| Segment 1: Week in review with David Remnick, Martha Raddatz, Michael Eric Dyson, Patricia J. Williams, and Jeff Greenfield. Segment 2: A look at the presidential race from Iowa with David Yepsen, political columnist for the Des Moines register. | |
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Charlie Rose - Great New Series Called SUNDAY ON FRIDAY
Google maps the Darfur crisis
I think this is one of the most fascinating combinations of technology and interenational aid. It is a new satellite mapping service that allows users to zoom in on satellite images of any of the 1,600 devastated villages and get detailed information provided by the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Icons represent destroyed villages with flames and refugee camps with tents. When users zoom in to a level of magnification that keeps most of Darfur on a computer screen, the icons seem to indicate that much of the region is on fire. Clicking on a flame icon opens windows with the village's name and statistics on the extent of destruction.
Please check this out.
http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/
Icons represent destroyed villages with flames and refugee camps with tents. When users zoom in to a level of magnification that keeps most of Darfur on a computer screen, the icons seem to indicate that much of the region is on fire. Clicking on a flame icon opens windows with the village's name and statistics on the extent of destruction.
Please check this out.
http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/
NPR celebrates National Poetry Month -
April 6, 2007 ·
To mark National Poetry Month, NPR.org is featuring a series of newly published works selected by the Academy of American Poets.
The poet August Kleinzahler says Equi's poems "have a mystery to them that their offhandedness and surface whimsy belie. Reading her, you may find the world becomes a more unstable, various, and gently freaky place."
-------------------------------
"Bent Orbit" Elaine Equis
I wind my way across a black donut hole
and space that clunks.
Once I saw on a stage,
as if at the bottom of a mineshaft,
the precise footwork
of some mechanical ballet. It was like looking into the brain
of a cuckoo clock and it carried
some part of me away forever.
No one knows when they first see a thing
,how long its after image will last.
Proust could stare at the symptom of a face
for years, while Frank O'Hara, like anyone with a
job,
was always looking at his watch.
My favorite way of remembering is to forget.
Please start the record of the sea over again.
Call up a shadow below the pendulum of a gull's
wing.
In a city of eight million sundials, nobody has any
idea
how long a minute really is.
To mark National Poetry Month, NPR.org is featuring a series of newly published works selected by the Academy of American Poets.
The poet August Kleinzahler says Equi's poems "have a mystery to them that their offhandedness and surface whimsy belie. Reading her, you may find the world becomes a more unstable, various, and gently freaky place."
-------------------------------
"Bent Orbit" Elaine Equis
I wind my way across a black donut hole
and space that clunks.
Once I saw on a stage,
as if at the bottom of a mineshaft,
the precise footwork
of some mechanical ballet. It was like looking into the brain
of a cuckoo clock and it carried
some part of me away forever.
No one knows when they first see a thing
,how long its after image will last.
Proust could stare at the symptom of a face
for years, while Frank O'Hara, like anyone with a
job,
was always looking at his watch.
My favorite way of remembering is to forget.
Please start the record of the sea over again.
Call up a shadow below the pendulum of a gull's
wing.
In a city of eight million sundials, nobody has any
idea
how long a minute really is.
"Experience is what allows us to repeat our mistakes, only with more finesse!"
White House Supports Wolfowitz Amid Scandal
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9575437
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9575437
Amazing Social Networking MUSIC site
http://www.last.fm
Last.fm is the flagship product from the team that designed the Audioscrobbler music engine. More than ten million times a day, Last.fm users "scrobble" their tracks to our servers, helping to collectively build the world's largest social music platform.
Last.fm taps the wisdom of the crowds, leveraging each user's musical profile to make personalised recommendations, connect users who share similar tastes, provide custom radio streams, and much more.
Last.fm is the flagship product from the team that designed the Audioscrobbler music engine. More than ten million times a day, Last.fm users "scrobble" their tracks to our servers, helping to collectively build the world's largest social music platform.
