Early "response"

Interesting paragraph in what Try-Works is labeling Ward Churchill's response to the regents, even though it's dated July 12 and seems on a cursory reading to be more of the same old crap:

The SCRM Committee also artificially restricted Professor Churchill's ability to respond to the charges. He was prevented from speaking directly to expert witnesses, even his own, and was required to e-mail his questions across the room to the committee chair. This caused considerable confusion and allowed Professor Wesson to "interpret" what he was asking, sometimes fundamentally changing his meaning; and generally impairing his ability to elicit information.

You can't blame Wesson. She didn't want to look at his teeth, either. (Take that, Dennis Miller!)

Tomorrow's question: Is Ward Churchill afraid of going to the dentist?

Dennis Miller on Ward Churchill

Unfortunately he was on Bill O'Reilly. Quote:

Well, I am very happy that the tenured Tonto has been sent on his way. And all I can say to the University of Colorado is can you guys get a dental plan out there for your professors, for God
sakes. . . .

Now he's going to say that it has something to do with the fact that he referred to the 9/11 people as little Eichmanns. But the fact is this is about plagiarism. This guy's Indian name is Dances with Facts. And it was about time that he went. . . .

He's like a mid-life loser in some George Harrison [sic] sunglasses from Route 66 trying to be cool in front of the kids. But we get it; he's a loser.

Not great, but still.

The transcript has a "watch the segment" button, but apparently it's not up yet. Maybe his delivery makes it funnier.

Update II: Nope. And he says "George Maharis sunglasses," not "George Harrison sunglasses."

Update: Marty Peretz on Ward in The New Republic (which is having some credibility problems of its own at the moment:

I don't suppose that many TNR readers are big fans of Ward Churchill. But surely there are some. (A few of them wait for me to post a Spine and then pounce.) And I bet that there are also some who simply haven't heard of him. They are the better off for that.

Still, he is a figure in the culture, an ugly and pathetic figure. And was, until last week, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado. . . .

And now that he has been fired from his tenured professorship. It is not this specially disgusting remark that provoked the revocation of his professorial permanency. But when a tenured member of the faculty is dismissed everybody somehow gets the willies.

As it happens, Ward Churchill is a scholarly faker, not just like many others in the "ethnic studies" racket but in a way especially offensive even to the minimal standards of that sloppy field. In any case, the president of the university, former
governor Hank Brown has explained "Why I Fired Professor Churchill" in this morning's Wall Street Journal, a persuasive explanation.

Update: The Silver & Gold Record has its account of the firing (via mind your P's and B's)

Leftover pics from Churchill firing

Remember this woman?


I worried that she meant me.

But she finally figured out who she actually did mean:


Whew. I've seen this chick floating around at other Churchill events. She seems quite insane.



The inner circle (from lower left): Churchill frau Natsu Elaine Taylor "Truthforce" Saito; CU instructor Benjie Whitmer; "Cock Target"; unidentified little fellow; Ann-erika White Bird; peace-loving Glenn "Recreate68!" Spagnuolo; and, of course, back to camera, Ward.



At this point Josh R. Dillabaugh is still following me around threateningly, which is why Nutso is smirking. Daniel Kim, organizer of the disastrous Churchillpalooza, stands left. And who's that other long-haired man in the sunglasses back there?



He's a witch!



A witchhhhhhh!



Littwin interviews Cock Target.

Maybe a couple more later.

Update: Laurie, who accompanied me to the regents' sessions, describes what she saw that morning in comments over at Try-Works. She begins by quoting from one of Ben Whitmer's crazed fulminations about me (he's obsessed, I'm telling you):

“In fact, the way he [your darling Drunkablog] was stalking [Ann-erika White Bird], we all began to wonder when he would drop his grubby trousers and start to rubbing his dick on her leg. That is, until her husband suggested warmly that Mr. Martin might want to quit fucking with his wife…”

Charming. Laurie replies:

