tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post1043028505893087867..comments2024-02-24T05:19:10.949-05:00Comments on Durham-in-Wonderland: Weekly Roundupkcjohnson9http://www.blogger.com/profile/09625813296986996867noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-83844109472858099562007-06-26T08:10:00.000-04:002007-06-26T08:10:00.000-04:00I'll ignore the adhominem, which contains no facts...I'll ignore the adhominem, which contains no facts or evidence.<BR/><BR/>Was Bugliosi talking to the jury? Dershowitz was. If Dershowitz could make it plausible to me, he could make it plausible to them. So they didn't "ignore the science." They distrusted the cops. After the last year in Durham, are you still so sure they were wrong to?<BR/><BR/>"2 dead bodies and you nitpick"<BR/>2 dead bodies or an alleged rape and I should turn my brain off? That's when it's most important to think clearly. And who do you feel the most personal danger from - OJ, college jocks, or crooked cops? For me it's the last, they're the ones who have the greatest opportunity to impact my life.<BR/><BR/>"like some group of 88 member."<BR/>No, if I was a G88er I'd be ignoring the details of particular cases and talking about race, class and gender. I'm not, I'm talking about a pattern of institutional behavior - e.g. that Nancy Grace gets caught putting an innocent guy in jail by witholding evidence, and instead of going to jail herself she gets a gig on national TV.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-72660676027679131492007-06-26T00:28:00.000-04:002007-06-26T00:28:00.000-04:00RE: Jun 25, 2007 10:26:00 AM Are you serious about...RE: Jun 25, 2007 10:26:00 AM <BR/><BR/>Are you serious about OJ? Derschowitz's book? Read Bugliosi's book. Only an imbecile thinks the LAPD framed the guy. <BR/>2 dead bodies and you nitpick like some group of 88 member.<BR/><BR/>I dont mean to be disrepectful--but people like you are dangerous!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-55253397578978213522007-06-25T21:45:00.000-04:002007-06-25T21:45:00.000-04:00I spent 6 years at De Anza, a CA JuCo. Another 2 y...I spent 6 years at De Anza, a CA JuCo. Another 2 years and I would have had an AA degree. I was that close! LOL!!!<BR/><BR/>Honestly, did love that school. Great teachers, and this was long enough ago that that they weren't all communists.<BR/><BR/>I did manage to have a great career in high tech for over 20 years, and made a big pile of money. Top that, you English major pukes!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-41158398579429416552007-06-25T20:58:00.000-04:002007-06-25T20:58:00.000-04:00I agree with 8:45I would add that they need to fix...I agree with 8:45<BR/><BR/>I would add that they need to fix K-12 system as well. About 40-50% of CA freshmen have to take remedial English and Math courses. Also, CA has some 150 or maybe more, 2 year colleges. For students that are not academically prepared, students could attend there, save money, learn to pace themselves with less commpetitive students and be successful as junior transfer students.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-87145982594949449122007-06-25T20:46:00.000-04:002007-06-25T20:46:00.000-04:00I'm not at all sure you're correct on this post:"M...I'm not at all sure you're correct on this post:<BR/><BR/>"Mike Nifong did what prosecutors almost always do when a complainant comes to them alleging a sexual assault: He took his complainant at her word and went full speed ahead with a prosecution. The fact is that few if any prosecutors wait for corroborating evidence or insist on more than one person’s say so before initiating a sexual assault prosecution. Indeed, they’d be vilified if they did. The cardinal rule of sexual assault complaints is “believe the victim,” and since anyone who complains is deemed a victim, even a semi-credible complainant can generate an arrest and prosecution in the absence of physical evidence, additional witnesses, or even a prompt accusation. This isn’t just the case in Durham; it’s true almost everywhere. The widespread support for this questionable practice is such that if the Duke case had gone to a jury and the defendants had been convicted, Nifong would not only still have his law license—he’d have been lionized for his dogged pursuit of rich white kids."<BR/><BR/>I know this is not evidence, but if you've ever read any novels of Linda Fairstein, you would have a different view on this. The author was the 25 year head of the Manhattan sex crimes unit. In her novels she gives many examples of how they investigated sex crimes and that many complaints were thrown out because of the implausibility of the complainants, many of whom lied to avoid getting into trouble with their parents or boyfriends over consensual affairs, not rapes as they first charged. No doubt about Mike Nifong deserving his fate, but I doubt you can use the same brush to paint prosecutors in general.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-84119771185198112482007-06-25T20:45:00.000-04:002007-06-25T20:45:00.000-04:00I heard someone on the radio discussing the sneaky...I heard someone on the radio discussing the sneaky ways that the CA state system is still getting their quotas satisfied for Blacks and Hispanics at Berkeley and UCLA. He said that if the admissions departments really wanted the under-represented groups to get an education, they would send those kids to Cal Riverside or other members of the system that are still fine schools, just not as competitive as Cal and UCLA. From Cal Riverside, they could graduate and live productive lives. From Cal and UCLA, they flunk out.