Last.fm taps the wisdom of the crowds, leveraging each user's musical profile to make personalised recommendations, connect users who share similar tastes, provide custom radio streams, and much more.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Charlie Rose - Arnold Schwarzenegger / An Appreciation of Kurt Vonnegut
| Segment 1: A conversation with the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Among the topics discussed is recent efforts to combat global warming. Segment 2: An appreciation of novelist Kurt Vonnegut. He died in New York Wednesday night at age 84. | |
Universal Healthcare Vouchers? (PBS/Now)
Promises of universal health care roll off the tongues of several presidential candidates but how do they plan to achieve it? Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Director of the Clinical Bioethics Department at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, says he's got the solution, in the form of an innovative and crowd-pleasing voucher plan."I think the universal part appeals to the Democrats. The voucher part appeals to Republicans. And I think it should make us one big happy family," Dr. Emanuel tells David Brancaccio in a web-exclusive interview.
http://www.pbs.org/now/news/315.html
http://www.pbs.org/now/news/315.html
Australia's Howard Opposed to HIV+ Immigrants
Austrialian Prime Minster John Howard has proposed blocking immigrants who are HIV+. For comparison sake, five years ago, Canada tightened its restrictions. Now foreigners applying for residency are tested and likely to be refused if they are positive. Visitors to mainland China are refused entry if they declare themselves HIV positive on immigration health forms.
What do you think?
--------------------------------------------------------
Aids charities have reacted angrily to Australian Prime Minister John Howard's opposition to HIV-positive immigrants moving to Australia.
Mr Howard proposed a blanket ban, which would only be exempt in special cases, during a radio interview in Melbourne.
Australian HIV activists said the country's immigration laws already had tight restrictions.
The UK's National Aids Trust described the proposal as illegal, discriminatory and ineffective.
'Impractical to enforce'
Mr Howard was asked about the issue during a visit to Melbourne, in Victoria state, which has seen a sharp rise in HIV cases.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Chris Lemoh called it "a hysterical overreaction, it mixes racism with a phobia about infectious disease", according to the Associated Press news agency.
"To not allow people to come on the basis of any health condition is immoral, it's unethical and it's impractical to enforce."
It doesn't actually do any good. People go underground Yusef Azard, National Aids Trust
Yusef Azard, from the National Aids Trust, said tighter controls on immigration would not necessarily have an effect on the rate of infection.
"The United States has had these sorts of strict entry restrictions on HIV for many, many years," he said.
"It's got the highest rate of HIV in the developed world. So it doesn't actually do any good. People go underground. Stigma and discrimination increases in the country and makes the response to HIV all the more difficult."
The BBC's Jill McGivering says the National Aids Trust monitored policy in almost 170 countries and found that most had some sort of HIV restriction on non-nationals.
She says they can range from blanket bans to refusal in certain categories, such as residency or right to work.
Five years ago, Canada tightened its restrictions. Now foreigners applying for residency are tested and likely to be refused if they are positive.
Visitors to mainland China are refused entry if they declare themselves HIV positive on immigration health forms. Foreigners who stay for more than six months have to show evidence of a negative HIV test, our correspondent says.
Victoria's public health officials have blamed the rise in HIV cases partly on overseas immigrants, but also on Australian residents relocating from other parts of the country.
"I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that nationwide, and I know the health minister is concerned about that and is examining ways of tightening things up," Mr Howard said.
Mr Howard proposed a blanket ban, which would only be exempt in special cases, during a radio interview in Melbourne.
Australian HIV activists said the country's immigration laws already had tight restrictions.
The UK's National Aids Trust described the proposal as illegal, discriminatory and ineffective.
'Impractical to enforce'
Mr Howard was asked about the issue during a visit to Melbourne, in Victoria state, which has seen a sharp rise in HIV cases.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Chris Lemoh called it "a hysterical overreaction, it mixes racism with a phobia about infectious disease", according to the Associated Press news agency.
"To not allow people to come on the basis of any health condition is immoral, it's unethical and it's impractical to enforce."
It doesn't actually do any good. People go underground Yusef Azard, National Aids Trust
Yusef Azard, from the National Aids Trust, said tighter controls on immigration would not necessarily have an effect on the rate of infection.
"The United States has had these sorts of strict entry restrictions on HIV for many, many years," he said.
"It's got the highest rate of HIV in the developed world. So it doesn't actually do any good. People go underground. Stigma and discrimination increases in the country and makes the response to HIV all the more difficult."