Seems the only thing you know less about than baseball (Benjie had betrayed another of his myriad cluelessnesses) is what was going on at the Firing Day gathering. I can see why you got it wrong though. Either you never see 8:00 AM or you were nursing one hell of a hangover. Seriously, Benjamin, you looked terrible for a guy who was supposed to be so happy!
The fact is that the only girl John was following around was Ward Churchill. It was Josh who followed John, trying to block him from taking pictures of Ward, not his wife. She had not been, at any time, anywhere near us. Sadly, no matter what he was saying, Josh made it clear he was more interested in Ward Churchill than his wife!
Josh placed his entire body about 4 inches away from John and leaned in from his waist up while he held his hand in front of John’s camera. I mentioned my surprise at his attempts to interfere with John’s right to take pictures of Ward, as everyone else was doing at the time. Then the threats began. I witnessed him make death threats to John, repeatedly. Ken Bonetti turned around and saw what was going on and made a discouraging comment to Josh on the order of “none of that!”. Then I heard Josh say he had been in jail and wouldn’t mind going again. For a good 10 minutes he shadowed John and looked intimidating as his baby-face would allow. I spoke with security and they were watching. I was called away for a media interview. During the filming, someone walked by me and said “You’re dead!” I’m not sure who that was, but I know he will be visible on the tape. . . .

As I said over at Try-Works, evil and stupid, just like the rest of them. Always a winning combination.

Stuff that's mostly nonsense

All kinds of verbiage about the Churchill case, as PB (from whom I shall gleefully steal while changing his wording only slightly) notes.

The Hankster unburdens himself in the Wall Street Journal: "Why I fired Ward Churchill". Money quote:

Controversy -- especially self-sought controversy -- doesn't immunize a faculty member from adhering to professional standards. If you are a responsible faculty member, you don't falsify research, you don't plagiarize the work of others, you don't fabricate historical events and you don't thumb your nose at the standards of the profession. More than 20 of Mr. Churchill's faculty peers from Colorado and other universities found that he committed those acts. That's what got him fired.

The fetchingly libertarian Reason mag mocks Wardo, and uncovers an old lie.

Commentulation at Inside Higher Ned continues.

I agree with Churchill's dog Benjie: Mike Littwin is a nitwit:

CU's regents fired Churchill, but they didn't drag his body onto the University Memorial Center steps, as Churchill's otherwise astute lawyer, David Lane, predicted.

Maybe they should have. Maybe they should have voted to tie him to a stake.

Or maybe they should have just handed him over to Caplis and/or Silverman, who were both on hand. . . .

Please restrain your guffaws at these mighty sallies of wit. There's more:

And yet, I was still stunned that one regent, Cindy Carlisle, refused to go along with the pack. This is your basic profile in courage. It's also a major upset.

Major upset? Profile in courage? Silly Cindy Carlisle? Your pal the Drunkablog predicted not only the vote, but that she would be the lone dissenter. And as you know, your pal the Drunkablog ain't exactly astute. A little more:

This a story [sic] of media frenzy and how Churchill's "Little Eichmanns" 9/11 essay- rediscovered more than three years after he wrote it - became a test of dissent in wartime, a war that many people have changed their minds on.

Non-sequitur--three of 'em, in fact.

I'm guessing [Carlisle] saw something that everyone should have seen: that as much as CU wanted to make this about academic misconduct, everyone knows why we were all here. Churchill didn't become a Bill O'Reilly staple because he was a plagiarist or because of what he might have said about Capt. John Smith or blood quantum or smallpox.

And as a bonus, it became a story about the left-leaning academia that O'Reilly and the gang are always ready to demonize. And if it was a test, we lost, just as CU has lost.

Not about plagiarism. O'Reilly and the gang. You see how clueless Littwin is about who and what have been driving this story? And who exactly does he mean by "we"? From my point of view, "we" won, Big F. Time, Jr.

Littwin, by the way, was right there the whole time Dimbulb Dillabaugh was threatening to kill and/or maim me. Nothing in his story about that. Three possible explanations:

1. Littwin is (very) hard of hearing;

2. Littwin is catatonically incurious;

3. Littwin knows who I am and doesn't like me because I've picked on him (picture fourth from bottom).

My answer: 2 and 3. Whatever the case, Littwin just sat there, head down, sending out huge "don't bug me" vibes even when it was only him, Laurie, his assistant or whatever she was and me still outside. Lazy, spiteful, chicken and unthinkingly liberal--that's Littwin.


