding to the 88ist at 9:35 and 10:01,

Don't forget, for 88ists, reason and logic are oppressive contructs. The 88ists can never understand a rational argument because they have neither the ability nor desire.

Anonymous said...

This case was always about votes. To try and understand it in context of rape, is impossible.

Gary Packwood said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Topher, I think Paglia is very interesting and did not mean to imply she was anything like the 88. She has standards even though it appears she has modified her positions looking through the rear view mirror.

What I was saying is that much of what she/others apparently wanted regarding institutional change in the academy, the MSN, NOW, etc. we have today. She, nor I, like what we have.

The difference I never wanted what she did as it was always, and will always be built on shifting sand.

Having said that she is quite entertaining and a breath of fresh air.

Anonymous said...

Paglia Randomhouse link

Anonymous said...

KC Johnson & C.Paglia are not part of the academic left!!! Are you thinking that the right/center/liberterian will save the left? Thanks, but not thanks!!!

Anonymous said...

The main reason that well-meaning liberals like KC are so surprised when they encounter relentlessly biased misreporting is that they haven't seen it at a general level because it is camouflaged, for them, by reflecting the world from lib perspectives. There is an engrained excessive trust in the media which can still take years to undo even after the process begins. It's hard to break with the habit, the habitual convenience, and, for a lib, the agreeableness, of taking the media's accuracy and honesty for granted. It means being more on guard against one's own confirmation bias. It means doing more checking.

The media bias is not just a matter of bad camera angles and unfair juxtapositions for conservatives. It's, most of all, the way that the media frames issues, providing themes, templates, etc., which among other things make errors and distortions and their corrections seem hardly relevant.

Another reason that liberals are unaware of the bias, is that the media roll defense into offense, and cover up biased distortions and just plain stupid errors, by shifting into attack mode against favorite enemies.

Anonymous said...

I just visited youtube and searched "Duke lacrosse hoax." The 1st entry is entitled "The Real Criminals," but nowhere is Panties mentioned. How PC is that?

P

Anonymous said...

from 3:26

One wonders if Paglia only wants a do-over because everything she and the hippies/beat people wanted, they got. Only it doesn't quite turn out the way they envisioned.
______________________

You must be kidding! They did not get all they wanted. She has not changed. She's a feminist. She just does not define it the way the 88 or most feminist do. She has constanly credited MEN for all they have contributed to Arts, Music, Philosophy, Architecture, Religion,etc. She has always deplored what is passed for art, etc., but admired because they were by some minority groups. I mean calling art when you put a crucifix in urine or a Maddona smeared whith fecal matter. Just look at what she considered the best in all those subjects--mostly by white guys.

Though she is an atheist, she considers the Bible one of the most beautiful pieces of literature.

What she is is an extraorninary professor who knows her discipline, and is an independant thinker.

Consider that I am a conservative in almost every area, and yet I listen to her with admiration for her arguements.

She has not found an arguement that supports:
1) Pro-pronography, including kiddy porn
2) Pro-prostitution
3) pro-leagalization of drugs
4) Pro-abortion

that makes me agree with her on any of those points. But because of her honest arguements, I listen to what she says.

I think she's great.

Anonymous said...

C Paglia had some employment problems. KC had to fight for tenure--poor Camille states she could not find a job. No one wanted to hire her. You'd think that coming from Yale grad school, SOMEONE would have given her a job! But she was a femenist that would not toe the Gloria S company line.

Gary Packwood said...

anonymous 6:01 said...

...She's a feminist. She just does not define it the way the 88 or most feminist do.
I think she's great.
::
I agree with you and appreciate the fact that she is not another 'fall on her sword victim' for me to avoid.

She works with others to advocates for the fine arts via her scholarship...rather than the usual ...rants.

Duke needs to bring her in for a workshop for the faculty on the meaning of discipline in scholarly pursuits.
::
GP

Anonymous said...

6:14

Paglia is an original.

She doesn't toe anyone's line, and she has the good sense to point out that liberal-vs-conservative is nothing but an outdated concept. She is not easily cornered. My only problem with her is her belief that universities should teach popular culture. I think that's a mistake: universities should focus on difficult and challenging subject matter.

But that's a minor cavil.

P

E-mail: said...

okay, I'm too impatient to read the entire day's comments, but I just wanted you guys to know "again" that a true victim does NOT alter information. The brain does NOT work like that. In my case, the facts are steadfast and there are no inconsistencies. I finally updated that blog... god, I'm exhausted!

Anonymous said...

I hope the professor pays an homage to Paglia and titles chapter(s) on G88 "Sickening, Disgusting Ass-Kissing Opportunists."

