Ever notice the similarity between K. Daffy and Obama?

Both of them strike poses.

K. Daffy (where does that hat come from?)

Obama, chin jutting, arms crossed, the "in charge" rock star."

Which brought to mind this old picture...


These are people who think very, very well of themselves. Megalomaniacs?

Micael Kinsley wonders how Obama got into this mess.

Wait a minute. How did this happen? A month or so ago, massive bombing of Libya was on no one’s agenda. Libya’s government was just as tyrannical, and its leader was just as loony then as he is now....

But Obama surely would not have chosen this moment and this target merely as an opportunity to prove he has cojones.

Want to make a big bet? Here's what I said a few days ago:

... Obama was pushed into supporting action to counter the public perception that he was a feckless bystander.

Don't doubt me. When you have a megalomaniac as President, one who says things like:

“The first time around it’s like lightning in a bottle. There’s something special about it, because you’re defying the odds. And as time passes, you start taking it for granted that a guy named Barack Hussein Obama is president of the United States,” Obama said. “But we should never take it for granted.”

Yes, then the Lightbearer has to prove he has balls when people begin to doubt.

The Liberal Faculty: Self-Selection or Discrimination?

Why no mention of, say, George Bush?


The authors acknowledge that working on the Obama and McCain campaigns might not be perfect proxies for liberal and conservative. “We worried that a stronger conservative prompt, such as being a George W. Bush supporter, might — if claims about the extent of hostility to conservatism in academe are true — lead some respondents to question the legitimacy of the e-mail,” they write.

Are conservatives really that rare? So rare that mentioning work for the most recent two-term president of the United States would be so outside the bounds of normality that it would “lead some respondents to question the legitimacy of the e-mail”? I’m afraid they’re right.

News from around the world.

Turkey discovers weapons in Iran plane.

Turkish media reports plane forced to land in southeast Turkey carried rocket launchers, mortars, rifles and explosive materials

Syria Protests Spread

Unrest spread in southern Syria on Monday with hundreds of people demonstrating against the government in three towns near the main city of Deraa, but authorities did not use force to quell the latest protests.

U.S. Says Libyan Campaign to Ease as No-Fly Zone Is Secured

The fighting “should recede in the next few days,” Gates said at a press conference in Moscow today. Opposition fighters advanced on the central gateway city of Ajdabiya, which is held by loyalist troops, according to the Associated Press. Qaddafi’s army units continued to shell the western, rebel-held city of Misrata for a second day, residents said.

Who's in charge? Germans pull forces out of NATO as Libyan coalition falls apart

Deep divisions between allied forces currently bombing Libya worsened today as the German military announced it was pulling forces out of NATO over continued disagreement on who will lead the campaign.


A German military spokesman said it was recalling two frigates and AWACS surveillance plane crews from the Mediterranean, after fears they would be drawn into the conflict if NATO takes over control from the U.S.
The infighting comes as a heated meeting of NATO ambassadors yesterday failed to resolve whether the 28-nation alliance should run the operation to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone, diplomats said.

'We are not at war,’

Opening the debate on French involvement in Libya, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon reiterated that the intervention was intended to stop attacks against Libyan civilians, and nothing more.

“We are not at war with Libya, we are protecting the civilian population,” said Fillon and added, “Our objectives are very specific... to protect the civilian population, excluding explicitly any occupation forces.”

Libya action 'impeachable'

President Barack Obama should be impeached for approving air strikes against Libya, Rep. Dennis Kucinich said in an interview Monday.

Obama’s Abu Ghraib: The Stuff Hits the Fan

When the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in 2003, the mainstream media and liberal blogosphere couldn’t find enough column inches to express adequately their shock and revulsion. The New York Times alone published 56 stories on the hideous revelation that members of the U.S. Army Reserve had tortured prisoners of war and posed for “trophy pictures”—inexcusable acts that the Times placed squarely at the feet of then-president George W. Bush.
What a difference a president makes. Until you flash forward to today’s bombshell, dropped by the British newspaper The Guardian, noting that members of a self-styled U.S. Army “kill team” posed for photos not with tortured prisoners but with corpses. Of civilians. Whom they had killed.
So far, the White House has released no statement regarding the images or accounts. Neither, surprisingly, has the New York Times.