Dipshit Dillabaugh was about six inches away, threatening, when I took this pic. Littwin's the long-hair. [Update: As noted yesterday, the big guy in the white shirt was pictorially featured at LGF yesterday. He does not fare well in comments. In fact, somebody calls that complicated beard of his a "cock target." As also noted yesterday: heh.

Update: Got off on a small tangent, didn't we? Littwin. I spit me of him, as P.G. Wodehouse once said.

Anyway, PB also links to an idiotic piece at "Media With [it says here] Conscience" by some gink going under the name Rosemarie Jackowski. He's already taken the best quotes, like this:

Churchill is not alone in his current circumstance. His name will go down in history along with Galileo and others who have dared to challenge the conventional view. Now the trial of the century is about to begin. It has been more than 300 years since the Salem Witch Trials and more than 80 years since the Scopes Trial.

So I'll just quote her opening:

This is not the first time in history that mob rule has taken the place of intelligent reflection. The earth is flat; the sun revolves around the earth; 9/11 occurred because they hate us for our freedoms. Those who disagree will be charged with Heresy! A modern day Inquisition has been in process. Professor Ward Churchill has been fired.

Oh, my.

Wednesday Night at the Radio!

Guess the theme!

Jack Benny: "Jack Fires the Sportsmen Quartet" (23 February 1947); and

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show: "Will Phil be Replaced by Guy Lombardo?" (26 June 1949).

Song time!

Ward Churchill documentarian Grant Crowell has unexpected "talents." He's actually written a couple of songs in honor of Ward, and they're so bad they're good.

Here are "Sleazy," and the hilarious "Non-Indian Outlaw."

And here are the lyrics so you can sing along at home. Sing, damn you!

Update: Try-Works calling "Non-Indian Outlaw" racist in 3, 2, 1 . . .

Churchill files suit

The Rocky's "full story":

The next chapter in Ward Churchill's saga has officially begun.

His attorney, David Lane, filed suit in Denver District Court this morning as an amendment to a case filed last year.

Churchill was dismissed yesterday on a 8-1 vote.

"If you think I'm the end game, you're wrong," Churchill told supporters yesterday, shortly after the announcement.

More to come shortly at RockyMountainNews.com

Here's the filing (pdf).

Charges:

1. CU launched the investigation in retaliation for Churchill's 9/11 essay.

2. CU terminated Churchill in retaliation for the 9/11 essay.

3 and 4. CU unlawfully breached Churchill's contract in failing to comply with university procedures. This includes three sections on CU's failure to pay Churchill's lawyer David Lane $20,000 Lane thinks the university owes him.

5 and 6: CU denied Churchill procedural and substantive due process.

As certain prescient folks (i.e., me, somewhere or other, I swear) predicted, Lane wants a jury trial in Denver.

Update: PB, away from the computer this morning, is back and ready to chew monkeys.

Post-mortem

Lots of commentary today on Ward Churchill's firing (!), some of it even interesting:

Historian Deborah Lipstadt weighs in with "Ward Churchill [the one who called the 9/11 victims (and me) Eichmanns] fired: But not for that." (He also, if you remember, called Lipstadt a war criminal who should be tried for crimes against humanity.)

The American Spectator's Matthew d'Ancona got a novel out of Wart:

I have been interested in Ward Churchill for years. So interested, in fact, that his writings inspired me to write a novel about what might happen if the “global justice movement” developed a taste for revolutionary violence.

If?

Inside Higher Ed has a rehash. The comments might get interesting.

NRO's Bill McMorris remembers some of Churchill's greatest hits.

Amy Goodman of Apocalyp--er, Democracy Now! (don't forget the exclamation point!) interviewed Wart:

There is no defensible scholarly conclusion that anything I've said in my writng is even inaccurate, much less fraudulent, or that I've committed so-called plagiarism. All they've got is public outrage in the form of very well-organized right wing active-style lobbying blocs and the statements of public officials and so on saying I should be removed as a basis for removing me.

