And the playacting continues . . .

A new communiqué from the anonymous goobers at the Ward Churchill Solidarity Network:

The attempt to silence Ward Churchill has failed, but the unremitting attacks on him by the University of Colorado, local and national politicians, and the media have had a very predictable chilling effect on those who would question the status quo.

Haven't noticed anyone talking about Churchill much at all lately, let alone unremittingly attacking him.

Despite the smokescreen of “research misconduct” charges, most people understand that CU was under tremendous political and financial pressure to get rid of Professor Churchill, and simply had to find some pretext. Ward Churchill has filed suit, charging the University with firing him in retaliation for his First Amendment-protected speech. He continues with a full schedule of speaking engagements around the country, and has several new books in the works.

Maybe Ward will be nice and attribute authorship of one of those books to Natsu; Lord knows she needs it.

We are grateful to the many people who have sent contributions to the legal fund. Even with David Lane contributing his time, depositions, transcripts, filing fees and expenses associated with bringing in witnesses, require us to raise tens of thousands of dollars.

Tens of thousand? Isn't that kind of an understatement?

The University, apparently, is happy to spend its tuition or tax dollars on this; we have to rely on regular folks around the country. So, we hope you’ll join our campaign to raise $25 from 1,000 people…

Regular folks. Like the nonexistent parking lot attendants, baggage handlers and homeless people Natsu hilariously thanked for their support. And what's the big deal about getting 25 bucks from a thousand people? That's only two-and-a-half cents apiece. Why, I might even--naaaaahhhh. And why don't they have one of those fundraising thermometers to show how far they are from their goal?

At the same time, we need to remember that this case isn’t about a statement Ward Churchill posted on an obscure website on September 12, 2001, much less about a handful of footnotes or attributions in his prolific body of scholarship. It’s about sending a message (i.e., “shut up”) to all who would question the legitimacy of the U.S. government’s actions, both today and in the past.

Strangely though, WartNet's anonymous apparatchik (Tommy Mayer?) doesn't--shut up, that is. In fact he makes the blockbuster announcement that the site will soon expand its scope:

Over the next few weeks we’ll be reorganizing this website and updating it to include links to many of these struggles. Please contact us if you’d like to sponsor a talk by Ward Churchill, or have a link to a related struggle.

In comments at PB, Noj asks, "Why don't they mention Phil Mitchell, the religious conservative CU instructor who CU harassed and ultimately fired? Could it be that acknowledging Mitchell's travails puts the lie to Chutchnet's claim that all free speech martyrs are victims of the vast right wing conspiracy?"

Well, of course, although the new CU branch of the American Association of University Professors has issued a disapproving report on Mitchell's firing, and there's some overlap in that group with the dead-end Chutchites, including president Margaret LeCompte, VP Vijay Gupta and staff representative Ken Bonetti.