I smell victory and sound bites.

P

Anonymous said...

The crucifix in urine...wasn't that a white guy? Just wondering...

Anonymous said...

Popular culture is what at least some of the 88 deal with.

Anonymous said...

crucifix in urine was a rather pedestrian color photograph by Andres Serrano, an untalented "artist."

P

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering if we can dump on Norman Rockwell, too? On the other hand, I like Mary Cassat and some of the other female painters in Paris in the 1930s.

Anonymous said...

Rockwell and Cassat are fine, minor artists.

E-mail: said...

anon 7:00: and some of the other artists of that period are??

Off topic ... be CAREFUL if you decide to take advantage of the low air fares here to vegas at this time of year. Temps are dangerously high, especially for tourists who are not used to the heat. You can suffer heat stroke within 10 minutes.

Anonymous said...

GG

Google it. Many fine female artists in that period. Carrington and Moreau come to mind.

P

Anonymous said...

Camille Paglia on which Shelley really wrote Frankenstein

She is awesome, in a way.

Anonymous said...

Imagine Duke University with Camille Paglia :)

Anonymous said...

6:55
I agree Serrano was very untalented. That was the second time he had done art in urine. The time before was the Maddona and Child.

The sick part was that he got a $15,000 prize through the National Endowment for the Arts. Our taxes at work!

The guy had no talent, but the right name and philosophy. Can you imagine putting Mohammed instead?

Anonymous said...

to rrh

That sounds so delicious! Paglia has been critical of Duke (nothing to do with this scandal), so I'm afraid they would accuse her of not having collegiality.

Anonymous said...

I read Paglia's extemporaneous talk at MIT 1991 this afternoon. I've been thinking about that talk, comments of this blog and trying to decide what I think.

Frankly, I think that Paglia has a simple but very powerful message.

Be yourself, be proud of that self and do that self very well even if it takes a very long time. And never give up. (And the corollary, don't change for critics. But be self aware.)

That message transcends any groupthink or definitional divide.

Anonymous said...

No artist would dare doing "Piss Mohammed". Sad, but true. Contemporary artists are typically not willing to push buttons that get them targetted for assassination. But they'll push any other button that gets them noticed.

Anonymous said...

7:51

1 of the artists I work with, Sanda Sue, is controversial. But she's also talented and apolitical. sandrasue.com

P

Anonymous said...

2:21
Right state but wrong school. The school with the failing nursing students is Fayetteville State not NCCU.

Anonymous said...

mohammed cartoon <<)o:3

I hope it doesn't get KC van gogh'd

Michael said...

re: 12:04

[The arrest of the younger Gore is unfortunate, but it shows the extent drug abuse has penetrated society. No family, no matter how affluent, is immune to the scourge.]

Yeah, right. I'm sure that there are affluent, middle-class and poor families that don't have drug problems. No need to paint every family out there as being as bad as Gore's.

Anonymous said...

following up on rrh and Paglia at Duke

she said in Reasononline:


"I'm outside the establishment completely, and no one can co-opt me. They can't get to me. Because I don't apply for grants, they can't punish me like that. And I appear out of nowhere! They think they can avoid having to deal with me, never mentioning me and so forth, and then all of a sudden, the students invite me. And there I am! And I come on campus, and I name names on the podium. And then I leave and create disorder, and they all have to deal with it for weeks. It's great! It's wonderful!"

The atheletes should invite her.

Anonymous said...

good suggestion--Paglia at Duke would be fab

Anonymous said...

OK ... I'm actually intrigued. Could Paglia be invited to discuss the justice of sex and crime?

I think I might even come to hear... 7 hour drive.

Anonymous said...

inman said...
OK ... I'm actually intrigued. Could Paglia be invited to discuss the justice of sex and crime?

I think I might even come to hear... 7 hour drive

Bubba...where are you now? NYC? Weren't you from Richmond or somewhere in VA?

In the Winston-Salem area myself

D White

Anonymous said...

D White

...I'm in Northern Va now. Work in Washington for a venture capital/private equity firm. I was originally from Richmond...(you have a good memory)...

I'm also a short balding sawed-off son-of-a-bitch ... or so I've been told by women folk of some distinction. I feel confident that such an opprobrium gives me standing.

Best.

Anonymous said...

Amazing video on youtube. Search for "Bella Figura." Choreographer is the great Jiri Kylian (did I mention the ballerinas are topless?--not that there's anything wrong with that).

Anonymous said...

Gagrl

Please return to your veranda - your efforts have given you the vapors. Please fan yourself, or have others do that for you, and do not return until you are sentient. No, really...