Chavez says capitalism may have ended life on Mars
The Liberal ruler of Venezuela said

..."I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in speech to mark World Water Day.

Sexually assaulted and told 'You'll die tonight'... but spared as she's American: Female journalist's horror at the hands of Gaddafi's men

A female war photographer from the New York Times revealed tonight how she was repeatedly sexually assaulted during her nightmare hostage ordeal in Libya.

See how those photos of fighting are actually staged.

This is how it's done.

The Associated Press demonstrates for the billionth time how adjectives and other descriptive terms are one of the top ways of slanting the news (the most common is The Spike). What would a news story be like without adjectives telling you what to think about a story?

NEW DELHI – U.S. politician [when is a private citizen not in office a politician; and by the way why bother describing her at all?  The only person who doesn't know who she is is that GEICO character under a rock. Is Obama described by the AP as a U.S. politician?  Is Biden?  Is oh ... Bill Clinton or George Bush?] Sarah Palin stressed the importance of America's ties with India, saying they were based on the shared values of freedom and free-market capitalism, while sounding a warning note on China's rise during a speech Saturday in New Delhi. [Shouldn't the AP tell us that New Delhi is a city in India?  Fewer Americans know where New Delhi is than know who Sarah Palin is.]

The visit to India is a rare foreign venture for the ex-Alaska governor and reality TV star, who was John McCain's running mate in his failed 2008 campaign for president. [Not content with describing Palin as a U.S. politician, the AP wants the GEICO guy to know that Palin doesn't get out much, is the "ex" rather than "former" Governor of Alaska, lost the 2008 election and is really Snooky  from the "Jersey Shore."] The trip, which also includes a stop in Israel, is raising speculation [by whom?]Palin wants to burnish her foreign policy credentials ahead of a possible 2012 presidential run.

Palin told a well-heeled [Republicans only hang with fat cats, doncha know?] audience of Indian business leaders, professionals and socialites [India has socialites like .... Paris Hilton?  Who knew?] that U.S.-Indian relations were "key to the future of our world."

The story rambles on in the same vein, but this is the part that was reproduced in the Virginian Pilot.  It was so full of the crap that's the hallmark of professional journalism today that I thought it would be interesting as an example to any budding journalist out there.  THIS is how it's done.

Biggest jump in food costs in more than 36 years!

Remember just a few months ago when Sarah Palin made the point that food prices were rising and the grief she got for saying it? 

Well ....

Wholesale prices rise 1.6 pct. due to biggest jump in food costs in more than 36 years

Wholesale prices jumped last month by the most in nearly two years due to higher energy costs and the steepest rise in food prices in 36 years. Excluding those volatile categories, inflation was tame.

Yeah, except for your food and the way to get to work (if you still have a job) "inflation was tame." You can't parody the AP. They do a better job on themselves.

Keep in mind that Sarah Palin’s comment on food prices was made in the context of her criticism of Federal Reserve policy.

"All this pump priming (by the Fed) will come at a serious price. And I mean that literally: Everyone who ever goes out shopping for groceries knows that prices have risen significantly over the past year or so. Pump priming would push them even higher."

That makes Sarah Palin a better forecaster than Ben Bernanke, the people at the Wall Street Journal who doubted her and Ryan Chittum and the rest of the Obama cheerleaders at the Columbia Journalism Review.

Oh how I wish Sarah Palin were president.

Megalomania

Remember the jokes about asylum dwellers who thought they were Napoleon … or Jesus?

Sane people don’t talk about themselves this way. From the Washington Post:

“The first time around it’s like lightning in a bottle. There’s something special about it, because you’re defying the odds. And as time passes, you start taking it for granted that a guy named Barack Hussein Obama is president of the United States,” Obama said. “But we should never take it for granted.”

Obama made his remarks to about 500 members of the Democratic National Committee’s national finance committee and national advisory board at a Washington hotel.

This is disturbing. As is this.

Thanks, Glenn ...  and to those visiting here for the first time, look around and say "Hi" to your neighbors. 