The BBC's Jill McGivering says the National Aids Trust monitored policy in almost 170 countries and found that most had some sort of HIV restriction on non-nationals.
She says they can range from blanket bans to refusal in certain categories, such as residency or right to work.
Five years ago, Canada tightened its restrictions. Now foreigners applying for residency are tested and likely to be refused if they are positive.
Visitors to mainland China are refused entry if they declare themselves HIV positive on immigration health forms. Foreigners who stay for more than six months have to show evidence of a negative HIV test, our correspondent says.
Victoria's public health officials have blamed the rise in HIV cases partly on overseas immigrants, but also on Australian residents relocating from other parts of the country.
"I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that nationwide, and I know the health minister is concerned about that and is examining ways of tightening things up," Mr Howard said.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6553623.stmPublished: 2007/04/13 18:02:37 GMT© BBC MMVII
Kurt Vonnegut Nugget
Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops. - Kurt Vonnegut
Four Dead Bodies - Right now, gold, the dollar, bond spreads, and commodities all point to inflationary money from the Fed.
All:
Below is a link to an article I was reading in the National Review.
Their economics editor is Larry Kudlow whom you may know from his CNBC show Kudlow and Company. To be fair, he is not a trained economist per se (though he did work as the Chief Economist at Bear Stearns in the 1990s and for a short time as a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY early in his career).
I think what he says is interesting here. His basic premise is that when there are FOUR dead bodies all together, one better take notice. That is, there is risk if four key market-price indicators (i.e. rising gold, a soft dollar, expanding bond spreads, and strong commodities) are all pointing to inflationary money from the Fed.
As for the first THREE bodies, the JoC industrial metals index is up 16.5 percent year-to-date, gold is up 12 percent, and the dollar index has declined 3 percent. Added to this, the core inflation rate for the personal consumption price index (which is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve) has climbed from 1.4 percent last December to 2.8 percent in February on a 3-month annualized basis.
He points out that some of his supply side colleagues have been warning about inflation for a few years based on these THREE dead bodies - rising gold and commodity prices and a soft dollar index. The reason he hasn't seen a need to call for inflation is that the bond market hasn't moved up as well (which he argues is more important as it has more of an impact than the others).
The real question is whether this is the FOURTH body. To answer the question, he breaks out the 10-Year Treasury Bond into two components - the growth factor (the real rate) and the inflation factor (the spread on inflation ADJUSTED bonds aka the "TIPS Spread"). So far this year, the 10-Year TIPS inflation spread has risen about 21 basis points reaching above its 5 year average.
Interestingly, he points out that while the modest widening of the TIPS inflation spread may not spell imminent doom, the fact is that the Fed needs to take notice.
He concludes by saying that "loose talk from a protectionist-leaning Congress is arguing for a lower dollar to curb the trade deficit. This would be exactly the wrong policy. The Fed should ignore this banter and instead keep its eye on all four dead bodies in the inflationary morgue."
I think he is right.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NWYyYTU2NTRlNmVhZDUwYWUxZDE1OTFkYTIzYjYxN2U=
Below is a link to an article I was reading in the National Review.
Their economics editor is Larry Kudlow whom you may know from his CNBC show Kudlow and Company. To be fair, he is not a trained economist per se (though he did work as the Chief Economist at Bear Stearns in the 1990s and for a short time as a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY early in his career).
I think what he says is interesting here. His basic premise is that when there are FOUR dead bodies all together, one better take notice. That is, there is risk if four key market-price indicators (i.e. rising gold, a soft dollar, expanding bond spreads, and strong commodities) are all pointing to inflationary money from the Fed.
As for the first THREE bodies, the JoC industrial metals index is up 16.5 percent year-to-date, gold is up 12 percent, and the dollar index has declined 3 percent. Added to this, the core inflation rate for the personal consumption price index (which is closely tracked by the Federal Reserve) has climbed from 1.4 percent last December to 2.8 percent in February on a 3-month annualized basis.
He points out that some of his supply side colleagues have been warning about inflation for a few years based on these THREE dead bodies - rising gold and commodity prices and a soft dollar index. The reason he hasn't seen a need to call for inflation is that the bond market hasn't moved up as well (which he argues is more important as it has more of an impact than the others).