<BR/>Typical liberal thinking: (essentially ) good intentions but with unintended consequences.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-66234216971868321642007-06-25T19:45:00.000-04:002007-06-25T19:45:00.000-04:00kc writes about Kathleen ParkerParker also joins t...kc writes about Kathleen Parker<BR/><BR/>Parker also joins the list of people observing that “a little self-examination would seem to be in order, beginning with Duke.”<BR/><BR/>She concludes,<BR/><BR/><BR/>The university recently settled with the three accused lacrosse players for an undisclosed sum in a move that insulates faculty from any claims of liability. Such is cheap grace. If the university really wants to redeem itself, a better remedy would be for university President Richard Brodhead to institute a new academic program to examine how totalitarian, politically correct groupthink is destroying America’s institutions of higher learning. <BR/><BR/>Duke can write the textbook.<BR/><BR/>Well, Duke does not have to write it. It was written about 16 years ago. Of course it was discredited as racist and alarmist. It was written by Dinesh D'Souza -Illiberal Education:The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus<BR/><BR/>Mr. D'Souza was kinda witty and very irreverant as an underclassman and the co-founder of the Dartmouth Review. He has never been "forgiven" for his early writings. Some bad.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, he wrote about 6 prominent universities and one was Duke. He argued that PC speech ends up producing intolerance. Because he is a person of "color" (born in India) he gained entry to these 6 universities and boy was Duke furious when his book came out. As far as Duke was concerned, one thing he faulted them for was trying to compensate for past injustices by race-based faculty hiring. At Cal he documents that 85% of black accepted under quotas (instead of grades, test scores)dropped out or funked out their freshman year.<BR/><BR/>Maybe now, poeple will begin to look around and see he was right. I think people could read it now in view of what has happened, and not be so "offened" with the statements he made. <BR/>Though I don't think his book is in a Duke library, I bet all the negative reviews on his book are there. To their dismay, it was a NYT best seller.<BR/><BR/>I'm on vacation and don't have the book right here, so some of my facts may be off a little. But you get the idea.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-14239797152172181102007-06-25T16:45:00.000-04:002007-06-25T16:45:00.000-04:00"Why didn't the joining of forces occur?"When whit..."Why didn't the joining of forces occur?"<BR/><BR/>When white people were being railroaded by largely the exact same people who had in the past railroaded a lot of black people (DPD, Durham DA's office ...) the NC NAACP was faced with a choice:<BR/> <BR/>(A) Use this as a "teachable moment" to get white people interested in cleaning up an out of control criminal justice system that threatens white and black alike.<BR/><BR/>(B) Side with their own oppressors so and help railroad some white people from out of state who had never done anything to them.<BR/><BR/>Bitterness and bigotry trumped self-interest, and they chose B.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-6938375378993734162007-06-25T15:43:00.000-04:002007-06-25T15:43:00.000-04:00"I just hope that all of you who are so up in arms..."I just hope that all of you who are so up in arms for the LAXers would also support other athletes--maybe black--who were accused of similar crimes. Ask yourself: woould you?"<BR/><BR/>My deepest regret is that racial hostility of this case precluded the traditionally persecuted from making common cause with those of us who suddenly discovered we, too, could be railroaded. Why didn't the joining of forces occur?Christyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12623422545436294378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-42629819302292481002007-06-25T14:10:00.000-04:002007-06-25T14:10:00.000-04:00"How are we going to reign in the media? "How abou..."How are we going to reign in the media? "<BR/><BR/>How about reining in their sources? The DA in that case made unnecessary, inflammatory statments to the press - as DAs routinely do, and get away with, unless they simultaneously get caught witholding evidence against defendants who can afford real lawyers.<BR/><BR/>The first step should be for the Colorado bar to punish that DA. Think that's gonna happen?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-28047985702429429072007-06-25T14:04:00.000-04:002007-06-25T14:04:00.000-04:0012:44You are right when you say that CA state coll...12:44<BR/>You are right when you say that CA state colleges have gone underground in how they defy the law on college admissions.<BR/><BR/>At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, they state they do not just depend on grades, class rank, test scores for admission. Rather they use a system that includes other factors and it is applied in a objective format. They do not describe it. You have to trust them.<BR/><BR/>When my kids entered as freshmen (before the PC crowd), the average GPA for admission to the Business School was around 4.2 or 4.3. It is now in the 3.7 or so. But by golly, they have diversity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-24600187991018092892007-06-25T13:14:00.000-04:002007-06-25T13:14:00.000-04:00rod allison, detroit said... I see the book "To Ki...