Anonymous said...

That was very poorly danced. One thing Duke and Durham does well is the ADF. I have spent countless hours watching dance, and trust me, that is not a good company. Several dancers are good, but overall, it is very uneven.

Anonymous said...

Geez, can't you people stay on topic?

Anonymous said...

Ben & Jerry's Peach Cobbler ice cream

yummy!

Gary Packwood said...

Anonymous 8:30 said...

following up on rrh and Paglia at Duke

...she said in Reasononline:
..."I'm outside the establishment completely, and no one can co-opt me. They can't get to me. Because I don't apply for grants, they can't punish me like that. And I appear out of nowhere! They think they can avoid having to deal with me, never mentioning me and so forth, and then all of a sudden, the students invite me. And there I am! And I come on campus, and I name names on the podium. And then I leave and create disorder, and they all have to deal with it for weeks. It's great! It's wonderful!"
...The athletes should invite her.

::
Excellent Idea!

Invitation from the Duke University Women's lacrosse team.

I will donate to that effort! Where do I send the check?
::
GP

Anonymous said...

So, it is 115 in Vegas, instead of 104 - either way it is very hot. There are folk struggling up and down Las Vegas Blvd in the heat, That is always true. Lots of water - stay in the casino and out of the heat.

Anonymous said...

At least the heat is dry and gets better at night. Not like the humidity areas that are always nasty with 98 degree weather and 98 percent himidity/

Anonymous said...

to the student-led invitation to C Paglia--

Publish the address, I'll send a check too.

Anonymous said...

I want to quickly agree with the long list of people who point out that the Duke case - while perhaps more extreme than most others - is very far from the only case of prosecutorial misconduct.

I myself was recently brought up on assault charges here in Oakland County, Michigan (which were eventually dismissed). The prosecutor, Mr. Steve Meads, wanted a bench trial. When I asserted my Constitutional right to a jury trial, he glared at me for a good ten seconds before going, "Sure. But don't come crying when the judge gives you a hard time."

In other words, the idea of equality before the law - the very keystone of our legal system - was joyfully, proudly kicked aside.

As David Feige and other reputable legal scholars (very separate from the Nancy Grace's of the world) have said, this is no isolated incident.

(And quite frankly, if the Duke case IS just an isolated incident....then can't we all just scratch our heads and say, "That's weird", and move on? If Nifong's not emblematic of a larger trend, it loses relevence.)

Anonymous said...

Hello,

Because KC Johnson so assiduously corrects assertions in his posts, I am surprised he didn't correct an assumption in Charles Falk's: that all of the 88 were comfortably situated tenured faculty members. Last time I checked, adjunct faculty, for example, were hardly comfortable and rarely tenured.

Anonymous said...

Assume for a moment that someone collected good eveidence in suopport of the claim that prosecutors routinely get away with Nifong-like treatment of poor and/or black defendants.

What would consider a correct response?

(a) Investigate all such cases, and publicly call for punishment against the prosecutors.
(b) Make structural changes to reduce the power of prosecutors to get away with such things e.g. changing NC's case-assignment scheme.
(c) Let Nifong get away with it too.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 2:24:

The problem with the raw stats is that, if we find, for example, that 95% of children that live with only one parent live with their mother, then we can expect, even if men are twice as likely to kill their children as women are, that more children are killed by their mothers than by their fathers.

This is a disappointingly simple way of looking at things.

First off, even in this single-parent, divorce-rampant age, most kids live with both their mother and their father*. And when the parents do split up, the non-custodial parent still sees the child regularly.

You may think that one's propensity to kill one's child is linearly proportional to the time spent with the child, but I'd like to see some statistical justification. My evidence is also anecdotal, but I've heard of non-custodial parents killing their children in a fit of jealous rage (or, worse, planned rage). The fact remains that mothers ill their own children more than twice as often as fathers do. "Post-partum depression" is no excuse! And as long as the G88 and their feminist ilk are around, this statistic will never become widely known -- and even if it gets debated, female chauvinist propagandists like the ones that prejudged this case will probably find excuses for these mothers just as they did for CGM.

* - Kids with single parents only live with their fathers in 5% of cases? If that's not an injustice, I don't know what is.

Anonymous said...

"The case against Nifong is particularly egregious because he knowing and intentionally pursued a hoax . I doubt anyone can find a comparable case."

OJ. I'm pretty sure he killed those people, but I'm also pretty sure at least one cop planted evidence, at least one lab tech lied on stand to cover for him, and the entire prosecution team knew what was going on and went along.

Anonymous said...

Linwood Wilson will set this all straight! Support his gospel singing tour.