The real question is whether this is the FOURTH body. To answer the question, he breaks out the 10-Year Treasury Bond into two components - the growth factor (the real rate) and the inflation factor (the spread on inflation ADJUSTED bonds aka the "TIPS Spread"). So far this year, the 10-Year TIPS inflation spread has risen about 21 basis points reaching above its 5 year average.
Interestingly, he points out that while the modest widening of the TIPS inflation spread may not spell imminent doom, the fact is that the Fed needs to take notice.
He concludes by saying that "loose talk from a protectionist-leaning Congress is arguing for a lower dollar to curb the trade deficit. This would be exactly the wrong policy. The Fed should ignore this banter and instead keep its eye on all four dead bodies in the inflationary morgue."
I think he is right.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NWYyYTU2NTRlNmVhZDUwYWUxZDE1OTFkYTIzYjYxN2U=
Rove Didn't Mean It!
Lawyer: Rove Didn't Mean to Delete Email
Apr 13 12:50 PM US/EasternBy LAURIE KELLMANAssociated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Karl Rove's lawyer on Friday dismissed the notion that President Bush's chief political adviser intentionally deleted his own e-mails from a Republican-sponsored server, saying Rove believed the communications were being preserved in accordance with the law.
The issue arose because the White House and Republican National Committee have said they may have lost e-mails from Rove and other administration officials. Democratically chaired congressional committees want those e-mails for their probe of the firings of eight federal prosecutors.
"His understanding starting very, very early in the administration was that those e-mails were being archived," Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said.
The prosecutor probing the Valerie Plame spy case saw and copied all of Rove's e-mails from his various accounts after searching Rove's laptop, his home computer, and the handheld computer devices he used for both the White House and Republican National Committee, Luskin said.
The prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, subpoenaed the e-mails from the White House, the RNC and Bush's re-election campaign, he added.
"There's never been any suggestion that Fitzgerald had anything less than a complete record," Luskin said.
Any e-mails Rove deleted were the type of routine deletions people make to keep their inboxes orderly, Luskin said. He said Rove had no idea the e-mails were being deleted from the server, a central computer that managed the e-mail.
On Thursday, one Democratic committee chairman said his understanding was that the RNC believed Rove might have been deleting his e-mails and in 2005 took action to preserve them in accordance with the law and pending legal action.
The mystery of the missing e-mails is just one part of a furor over the firings of eight federal prosecutors that has threatened Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' job and thrown his Justice Department into turmoil.
For now, Bush is standing by his longtime friend from Texas, who has spent weeks huddled in his fifth-floor conference room at the Justice Department preparing to tell his story to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
New documents released Friday by the Justice Department may shed additional light, but their release prompted Gonzales' one-time chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, to postpone a closed-door interview with congressional investigators.
The missing e-mails posed some of the weightiest questions of a sprawling political and legal conflict between the Bush administration and Democrats in Congress.
Democrats are questioning whether any White House officials purposely sent e-mails about official business on the RNC server—then deleted them, in violation of the law—to avoid scrutiny.
White House officials say they can't answer that question, but they say the administration is making an honest effort to recover any lost e-mails.
Luskin said Rove didn't know that deleting e-mails from his RNC inbox also deleted them from the RNC's server. That system was changed in 2005.
Rove voluntarily allowed investigators in the Plame case to review his laptop and copy the entire hard drive, from which investigators could have recovered even deleted e-mails, Luskin said.
As the investigation was winding down, Luskin said, prosecutors came to his office and reviewed all the documents—including e-mails—he had collected to be sure both sides a complete set.
Luskin said he has not heard from Fitzgerald's office and said that, if Fitzgerald believed any e-mails were destroyed, he would have called. Fitzgerald's office declined comment.
The White House did not immediately respond to Luskin's comments.
A lawyer for the RNC told congressional investigators that the RNC may be able to recover some of those e-mails sent from August 2004 on. That's when the RNC put a hold on an automatic purge policy.
The RNC lawyer, Rob Kelner, also said that the Republican committee has none of Rove's e-mails on its server prior to 2005, possibly because Rove deleted them, according to House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Sometime in 2005, the RNC took action solely to prevent Rove from deleting his e-mails on that server. One reason for specifying Rove, Waxman said, appears to have been pending legal action against him.