<B>rod allison, detroit said...</B><I> <BR/>I see the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" is in the top 100 (75 yesterday) best sellers at Amazon.<BR/><BR/>Has to be a result of comparisons to the Duke railroading attempt. </I><BR/><BR/>Probably not because of the Duke case. <BR/><BR/>That book probably did more to promote the metanarrative taught by the 88ers than any other. I know my kids are being forced to read it here in the public schools of Florida, where it is being taught as ... you guessed it! -- NON-fiction.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-88190518849773241812007-06-25T13:03:00.000-04:002007-06-25T13:03:00.000-04:00Here in Denver over the weekend, a city attorney k...Here in Denver over the weekend, a city attorney killed himself b/c of pre-trial publicity. He was accused of stealing a laptop computer which he said he bought from a guy in a parking lot. He passed a lie detector test. Apparently, though, the laptop was full of pornography.<BR/>Two things- 1) was it wise to buy a computer from "a guy in a parking lot"? Can you say "stolen"?!<BR/>2) This guy was vilified in the press. They had a grand ole time stringing him up. He may have been guilty of everything of which he was accused but he never had a chance to defend himself. It was the above the fold headline or lead story for every media outfit in town.<BR/>So we have now a Harvard law school grad who was a judge and city attorney, basically lynched in the media, dead.<BR/>How are we going to reign in the media? Seriously? The 24 hr news cycle has lead us to "breaking stories" non-stop. Much of what is aired is speculative b/c they simply do not have additional information. They play the same loops of film over and over and bring in "experts". In the LAX case, they brought in "rape victim" experts, etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-47293248861454494722007-06-25T12:44:00.001-04:002007-06-25T12:44:00.001-04:00"What is it with the herd mentality that permits y..."What is it with the herd mentality that permits you people to persecute an honest prosecutor who may have made a couple of mistakes?"<BR/><BR/>It might be inappropriate to "persecute" an "honest prosecutor who may have made a couple of mistakes". However, we're talking about Mike Nifong, who is not an honest prosecutor and who did not make a "couple" of mistakes. The DHC already heard Nifong's defense that everything he did wrong was just "mistakes" and they didn't buy it; you can hardly fault the rest of us for not buying it either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-5308061735985125922007-06-25T12:44:00.000-04:002007-06-25T12:44:00.000-04:00Several comments:As far as males (especially AA ma...Several comments:<BR/>As far as males (especially AA males) growing up in single mother households- you can thank LBJ for that w/ his "Great Society". When Government (and welfare) became "Daddy" the father was no longer needed. The introduction of the Pill also brought much looser sexual attitudes leading to more partners, more births out of wedlock.<BR/><BR/>On admissions- Berkeley and UCLA are the 2 most difficult CA state schools in admissions. They are 60%-40% female to male, 45% Asian, and 93% in state students. When the ballot issue was passed many years ago prohibiting discrimination based on race (and other markers), it also outlawed reverse discrimination. Ever since, the CA state schools have tried every trick in the book to impose quotas even though they are not allowed to do so. As you can see by the numbers, the cream is rising to the top pretty successfully- the Asian kids who have long been discriminated against in favor of blacks and Hispanics, are finally being admitted to the schools they deserve. I can only imagine the numbers if applications were truly race-blind!<BR/><BR/>On the 88- my son has had a couple of the G88 professors so obviously, his is a small sample. He said, though, that one of them was a flaming liberal and not a very good prof. (philosophy dept). The other, however, was a good teacher (Romantic studies) that he really liked.<BR/><BR/> It is interesting that Guttentag is taking a sabbatical at MIT. MIT recently fired their (excellent) 30 yr admissions director b/c it was learned that she had falsified her credentials when she first applied there. She had none of the degrees that she reported originally.<BR/><BR/>Lastly, I have read statements by admissions directors at elite schools that say that even if you took the entire accepted freshman class and pitched them- turned around and accepted the next group in line, that there would be no difference. In other words, the competition for spots at elite schools is so tough that you could essentially toss a coin between them. I suspect that though there may have been a decline in applications from the NE or from children of bloggers who state that "no child of mine is going to Duke!" that does not necessarily mean that the qualifications of the class of 2011 are any less than the classes pre-LAX hoax.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-49739538723322536002007-06-25T12:37:00.000-04:002007-06-25T12:37:00.000-04:00"I just hope that all of you who are so up in arms..."I just hope that all of you who are so up in arms for the LAXers would also support other athletes--maybe black--who were accused of similar crimes. Ask yourself: woould you?"