That makes sense! Ward is not sharp this morning, and, hilariously, Amy cuts him off mid-maunder.

Valley girl sound-alike Ann-erika White Bird gets a minute, too, but isn't identified on tape except as "one of Churchill's students" (that's gotta hurt):

The decision to fire Ward Churchill is really sad for me. He's the only professor that I've taken a class where I've really felt empowered as an indigenous person [and that's all that matters, Ann-erika] . . . . The history that we hear growing up about the smallpox blankets, it's not something that you question, it's something that's part of our oral history and its part of the history of other indigenous peoples.

Well, that settles it then.

Frontpagerag runs an old Ann Coulter column on Ward by way of celebration.

Last and least, the Post's Allison Sherry once again quotes Terrible Tommy Mayer.

Update: the wonderfully named Heebmag has this:

Churchill is quite literally a schmuck: an instrument normally used as a conduit for waste, who, when stroked, inflates himself far beyond his normal size, and spews forth what he believes to be the very stuff of life, but which most people who come in contact with find pretty slimy and gross. In case you haven't figured it out, we at Jewdar are not fans of ex-professor Churchill.

Guess that works out pretty even, since Churchill doesn't like Jews much either.

Update II: El Presidente has a Churchill "lawsuit edition" post up that has much stuff, including a couple of unscientific but telling polls on Ward's firing.

Update III: NRO-nik David French, former president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, is succinct:

An under-qualified, arguably fake Native American with a long history of not just plagiarism and other forms of academic fraud, but also a disturbing tendency to threaten and intimidate his critics, it turned out that Churchill was the kind of person who could only exist within the coddling atmosphere of either a radical activist organization or a university ethnic studies department (as if those things are different).

Update IV: I keep meaning to link to El Marco's photo page, which has lots more than just Churchill firing photos (although those are great).

Update V: Churchill debunker Tom Brown replies to a Kool-Aid imbiber at Inside Higher Ed:

First, Wilson falsely claims that “most of the faculty” recommended suspension. The truth is that the two CU committees with the power to make a recommendation of sanctions split their decision. A majority of the Research Misconduct committee voted for dismissal. A majority of the P&T committee favored suspension. Thus the President’s decision to dismiss was not in contradiction with the faculty fact-finders.

Second, Wilson falsely claims that the findings of fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism are “unsupported by the facts.” This is simply incredible. Have a look at my analysis of Churchill’s smallpox blanket fraud at: http://www.plagiary.org/smallpox-blankets.pdf.

The case against Churchill is overwhelming. The fact that Churchill keeps changing his story and making up new lies to defend his old lies is in itself strong evidence of his dishonesty.

Churchill has advanced twelve different excuses for his plagiarism. Surely an innocent man would not need twelve different excuses. There is not space here to get into the details, but watch for my analysis of Churchill’s various excuses for his plagiarism, forthcoming in the Plagiary journal. . . .

Definitely looking forward to that.

Update VI: Speaking of El Marco's photos: heh.

Update VII: Before the event someone wondered if University of Denver professor Dean Saitta, CEO of Teachers for a Democratic Society and staunchish Churchill supporter, would show up for Ward's divestiture.

He didn't. TDS hasn't been updated for four months, and nary a word of solidarity from Dean since the disastrous final event of Churchillpalooza. He didn't sign any of the academic misconduct complaints against the Churchill investigating committee either.

You think maybe he's finally figured out that Wart & Co are a little too stupid and dangerous to be used as symbols of freedom of speech?

Indeterminate number of professors crushed

The Denver Post:

The nearly unanimous decision to fire professor Ward Churchill stirred discontent among some faculty Tuesday, many of whom vowed to fight the decision.

Many professors said they saw the decision coming and said they were crushed by what it might do to recruiting creative professors to the campus.

Many professors. Crushed.

Already, as news bubbled out [yum] across the half-empty summer campus, several faculty said they will plan teach-ins and panel discussions about civil rights this fall.