It was unclear, Waxman said, whether the RNC had or would be able to recover e-mails written by any White House officials, including Rove, and sent on the committee's account.
The White House and RNC said they are taking action to recover as many lost e-mails as possible. Some 50 past and current White House aides had the RNC accounts, according to the administration, to avoid using government resources to conduct political business.
___
Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo and Pete Yost contributed to this report.
Apr 13 12:50 PM US/EasternBy LAURIE KELLMANAssociated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Karl Rove's lawyer on Friday dismissed the notion that President Bush's chief political adviser intentionally deleted his own e-mails from a Republican-sponsored server, saying Rove believed the communications were being preserved in accordance with the law.
The issue arose because the White House and Republican National Committee have said they may have lost e-mails from Rove and other administration officials. Democratically chaired congressional committees want those e-mails for their probe of the firings of eight federal prosecutors.
"His understanding starting very, very early in the administration was that those e-mails were being archived," Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said.
The prosecutor probing the Valerie Plame spy case saw and copied all of Rove's e-mails from his various accounts after searching Rove's laptop, his home computer, and the handheld computer devices he used for both the White House and Republican National Committee, Luskin said.
The prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, subpoenaed the e-mails from the White House, the RNC and Bush's re-election campaign, he added.
"There's never been any suggestion that Fitzgerald had anything less than a complete record," Luskin said.
Any e-mails Rove deleted were the type of routine deletions people make to keep their inboxes orderly, Luskin said. He said Rove had no idea the e-mails were being deleted from the server, a central computer that managed the e-mail.
On Thursday, one Democratic committee chairman said his understanding was that the RNC believed Rove might have been deleting his e-mails and in 2005 took action to preserve them in accordance with the law and pending legal action.
The mystery of the missing e-mails is just one part of a furor over the firings of eight federal prosecutors that has threatened Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' job and thrown his Justice Department into turmoil.
For now, Bush is standing by his longtime friend from Texas, who has spent weeks huddled in his fifth-floor conference room at the Justice Department preparing to tell his story to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
New documents released Friday by the Justice Department may shed additional light, but their release prompted Gonzales' one-time chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, to postpone a closed-door interview with congressional investigators.
The missing e-mails posed some of the weightiest questions of a sprawling political and legal conflict between the Bush administration and Democrats in Congress.
Democrats are questioning whether any White House officials purposely sent e-mails about official business on the RNC server—then deleted them, in violation of the law—to avoid scrutiny.
White House officials say they can't answer that question, but they say the administration is making an honest effort to recover any lost e-mails.
Luskin said Rove didn't know that deleting e-mails from his RNC inbox also deleted them from the RNC's server. That system was changed in 2005.
Rove voluntarily allowed investigators in the Plame case to review his laptop and copy the entire hard drive, from which investigators could have recovered even deleted e-mails, Luskin said.
As the investigation was winding down, Luskin said, prosecutors came to his office and reviewed all the documents—including e-mails—he had collected to be sure both sides a complete set.
Luskin said he has not heard from Fitzgerald's office and said that, if Fitzgerald believed any e-mails were destroyed, he would have called. Fitzgerald's office declined comment.
The White House did not immediately respond to Luskin's comments.
A lawyer for the RNC told congressional investigators that the RNC may be able to recover some of those e-mails sent from August 2004 on. That's when the RNC put a hold on an automatic purge policy.
The RNC lawyer, Rob Kelner, also said that the Republican committee has none of Rove's e-mails on its server prior to 2005, possibly because Rove deleted them, according to House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Sometime in 2005, the RNC took action solely to prevent Rove from deleting his e-mails on that server. One reason for specifying Rove, Waxman said, appears to have been pending legal action against him.
It was unclear, Waxman said, whether the RNC had or would be able to recover e-mails written by any White House officials, including Rove, and sent on the committee's account.
The White House and RNC said they are taking action to recover as many lost e-mails as possible. Some 50 past and current White House aides had the RNC accounts, according to the administration, to avoid using government resources to conduct political business.
___
Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo and Pete Yost contributed to this report.