<BR/><BR/>Yes. I didn't support the Lacrosse Three because they were white; I wouldn't withhold my support from other athletes based on race. (In the interests of full disclosure, I didn't start following the case in any detail until after Roy Cooper's declaration. However, even back when the case began, the reports that were coming out gave me strong flashbacks to the Richard Jewell case and how he got pilloried in the media with nearly no physical evidence, just allegations that he supposedly matched a "lone bomber" profile. Metanarratives aren't always race-based.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-5999565923819260672007-06-25T11:56:00.000-04:002007-06-25T11:56:00.000-04:00Hey, all you Nifong fans -- tell him he can probab...Hey, all you Nifong fans -- tell him he can probably get a job at CNN. Call Nancy's agent.<BR/><BR/>In Turley's column:<BR/>In a blistering 2005 federal appeals opinion, Judge William H. Pryor Jr., a conservative former Alabama attorney general, found that Grace had "played fast and loose" with core ethical rules in a 1990 triple-murder case. Like Nifong, Grace was accused of not disclosing critical evidence (the existence of other suspects) as well as knowingly permitting a detective to testify falsely under oath. <BR/><BR/>No wonder CNN's rating are in the toilet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-5839627664785086342007-06-25T11:37:00.000-04:002007-06-25T11:37:00.000-04:009:29Are you insane? There is no way, given the fe...9:29<BR/><BR/>Are you insane? There is no way, given the feminist lynch mob attitude prevalent today, that I, a father of two grown sons, would ever get involved in teaching, mentoring, or otherwise trying to train the little brats that women raise on their own. My own life means more to me and I will not spend my money defending against false charges. As you can see on this blog, it takes a great deal of money to defend yourself, even when innocent. To hell with feminists, and to hell with the future of this country. It is not the place where I was raised and will soon go earn its place in the dustbin of defeated cultures due to the lack of real men.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-73936150565407102002007-06-25T11:23:00.000-04:002007-06-25T11:23:00.000-04:00This is a must-read:Kim_Roberts_911_Call_was_ID'ed...This is a must-read:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-859772.cfm" REL="nofollow">Kim_Roberts_911_Call_was_ID'ed_early</A><BR/><BR/>DebrahAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-54904010416244915962007-06-25T11:22:00.000-04:002007-06-25T11:22:00.000-04:00Jonathan Turley has a well-written piece in Sunday...Jonathan Turley has a well-written piece in Sunday's Wahington Post.<BR/>"Lots of Prosecuters go Too Far. Most Get Away With It"<BR/><BR/>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201654.html<BR/><BR/>It is very depressing.<BR/><BR/>Gives a lot of information on Nifong fan Nancy Grace. Makes the point that she was not disbarred, but rather got a tv show. Rewards for the evil.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-37728279168271198062007-06-25T11:19:00.000-04:002007-06-25T11:19:00.000-04:00Crimal contempt charges......'bout freakin' time!!...Crimal contempt charges......'bout freakin' time!!!!<BR/><BR/>It really is the gift that keeps on giving!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-84498028122161073952007-06-25T11:10:00.000-04:002007-06-25T11:10:00.000-04:0010:45 inr: "We need a truth and reconciliation com...10:45 inr: "We need a truth and reconciliation commission in Durham..."<BR/><BR/>Duke is next. The idea is to suggest everyone made mistakes, so everyone needs to come together...to reconcile, hold hands, and forget it ever happened.<BR/><BR/>Cookies and punch will be served in the community room after a short airing of grievances.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-51333951598873763932007-06-25T11:06:00.001-04:002007-06-25T11:06:00.001-04:00Brodhead is the winner of John Leo's "Sheldon Awar...Brodhead is the winner of John Leo's "Sheldon Award".<BR/>Bad as things in academe are, there really was no competition.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-62250552885106081072007-06-25T11:06:00.000-04:002007-06-25T11:06:00.000-04:00The Duke Admissions Office indicated that Duke rec...The Duke Admissions Office indicated that Duke received a record number of applications this year from children of alumni and admitted a record number of those children, which suggests that those morons who posted messages stating that they would never allow their child to attend Duke did not have much of an impact on the decisions made by Duke alumni and their children.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-30185119472894724332007-06-25T11:00:00.000-04:002007-06-25T11:00:00.000-04:0010:47 wrote:"Guttentag who has the first name of C...10:47 wrote:<BR/><BR/>"Guttentag who has the first name of Christoph! What's up with that? He must have been in the upper 1/16."<BR/><BR/>-----<BR/><BR/>He's German, as in, his parents are from Germany. I'm not sure that I (in fact, I'm sure that I do not) understand your point. Are you suggesting that Germans are smart? Or just that they have funny names?<BR/><BR/>Not that I'm defending his comments, nor his policies, which (he has admitted) include admitting woefully moronic rich kids in hopes that their daddies will contribute $$$$$ to Duke. But I don't read anything into his name. Yeesh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com