UPDATE: Can you imagine George Washington saying: “ … you start taking it for granted that a guy named George Washington is president of the United States.” Or Abraham Lincoln, or FDR, or Reagan or anyone who is not a megalomaniac.

For those who did not get the allusion, remember the story about Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with precious ointment? Judas objected, saying that the ointment should have been sold and the money given to the poor. Jesus replied: “Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.”

Barack as Jesus? Here’s a thought for the “birthers:” suppose Barack Hussein Obama is actually trying to hide the fact that he has no earthly father? As Glenn Reynolds would say: “Heh.”

I assumed that when Obama spoke of his nomination causing the seas to lower and the planet to heal he was speaking allegorically, but suppose he really means it?

Is Obama "Slow" ... as in stupid?

Think back. When did you know, I mean really know, that sanctions were not going to stop Libya’s K. Daffy? A week ago … two weeks ago …. last month ….. even before sanctions were imposed because sanctions never work? Forget whether you think the US ought to get involved in Libya or not, when did you KNOW sanctions were not going to stop K. Daffy?

Well, congratulations you little Mensa candidate. You’re smarter than the President. Because the “administration sources” let it slip that Barack Hussein Obama didn’t know it until Tuesday.

ABC's Jake Tapper does the best he can with the material he has, but nothing disguises this fiasco:

For President Obama, Libyan Tipping Point Came Tuesday: "What We're Doing Isn't Stopping Him"

On Tuesday, President Obama became clear that diplomatic efforts to stop the brutality of Libyan dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi weren’t working.

Presented with intelligence about the push of the Gadhafi regime to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the president told his national security team "what we're doing isn't stopping him.”

I’m not sure whether to believe this or not. If it’s spin to make Obama look good it’s a huge fail. We can go back to assuming that Obama was pushed into supporting action to counter the public perception that he was a feckless bystander. If it accurately reflects Obama’s judgment or intelligence it indicates that a serious effort should be made to impeach him as a danger to the Republic on grounds of stupidity.

NY Times Mag promotes “Hoax of the Holocaust” cleric Yasir Qadhi as face of “moderate” American Islam

Via PJ Tatler: The NY Times has fallen on hard times but still has a ton of resources. If this is their version of a "moderate American Islamic" cleric it's hard to imagine what kind of cleric would be considered radical.


YQ1 from George Scanderbeg on Vimeo.

H/T Instapundit.

Bombing Libya

What’s worse than watching freedom fighters who are asking for your help get slaughtered? Waiting till it’s too late!

Reacting to criticism from all sides, Team Obama is thinking of bombing Libya.

Getting to the right body count before we can act.

Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal on The Collapse of Internationalism discussed the failure of the "post-American world in which the U.S. is obliged to pursue its interests in concert with the rest of the world's powers, never alone."

The poster boy for this internationalist view is White House deputy Ben Rhodes, who told a reporter last week: "This is the Obama conception of the U.S. role in the world—to work through multilateral organizations and bilateral relationships to make sure that the steps we are taking are amplified."

Days later, bemused Libyan rebel spokesman Essam Gheriani remarked in Benghazi: "Everyone here is puzzled as to how many casualties the international community judges to be enough for them to help. Maybe we should start committing suicide to reach the required number."

The blueprint for this policy summarizes the Obama doctrine:

"...[U.S.] leadership recognizes that in a world in which power has diffused, our interests are best protected and advanced when others step up and at times lead alongside or even ahead of us."

Which gets us to the Middle East where

... no one has stepped up, no one is leading alongside and our allies are in the rear, accomplishing nothing while they wait for . . . America.

This was a test case, and what we have seen is that a world in which the U.S. doesn't unmistakably lead is a world that spins its wheels, and eventually the wheels start to come off. When the U.S. instructs the Saudis not to intervene in Bahrain, and the Saudi army does precisely the opposite, the wheels are coming off the international order.

The Liberal community in the US prefers it this way (read the comments).  The Libyan rebels say that the internation community's hands are covered with blood. Lady Macbeth just keeps scrubbing.

Two Charged in Tea Party Election Fraud

Two former leaders of the Oakland County Democratic Party are facing a total of nine felonies for allegedly forging election paperwork to get fake Tea Party candidates on November's ballot....