Moran vs. National Review
I can't believe it, but the National Review is slamming Moran in similar tones that I did this morning. What is happening to me? That said, I find these arguments rather compelling.
------------------------
Terry Moran and the Duke Three [John Podhoretz]
Terry Moran of ABC News has written a blog item entitled "Don't Feel Too Sorry for the Dukies." As a compendium of fashionable attitudes toward the Duke case, it is incomparable. It's instructive to go through it to examine those attitudes and why they are so noxious.
He says that "as we rightly cover the vindication of these young men and focus on the genuine ordeal they have endured, let us also remember a few other things: "They were part of a team that collected $800 to purchase the time of two strippers. "Their team specifically requested at least one white stripper. "During the incident, racial epithets were hurled at the strippers. "Colin [one of the three] Finnerty was charged with assault in Washington, DC, in 2005."
There were 46 members of the Duke lacrosse team. As far as I am aware, there is no evidence that David Evans, Reade Seligmann or Colin Finnerty collected the money for the strippers. Or that the three men had anything to do with the request for a white stripper, which I guess we are supposed to consider a racist act. Or that the three men were involved in hurling racial epithets at the strippers — which is, by the way, a fact totally in dispute, as the only witnesses for it are the liar Crystal Mangum herself and her fellow stripper, who has recanted much of what she originally said.
I agree that Colin Finnerty's arrest on charges of having been involved in beating up a man and hurling anti-gay slurs at him suggests that he may not be a very good person. Then Moran should trash him. What does Finnerty's arrest have to do with David Evans or Reade Seligmann?
Moran's main point is that we shouldn't feel too sorry for the three because they had the financial resources to fight back against an unjust prosecution. They are, Moran writes, "well-heeled, well-connected, well-publicized young men whose conduct, while not illegal, was not entirely admirable, either."
First, given the fact that we have no reason to believe Seligmann and Evans had anything to do with the slimy aspects of the evening in question, Moran has no right to describe their conduct as "not entirely admirable." To put it plainly: How the hell does he know?
Second, that they are well-heeled and well-connected is of no moment when we are talking about what happened to them, which was a kind of reverse-racist hate crime. We all know why Durham D.A. pursued their prosecution based on no credible evidence. He did so because they were white and affluent, and he either believed he was doing something brave or that he needed their scalps to guarantee his reelection.
The amount of money their parents may or may not have had does not mitigate the Kafka nightmare to which they were consigned. Indeed, America should be grateful their families had the resources to pursue their exoneration, as the process revealed that a the criminal-justice system in a city of 275,000 people was being run by a conscienceless sociopath. His certain prosecution and probable conviction on ethics and perjury charges will remove Mike Nifong from office and spare untold numbers of others who might be subject to his prosecutorial whim.
Including poor people. Including African-Americans.
Finally, Moran offers one of those cutesy, let's-roll-the-news-events-of-the-moment-into-a-neat-package sentence when he says dismissively that the three men are "are very differently situated in life from, say, the young women of the Rutgers University women's basketball team."
Yes, they are. They spent a year in torment, as did their families. They and their families incurred huge legal fees (and it says something about Terry Moran, awash in a multi-million-dollar network contract, that he might think "well-heeled people" can afford $1 million plus in legal fees without suffering hundreds of sleepless nights over them and the possibility of having to, say, go into hock for the rest of their lives).
The Rutgers women's basketball team was insulted by a shock jock, and in about 12 minutes became America's darlings. I'd say the Duke three were "differently situated." With the exception of Don Imus, America has greeted the Rutgers team as heroes. Most of elite America was certain for months that these three men were guilty of rape.
Maybe Terry Moran should get someone to plagiarize his blog items, the way Katie Couric did. They'd be a whole lot better.
------------------------
Terry Moran and the Duke Three [John Podhoretz]
Terry Moran of ABC News has written a blog item entitled "Don't Feel Too Sorry for the Dukies." As a compendium of fashionable attitudes toward the Duke case, it is incomparable. It's instructive to go through it to examine those attitudes and why they are so noxious.