Oh boy. But note how those many professors have suddenly dwindled to several faculty. Moving along:

"If you are controversial, even if you have a distinguished career that is respected, if you have somehow annoyed the powers that be, or if the kind of work you're doing is not supportive of major donors to the university, then you're not safe," said Margaret LeCompte, a professor in the School of Education.

"This is not the end of this struggle, by any means," said sociology professor Tom Mayer.

And now we're down to two: former East German Polypburo member Tom Mayer and Margaret LeCompte. I think I'm losing my mind.

The Post reporter, Allison Sherry, by the way, interviewed me briefly but didn't use anything I said. Another reason newspapers are dying: they're not listening to me.

Regents Meet, Part 2

First, for all kinds of good Churchill stuff go to PB and Slapstick Politics.

Laurie, SP's El Presidente and I got together for part 2, the vote, in the Glenn Miller Ballroom. Lots of waiting, lots of wandering around taking pics. Yes, Ward was lunking about with his big sticks. When he came in and saw me taking (yet another) pic of him he said, "get my good side, John." Displaying that flashing wit so many have noted I said, "There ain't one, sorry."

Notice the clever use of "ain't" to mimic Ward's own writing style as Charley Arthur?

We waited something like an hour and a half. Then the regents came in, voted, and left. Boos and cursing. No open mike. As we were leaving, Glenn Morris, the Harvard-educated lawyer, CU Denver professor and Churchill supporter, walked by us. I said, "Hi, Glenn!" in my usual cheery tone. His reply: "You'll be getting it."

Nice. Another goddamn threat against the personage of the Drunkablog. Morris didn't tarry to explain what "it" might be, probably because he was in a hurry to play drums with Wart:


The Rocky's pic. Morris is center, Russell Means on the right.

Here's a pic I the stern but kindly El Presidente took moments after the vote:


They had the banner, the drums, all that crap, ready to go. [Update: ordinary American citizens like us couldn't even bring in our camera cases.]



And a pic that turned out kind of cool, if only because I didn't know how to use the camera. Don't know the goof, either: just another member of Churchill's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion.

I didn't know how to use the camera because it wasn't mine. No, mine was home, where I'd left it like an idiot. Me, not the camera. Is the idiot.

Luckily, El Presidente, as all good dictators should, had a spare. Forward into the socialist dawn!

Update: EP spotted this charming little flyer:


Update II: Glenn Morris and I have a little history.

Update III: Despite all the threats and off-flippings, it was a good day.

Regents Meet, Part 1

The sea was angry that day, my friends . . .

Wait, wrong long-running sitcom. This sitcom was the start of the regents' meeting to decide whether to fire Ward Churchill, and it was wild and woolly, not to say a leetle dangerous for your friendly neighborhood Drunkablog.


Lots of media, of course.



Wart showed up punctually, a little before 8:00, I think. I gave him the high sign, as I'd promised to do over at Try-Works. He saw it.


Marxist ratbag and CU sociology prof Tom Mayer.



Wart's in there somewhere.



CU student advisor and Churchill supporter Ken Bonetti. I asked him when the DVD of Churchillpalooza was coming out, and he said that while no one had asked for it, he could probably rustle me up a copy. Heh. He also witnessed the threat on my life (see below).



CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue (r).



Ann-erika White Bird.
And Ann-erika White Bird's husband (he said), Josh R. Dillabaugh:


In front of about 30 people, many of them with cameras and tape recorders, former AIM leadership council member Dillabaugh (who said he'd been in jail and didn't care if he had to go back) threatened to "fuckin' kill" me. PB and Drunkablog friend Laurie was right there, as was Ken Bonetti, who said something like "now, none of that."

Dillabaugh also followed me around while I was taking pictures, saying I'd been harassing his wife and threatening to "kick my ass." He said it roughly half a dozen times, so somebody had to get it on tape. (The first time he threatened me, by the way, some guy came over and stationed himself on my other side, ready to help Dillabaugh out. I was wearing a video camera, a still camera, and a backpack, with two guys just itching to punch me in the head.)