Former Oakland County Democratic Chair Mike McGuinness and former Democratic Operations Director Jason Bauer face up to 14 years in prison if convicted.

"Some of the people didn't even know they were on the ballot till they began receiving delinquency notices of filings that were required as a candidate," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

H/T Glenn Reynolds

What Would a Desperate Wimp Do?

Michael Ledeen wonders and worries about what adventures Obama could take America on if he needs to be seen as a successful commander in chief.

[Re Carter] And so I asked myself, is there a point at which a president realizes that wimps don’t get reelected? And if so, what might he do to shatter that image? For the next two years I worried that Carter might overreact to some international crisis in order to make folks see that he was really a tough guy.

It never happened, to my relief. But I’m starting to have the same worries about Obama. To be sure, he’s got a press that is considerably friendlier than Carter had, but even so we are seeing quite a number of stories about a president who just can’t seem to make decisions, who doesn’t seem to get it when terrible things happen, things that cry out for American leadership. The wimp seems to be mounting a comeback. If he gets tarred with that brush, he might start considering options to recreate his image. There are certainly many opportunities, from Iran to Venezuela.

Read the whole thing.

Dead Jews Is No News

Mark Steyn on the Palestinian slaughter of a Jewish family. It got almost no mention in the American press by the MSM.

But sometimes, as when a baby has her throat slashed, what’s not said is just as telling. Recently I was talking to a Hungarian Jew who lived in hiding in Budapest during the Second World War: By 1944, the pro-German government was running short of ammo, so they were obliged to get a little creative. They’d handcuff Jews together in a long chain, stand them on a bridge, put a bullet in the ones at each end, and then push them into the Danube to let the dead weight drag down the ones in between. You have to have a strong stomach for such work, perhaps almost as strong as for killing three-month olds. But, as my friend told his tale, I thought not of the monsters on the bridge, nor even those on the banks cheering, but about the far larger numbers of people scurrying about their business and rationalizing what was going on. That’s what made the difference, then as now.

It's rapidly becoming obvious that a repeat of the Holocaust would have its supporters - not just in the Muslim world - but in the West.

"Maybe they even thought Mr. Obama meant what he said in calling for Gadhafi to leave power."

The Wall Street Journal:  Arabs Love the Pax Americana

The Arab League's call this weekend for a no-fly zone over Libya is startling news and has sent diplomats scattering. We'll now see if the "international community" (to use the Obama Administration's favorite phrase) decides anything before Moammar Gadhafi's forces overrun the rebel stronghold in Benghazi. The odds favor Gadhafi.

But the 22-member league's decision also tells us a lot about Arab views of U.S. power. Throughout the Libyan crisis, we've heard from pundits and politicians that the Iraq war tarnished brand America beyond repair, and made U.S. leadership non grata in the Mideast. Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have insisted that the U.N., NATO, the Europeans, Arabs, anyone but Washington take the initiative on Libya.

The Arab League is begging them to reconsider this abdication.

And, yes, Obama meant it, but not if it interfered with his golf and vacations. He's voting "present."

Intolerance of the Avant Garde

We see what happens when the ruling class is frustrated.  See Wisconsin.  And now we see how they react in the art world when the art isn't conformist Leftist.

The View from Alexandria:

Art should challenge the status quo, the staid complacencies of the bourgeoisie; it should even shock. So goes a standard Leftist line. But when art actually DOES that, they do their best to suppress it. That helps to explain why the ideas of the avant garde have been the same for more than a century, and why, today, avant garde means defending the statist status quo.

I never agreed with the Leftist line on art. By that definition, fecal matter is art; so is pornography. In fact, both of these are regularly passed off as art in the art houses of the world, and like bad money, drive good art away.

Via the New Criterion:

As a senior in the school[Pratt], Mr. DeQuattro has been working on this art in preparation for a group show for Pratt’s graduating students, which is scheduled to open on April 23. While his faculty advisor has been supporting him, his peers have not. Mr. DeQuattro says they recently wrote a letter to his professors, calling his work “offensive” and complaining about exhibiting alongside him. Last week, the chair of the fine arts department stepped in to prevent Mr. DeQuattro’s participation alongside the other students in the group show--an unprecedented move in the history of the department, says Mr. DeQuattro, despite the fact that none of his work is pornographic, libelous, or in violation of the laws of free speech. Mr. DeQuattro's advisor did not return a request for comment.