He says that "as we rightly cover the vindication of these young men and focus on the genuine ordeal they have endured, let us also remember a few other things: "They were part of a team that collected $800 to purchase the time of two strippers. "Their team specifically requested at least one white stripper. "During the incident, racial epithets were hurled at the strippers. "Colin [one of the three] Finnerty was charged with assault in Washington, DC, in 2005."
There were 46 members of the Duke lacrosse team. As far as I am aware, there is no evidence that David Evans, Reade Seligmann or Colin Finnerty collected the money for the strippers. Or that the three men had anything to do with the request for a white stripper, which I guess we are supposed to consider a racist act. Or that the three men were involved in hurling racial epithets at the strippers — which is, by the way, a fact totally in dispute, as the only witnesses for it are the liar Crystal Mangum herself and her fellow stripper, who has recanted much of what she originally said.
I agree that Colin Finnerty's arrest on charges of having been involved in beating up a man and hurling anti-gay slurs at him suggests that he may not be a very good person. Then Moran should trash him. What does Finnerty's arrest have to do with David Evans or Reade Seligmann?
Moran's main point is that we shouldn't feel too sorry for the three because they had the financial resources to fight back against an unjust prosecution. They are, Moran writes, "well-heeled, well-connected, well-publicized young men whose conduct, while not illegal, was not entirely admirable, either."
First, given the fact that we have no reason to believe Seligmann and Evans had anything to do with the slimy aspects of the evening in question, Moran has no right to describe their conduct as "not entirely admirable." To put it plainly: How the hell does he know?
Second, that they are well-heeled and well-connected is of no moment when we are talking about what happened to them, which was a kind of reverse-racist hate crime. We all know why Durham D.A. pursued their prosecution based on no credible evidence. He did so because they were white and affluent, and he either believed he was doing something brave or that he needed their scalps to guarantee his reelection.
The amount of money their parents may or may not have had does not mitigate the Kafka nightmare to which they were consigned. Indeed, America should be grateful their families had the resources to pursue their exoneration, as the process revealed that a the criminal-justice system in a city of 275,000 people was being run by a conscienceless sociopath. His certain prosecution and probable conviction on ethics and perjury charges will remove Mike Nifong from office and spare untold numbers of others who might be subject to his prosecutorial whim.
Including poor people. Including African-Americans.
Finally, Moran offers one of those cutesy, let's-roll-the-news-events-of-the-moment-into-a-neat-package sentence when he says dismissively that the three men are "are very differently situated in life from, say, the young women of the Rutgers University women's basketball team."
Yes, they are. They spent a year in torment, as did their families. They and their families incurred huge legal fees (and it says something about Terry Moran, awash in a multi-million-dollar network contract, that he might think "well-heeled people" can afford $1 million plus in legal fees without suffering hundreds of sleepless nights over them and the possibility of having to, say, go into hock for the rest of their lives).
The Rutgers women's basketball team was insulted by a shock jock, and in about 12 minutes became America's darlings. I'd say the Duke three were "differently situated." With the exception of Don Imus, America has greeted the Rutgers team as heroes. Most of elite America was certain for months that these three men were guilty of rape.
Maybe Terry Moran should get someone to plagiarize his blog items, the way Katie Couric did. They'd be a whole lot better.
Don't Feel Badly for the Dukies
Lest you think I am trolling the internet for these, this was also posted on Drudge (who is crazy, but his site is still best in class).
Terry Moran wrote this post commenting that we shouldn't be so easy on the "Dukies" Interesting, but sort of off base I think. And since when does a reporter comment on his own opinion?