Oh yeah, there was at least one other witness to Dillabaugh's threats:


That's right, law professor and officer of the court Natsu Elaine Taylor "Truthforce" Saito, Churchill's frau. I pointed at her and yelled "an officer of the court, a law professor [see?], and you're just standing there!" She just laughed, then later made sure I saw her giving Dillabaugh a big hug. Scum.



Churchill's dog Benjie.


Who, me?



Churchill had time to go outside for four or seven cigarettes before the meeting started. Here he'd just greeted me with "Hey, John! Molested any kids lately?" Darn, maybe he really is Charley Arthur.

Okay, enough for now. I'm going back for the afternoon session, which promises more excitement. This time I'll remember my tape recorder. Listen Drunkablog fans, if any, don't forget who threatened me. These people are capable of any cowardly act--or, more accurately, capable of getting others to do any cowardly act.

Update: Reporters outnumbered vigil-keepers, or whatever they called themselves. I talked to two of them, one from the News, one from the Post. Don't know if I'll make the cut with either one. Laurie got a nice three or four-minute standup for (I guess) a RMN vlog. I'd have been nervous, but she just said what she had to say. Wonder if it's up yet.

Update II: Yes, Nutso smokes just like Ward. Probably part of their deep bond. Yippee-aye-yo-ky-haaaaack.

Update III: Journalists! If you would know Ward Churchill, you must know Try-Works (read the comments for the last month as well, at least, if you care about doing an accurate story). Westword's Michael Roberts also wrote a much-too-nice account of CU instructor Ben Whitmer and his nasty little blog here.

Update IV: I probably should explain what Churchill meant by asking if I'd molested any kids (lately). First, one of Try-Works' (and therefore Ward's) pet accusations against their enemies has always been pedophilia. Besides me, they've accused Pirate Ballerina's Jim Paine and Rocky Mountain News editorial page editor Vince Carroll of that particular crime--on absolutely no evidence, it goes without saying but I'll say it anyway.

More recently, the Try-Works' Ann-erika White Bird ran a criminal background check on me. Coming up empty, she ran one on my wife, Susan, who has nothing to do with the Churchill case but who, five years ago, got a DUI. White Bird plastered this information all over the blog--anonymously (she thought), of course.

When THAT didn't have the desired intimidating effect (I mean, five years ago? Even the insurance companies don't care anymore, and Susan hasn't had a drink since), the Try-Works' Charley Arthur (Ward Churchill) added the piquant accusation that I had a lengthy but for some reason sealed history of window-peeping and panty-stealing in Boulder County.

His-toe-ree.

Update V: Originally I identified CU spokesman Ken McConnellogue as regent Michael Carrigan. "Orly" in comments set me straight.

Puttin' on my top hat . . .

Puttin' on my scraggly white-boy muscle shirt . . .

Keep forgetting to mention that I'll be at both sessions of the regents' meeting to decide the fate of Ward Churchill tomorrow. Unfortunately, unless I can cadge a CU password it's going to be kind of fake live-blogging: I'll just have to wait to post until I find a place to connect. After the (short, probably) morning session I should be able to hunt one up, no problem. There'll be pictures, of course, assuming there's anything to take pictures of.

Both the morning and afternoon sessions will be streamed, by the way, and PB will be live-blogging them from his mountain fatness, er, fastness. So with him doing the heavy lifting, I'll just wander around where the stream can't take you. I'll be like, the color man. Or the chick doing the sideline reports. I don't care, I just want to be part of something for once in my pa--

Sorry.

Anyway, the morning fun starts at 7:30, MDT; the regents' vote and open-mike time, maybe around 4:00 (at the earliest). Watch this space.

Update: Snapple sends this appreciation for the day we like to call--Tomorrow. It'll freak you out. And not in a good way.

Lots of volunteers

Weird, fake-even-handed piece on Ward Churchill by some gink named Aaron Barlow at some funhouse called ePluribus Media:

Arguments over Churchill, whether between a David Horowitz type and an academic or between those within academia who see a witch-hunt and those who see simply a cad [sic] brought to rights, have been going on for well more than a year, now [sic]. Indeed, though his guilt or innocence should not be the point of the broader discussion (few of us are really in a position to judge), there are those on all sides who try to make Churchill and his presumed guilt or innocence an emblem for their greater argument about academia.