Now that the Right has found a voice in politics, the media and the arts, the intolerance of the Left is exploding, sometimes in shunning ... often in violence.

What's the reaction from the defenders of the new status quo?  Here's the high priest of the temple of modern art, the Whitney: 

"What movement?!" demands David Ross, director of the Whitney, when asked about the Realists in a telephone interview. "There's no such thing!" When reminded that at least 200 Realist artists demonstrated outside the Whitney less than 18 months earlier, he backtracks. "I've always had respect for the artist's plight," he says of the protest. "We even gave them an electric outlet for their equipment."

Ross expresses great skepticism of the contemporary Realists. "That sort of hackneyed academic painting takes an enormous amount of talent and work," he says. "But to go back to copying Leonardo is not art."

He continues: "I admire them just like I admire people that can sing beautifully. It's a real gift. But that alone doesn't make you a great artist." His voice rises, sounding increasingly agitated. "They're old-fashioned, totally out of touch with the issues of the day. I'm interested in art that's wrestling with the history of ideas, and they fail to deal with it! We've had two major world wars, the worst genocides in world history, and many other events that they ignore."

Ross says he has not seen any of Steven Assael's work, but he tells a reporter in her early 20s, "I used to be just like you when I was your age. I had the same questions about art that you do. Listen, you shouldn't be interested in these people. They're just a bunch of crypto-Nazi conservative bullshitters. They're feeding you a line of bullshit! We just had a great conference with Asian-American artists who were concerned with issues of representation at the Whitney. Do a story on that."

When asked to respond to the contention of many contemporary Realists that the Whitney's brand of avant-garde art lacks spirituality, Ross becomes enraged. "I'm sick of hearing these Realists say their work is `affirming'! It's not affirming, it's sappy! Art isn't about making pretty pictures to put in people's homes," he says. "They're rebelling against the age of cynicism? Well, it's not cynicism! It's smartness! It's lack of naivete!" By this point, Ross's voice is shaking with anger. "They think they're special? Well, they are special. If they get a show of their own, great. I'm eager to see what it is, and then we can have a real dialogue," Ross says. "Let them put on their own show. Then I'll accept that there's a movement."

If that's not a fierce defender of the status quo, there isn't one.

Police "Protection."

James Taranto focuses on a letter from the executive Director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, Jim Palmer that can be interpreted as a “protection racket” threat, as in “nice business you got there, it would be a shame if anything were to happen to it.”

I get several calls a year from police unions asking for donations and I usually give something each year, not in fear of reprisal but because I appreciate the fact that police have a dangerous job. But this letter is different. It’s an up-front demand for support of unions and a threat for non-support of unions.

The undersigned groups would like your company to publicly oppose Governor Walker's efforts to virtually eliminate collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin. While we appreciate that you may need some time to consider this request, we ask for your response by March 17. In the event that you do not respond to this request by that date, we will assume that you stand with Governor Walker and against the teachers, nurses, police officers, fire fighters, and other dedicated public employees who serve our communities.

In the event that you cannot support this effort to save collective bargaining, please be advised that the undersigned will publicly and formally boycott the goods and services provided by your company. However, if you join us, we will do everything in our power to publicly celebrate your partnership in the fight to preserve the right of public employees to be heard at the bargaining table. Wisconsin's public employee unions serve to protect and promote equality and fairness in the workplace. We hope you will stand with us and publicly share that ideal.

I have a great deal of concern when people who carry guns come into my business and tell me that if I don’t support their union they will do me harm. It’s a threat with the overtone of physical violence attached.  Not good at all.

Biomass before environmentalists made it cool.

There is an interesting article in the Charlotte Observer about Duke Power’s use of “biomass” to fuel one of its power plants. This move was prompted by a North Carolina law that requires utilities to produce 12.5% of their energy from renewable resources. You would also think that this would be applauded by environmentalists everywhere. You would be wrong because Duke is being sued by the Southern Environmental Defense Center and the Environmental Defense Fund. Why? Because “biomass” in Duke’s case consists of trees. That’s right; Duke is taking trees, chipping them up and mixing it with coal to produce power.