DON'T FEEL TOO SORRY FOR THE DUKIES
Mike Nifong, the North Carolina prosecutor who pursued a case of rape and kidnapping against three Duke University lacrosse players, has been found to have been reckless and deceitful in the discharge of his duties according to the state's attorney general. He abused the power the people of Durham granted him. Based on the public record of what he did in this case, he may well be properly disbarred. The accuser in this case has been shown to be either a vicious liar or a troubled fantasist.The three young men who she accused are truly innocent of the charges brought against them according to the North Carolina Attorney General and the investigation led by his office. But perhaps the outpouring of sympathy for Reade Seligman, Collin Finnerty and David Evans is just a bit misplaced. They got special treatment in the justice system--both negative and positive. The conduct of the lacrosse team of which they were members was not admirable on the night of the incident, to say the least. And there are so many other victims of prosecutorial misconduct in this country who never get the high-priced legal representation and the high-profile, high-minded vindication that it strikes me as just a bit unseemly to heap praise and sympathy on these particular men. So as we rightly cover the vindication of these young men and focus on the genuine ordeal they have endured, let us also remember a few other things: They were part of a team that collected $800 to purchase the time of two strippers. Their team specifically requested at least one white stripper. During the incident, racial epithets were hurled at the strippers. Colin Finnerty was charged with assault in Washington, DC, in 2005. The young men were able to retain a battery of top-flight attorneys, investigators and media strategists.As students of Duke University or other elite institutions, these young men will get on with their privileged lives. There is a very large cushion under them--the one that softens the blows of life for most of those who go to Duke or similar places, and have connections through family, friends and school to all kinds of prospects for success. They are very differently situated in life from, say, the young women of the Rutgers University women's basketball team. And, MOST IMPORTANT, there are many, many cases of prosecutorial misconduct across our country every year. The media covers few, if any, of these cases. Most of the victims in these cases are poor or minority Americans--or both. I would hate to say the color of their skin is one reason journalists do not focus on these victims of injustices perpetrated by police and prosecutors, but I am afraid if we ask ourselves the question honestly, we would likely find that it is. Look for a moment at what James Giles endured:
I hope we all keep him and others in mind, as we cover the celebrated exoneration of well-heeled, well-connected, well-publicized young men whose conduct, while not illegal, was not entirely admirable, either. They aren't heroes. They aren't boys. They are young men who were victimized by a reckless prosecutor--and had the resources the fight him off.
Terry Moran wrote this post commenting that we shouldn't be so easy on the "Dukies" Interesting, but sort of off base I think. And since when does a reporter comment on his own opinion?
DON'T FEEL TOO SORRY FOR THE DUKIES
Mike Nifong, the North Carolina prosecutor who pursued a case of rape and kidnapping against three Duke University lacrosse players, has been found to have been reckless and deceitful in the discharge of his duties according to the state's attorney general. He abused the power the people of Durham granted him. Based on the public record of what he did in this case, he may well be properly disbarred. The accuser in this case has been shown to be either a vicious liar or a troubled fantasist.The three young men who she accused are truly innocent of the charges brought against them according to the North Carolina Attorney General and the investigation led by his office. But perhaps the outpouring of sympathy for Reade Seligman, Collin Finnerty and David Evans is just a bit misplaced. They got special treatment in the justice system--both negative and positive. The conduct of the lacrosse team of which they were members was not admirable on the night of the incident, to say the least. And there are so many other victims of prosecutorial misconduct in this country who never get the high-priced legal representation and the high-profile, high-minded vindication that it strikes me as just a bit unseemly to heap praise and sympathy on these particular men. So as we rightly cover the vindication of these young men and focus on the genuine ordeal they have endured, let us also remember a few other things: They were part of a team that collected $800 to purchase the time of two strippers. Their team specifically requested at least one white stripper. During the incident, racial epithets were hurled at the strippers. Colin Finnerty was charged with assault in Washington, DC, in 2005. The young men were able to retain a battery of top-flight attorneys, investigators and media strategists.As students of Duke University or other elite institutions, these young men will get on with their privileged lives. There is a very large cushion under them--the one that softens the blows of life for most of those who go to Duke or similar places, and have connections through family, friends and school to all kinds of prospects for success. They are very differently situated in life from, say, the young women of the Rutgers University women's basketball team. And, MOST IMPORTANT, there are many, many cases of prosecutorial misconduct across our country every year. The media covers few, if any, of these cases. Most of the victims in these cases are poor or minority Americans--or both. I would hate to say the color of their skin is one reason journalists do not focus on these victims of injustices perpetrated by police and prosecutors, but I am afraid if we ask ourselves the question honestly, we would likely find that it is. Look for a moment at what James Giles endured:
I hope we all keep him and others in mind, as we cover the celebrated exoneration of well-heeled, well-connected, well-publicized young men whose conduct, while not illegal, was not entirely admirable, either. They aren't heroes. They aren't boys. They are young men who were victimized by a reckless prosecutor--and had the resources the fight him off.
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