Few of us are in a position to judge.

Radical decline

AP story (the Rocky added the typo in the headline): "Sentences symbolize decline of radical environmentist movement."

Environmentist. [Update: they fixed it.]

More than a decade after they began setting fires across the West, remnants of the radical Earth Liberation Front stood before a federal judge, one by one, to hear her decide: Had they committed acts of domestic terrorism?

First, ["Country Boy"] Stanislas Meyerhoff.

Quiet, shy, his hair turning gray at 30, the slightly built Meyerhoff was dwarfed by the angular expanse of the courtroom.

The little lad!

"I was ignorant of history and economy and acted from a faulty and narrow vision as an ordinary bigot," Meyerhoff said, in May.

No doubt. And?

"A million times over I apologize ... to all of you hardworking business owners, employees, researchers, firemen, investigators, attorneys and all citizens whose property was destroyed, whose holidays were ruined, whose welfare was thwarted,
and whose sleep was troubled."

Thank you, Stanislas. That's goooood groveling. How 'bout "Country Girl" Chelsea Gerlach?

By the time Gerlach was sentenced this May, her tone was contrite and repentant. Like many of her co-defendants, she claimed she had changed her ways.

"It's very clear to me now that if you want to live in a world of peace and equality, you need to embody those qualities in your own heart and actions," Gerlach, now 30, told the judge. "I am grateful I have been given this opportunity to reconcile my past."

Peace and equality. Reconcile my past. She hasn't learned a thing. Oh well. As the AP says, they were only kids--maybe just a little too good, a little too caring:

Bound by youth, idealism and frustration over the ineffectiveness of more traditional environmental protest methods, they had turned to secret meetings, codes and stealth attacks on private and public property, setting fires in the dead of night to draw attention to their cause. . . .

The portrait that emerges is a band of young people, compassionate toward animals, seeking direction in life, looking to impress each other and reinforce their own sense of self-worth as much as they were looking for a cause. Mostly, they were desperate for attention for that cause.

In a word: infantile. But gee, they wouldn't have set fires at all, if only, if only, well, if only the system weren't broken, dammit. But it is, so they had no choice:

"If we were able to affect policy change through more legal means, then certainly that's the way these people would go," [former editor of the Earth First (no exclamation point) Journal Jim] Flynn said. "Nobody enjoys being underground, and that lifestyle."

Brats. No, not brats, brats.

Sunday Night at the Radio!

Sunday night, so Jack Benny. Just a typical show from 1948: "Jack leaves for Detroit" (6 June 1948). Fu. Nny.

And for the first time, Our Miss Brooks, with the great Eve Arden. This one is called "The Heating System" (9 January 1949). Listen to the voice of nerdy high-schooler Walter Denton. He was played, believe it or not, by Richard Crenna, who later often played cops and military types in movies and on TV, most notably (maybe notably isn't quite the word) in the Rambo movies.

Almost as weird, Mr. Boynton was played by Jeff Chandler.

Moral: Never listen to your mother

Oliver Kamm tells a story:

Many years ago a leading publisher in the UK commissioned my mother to read a book in German and make a recommendation about a possible English edition. My mother's report for the publisher said - I paraphrase, but not roughly - that the book was sub-literate and preposterous, had been written by an obvious ignoramus, and that no reputable publishing house would waste any time or risk its good name in associating with it. The publisher took note of this firm recommendation and decided not to commission an English translation.

So another English publisher brought out the book instead. The author's thesis was that extraterrestrial beings had visited Earth in ancient times and built, among other marvels, the statues on Easter Island, Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid at Giza. The author's name was Erich von Däniken, and his book - under the English title Chariots of the Gods? - became one of the great bestsellers and publishing sensations of the 1970s. He followed it with more than twenty other works in the same vein and to comparable public acclaim. But my mother's recommendation had been right; likewise the original publisher's decision to act on it.

Presumbably by pitching Oliver's moms out the window.