The environmentalists object, saying that Duke should only be using wood waste, to which Duke replies that there isn’t enough wood waste … err … “biomass” to run the plants.

Which got me to thinking that a few hundred years ago, the people in this country were using trees to produce the energy to heat their homes and power their machines, such as they were. That was before the term “biomass” had been invented. In the 19th Century, Michigan loggers cut down the forests covering the state to provide “biomass” for construction and energy throughout the country. They were ahead of their time.

Saw this in my e-mail:

It's All About the Green Thing

By Jim Knowles

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day".

That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks. But she's right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts; wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house and not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. But they didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But they didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But that old lady is right. They didn't have the green thing back in her day.

Where are the Japanese looters?

Listening to Rush Limbaugh who raised the question “why is there no looting in Japan following the quake and tsunami?”

After the flooding in New Orleans following hurricane Katrina the airwaves were filled with stories of widespread looting and rape. The rape stories were bogus, the looting was not.

It doesn’t take a natural disaster to set off looters and rioters in the US. Changing union bargaining rules is enough.

The Cleveland Gang Rape Story from the New Black Panthers Perspective.

A story that was a local and an internet crime story made it to the pages of the NY Times written by James McKinley, Jr.  Along the way, the story line made a curious turn.

The facts of the story are these: an 11-year-old girl in the small Texas town of Cleveland was gang-raped by about 18 boys and men. We know it happened because there are video records of the events. We know it was rape because 11-year-old children cannot legally consent to sex.

Gang rape is not something that civilized people excuse. Gang rape of children is worse.  Yet the treatment the crime received in the NY Times is curious. In the Times, the focus was not on the effect gang rape has on a young girl but the effect that criminal prosecution for this crime has on the perpetrators.

The NY Times is no stranger to stories of gang rape. A few years ago its news and editorial pages were devoted to the accusations of a Durham, NC stripper/prostitute who claimed to have been gang raped by members of the Duke lacrosse team. Those stories focused on the evil that lurks in the hearts of rich white athletes at exclusive colleges. When the accusation turned out to be bogus and the prosecutor punished for pursuing the case for political reasons, the Times treatment was straight out of Tom Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities.”

Was that the reason the Times decided to make this a story about young men having their lives ruined by being accused of a crime? Could it be that they learned a lesson from the Duke Lacrosse case? That seems unlikely. There was no physical evidence in the Duke Lacrosse case; the Cleveland rapes were videotaped.   The crime is racially charged, dividing the community.

The tone of the NY Times story mirrors that of Quanell X, leader (according to Wikipedia) of the New Black Panthers in nearby Houston. Like the NY Times reporter, Quanell X focuses on the rapists.

“Listen to me good, you stand by your children and don’t let them convince you to walk away and take a plea deal for some trumped up charges.”

According to a TV reporter, he accused the police of being like the KKK. Like the NY Times reporter Quanell X blamed the girl’s parents. The Times reporter uses a neighbor to introduce the parents fault in this:

“Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?” said Ms. Harrison, one of a handful of neighbors who would speak on the record.

In a classic case of blaming the victim, the NY Times notes:

They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.

New Black Panther Quanell X:

“She lives in another community. If she lives in another community you mean to tell me that the only men in Cleveland Texas that had sex with that girl are black men that’s locked up in that jail.”

Following a public push back to the tone of the original article, the NY Times Public Editor Arthur Brisbane promised that the NY Times would print another story that was more properly balanced between blaming the rapists and blaming the 11 year old girl.

Under our system of law, you are innocent until proven guilty. It’s possible that some of the men accused of this gang rape are innocent. It’s instructive that the original story chose to present the rape from the perspective of the New Black Panthers.  The episode is racially charged.  The girl is Hispanic, the rapists are Black.  According to some reports, there is tension between the Hispanic and Black communities, not just in Cleveland.  The NY Times, always a bellwether for Liberal opinion, may just have taken sides.

Some may say that this is a teachable moment.