Hyberbole

Not the Denver Post: "The Colorado Regents plan to take Churchill out Mafia style on tuesday"

Ward: CU won't investigate countercharges

Can't wait for Tuesday:

Churchill Press Release on CU’s Refusal to Investigate Charges of Falsification, Fabrication, and Plagiarism Against Investigative Committee:

Based on the May 9, 2006 Report of a University of Colorado (CU) Investigative Committee, President Hank Brown has recommended that I be dismissed for “research misconduct.” From the beginning, it has been clear that going through my scholarship with a fine-tooth comb was simply a pretext to fire me for my constitutionally protected speech.

The fraudulent nature of CU’s “investigation” has been clearly documented by 5 sets of research misconduct complaints filed against the Investigative Committee. Two sets of these complaints were filed in May 2007 by 9 CU professors, 6 outside professors and 2 attorneys.

Marxist sociology professor and former Stasi interrogator Tom Mayer signed various complaints a total of 13 times.

I have since filed three additional sets of research misconduct charges. These 5 complaints document, among other things, falsification and fabrication of evidence and plagiarism by the Committee in its Report on my scholarship.

Today I was informed that the University of Colorado will not investigate these charges against the Investigative Committee because its activities “did not constitute research.” This is astonishing, given that the Committee members were purportedly selected on the basis of their scholarly credentials and claim throughout the Report to be engaged in scholarly research and analysis.

As PB (from whom) asks, "does 'Investigating Committee' sound like a research enterprise, or an investigatory enterprise? If scholars conduct the investigation, does it suddenly become academic research?"

The answer, of course, lies in the age-old question: If a cat has kittens in the oven, does that make them biscuits?

Walkin' in a Wardo Wonderland

The Daily Camera today has the story of Wart's countercharges against the Churchill investigating committee, and particularly against poor Marjorie McIntosh:

In one of his filings, the embattled professor complains that Marjorie McIntosh, a distinguished professor of history emeritus, systematically plagiarized from sources on at least two dozen occasions.

Churchill has written that the Army distributed disease-infested blankets to the Mandan Indians in 1837, but assistant sociology professor Thomas Brown, of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, contends the CU professor fabricated his facts.

Churchill points to similarities between a draft complaint filed by Brown and the committee's report, saying that the writings are "conceptually identical." He says other committee members are responsible, too, because they endorsed the report

But Brown, in a telephone interview with the Camera on Friday, said he believes confidentiality rules kept the committee from citing his research.

"I don't think they plagiarized my research at all," he said. "It's clear they made use of it. I gave it to them ... I think the reason they didn't cite it is because they weren't allowed to by the rules."

Try again, Ward.

(via PB)

Harry Potter fever!

Sorry. The D-a-W somehow inveigled me into standing in line with her at Wal-Mart, waiting with all the other freaks until midnight when the seventh and last book in the Harry Potter series went on sale.

I've read none of the books and seen, I think, only the first movie. Didn't much like it.

But anything for the blog. [Update: I mean, anything for the D-a-W.]

We got there about 11:30; at the front of the line people had been waiting since 8:00:



Much nearer midnight there were probably a couple-three hundred behind them:



We were entertained by our host, poor kid:


He asked trivia questions through a Mister Microphone and a boombox. I asked the D-a-W what the mark smeared on his forehead meant. "I don't know," she said. "I think it's blood."



Blood or not, there was booty to be collected (from left): wrist band signifying what "House" one is in; bookmark with prominent "Wal-Mart" logo; earplugs (D-a-W--"I have NO idea what those are for"); cookie.
And more booty:


Cupcake with ring embedded in it. The D-a-W says this is Ron Weasely (sp?), to whom she is now married.



Not many in costume. Kid on the right was hyped.



The books.

No tramplings, no blood-lettings (except maybe from our host). All in all, quite tranquil.

Update: The D-a-W would like me to note that she has read all the Harry Potter books thus far in Spanish, so she's not really a freak. She's just practicing her Spanish. I heartily endorse and support this claim.

Update II: Damn, why didn't we go to the Tattered Cover?