Emerald Points its Fingers at Bellotti

In today’s issue of the Emerald, the editorial board attempts to deflect blame over the Eric Dylan Jones suicide by suggesting that Mike Bellotti and his comments are partially responsible for the tragedy:

All of this is Sunday quarterbacking. Maybe things could have been different. Maybe Bellotti could have waited for a legal forum to make comments proclaiming the “truth” of the event, especially when no rebuttal was available.

How is Bellotti supposed to know when a rebuttal isn’t available? Isn’t it up to the Emerald editors to decide whether his comments should go into an article?

Additionally, only one sentence out of the 700-word editorial suggests that the “press” could have done something to prevent the tragedy.

A Sad Story

A great conservative columnist and brilliant editor Michael Kelly died in a Humvee accident in Iraq. Definitely worth the reading to know who the guy was.

Saddam, however, appears not to be dead. God damn it.

Oregon Takes On Protesters

The Washington Post (not WaPo, Tim) has a story on an Oregon law that would go after protesters. The law would “jail street-blocking protesters for at least 25 years in a thinly veiled effort to discourage anti-war demonstrations, critics say.” Who said Oregon wasn’t on the right track?

Sen. Kerry wants regime change in the U.S.

And Pearl Jam has some pissed off fans.

New Issue

Our latest issue is now online. It features the 2003 ASUO Elections, which traditionally about 10% of the student body actually cares about (as proven by election turnouts). However, it’s still newsworthy and always entertaining. Can’t wait for the grievances to come.

Cheers!

Shep’in It Up: Smith Stuffs Williams In Battles Of Heirs

While Tom Brokaw was TV’s most-trusted achor, Foxnews anchor Shepard Smith “was in a virtual three-way trustworthiness tie for second place with ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings (17 percent) and CBS Evening News host Dan Rather (16). CNN’s Aaron Brown garnered 11 percent.” Shep also got a higher share rating than Fox bigwig O’Reilly. On the flip side, Brokaw’s heir, MSNBC’s Brian Williams, rated the lowest.

ODE Death Toll: 1

To her understanding, Schwartz said Jones was planning to turn himself in to police the day the initial Emerald article was published. However, he changed his mind because he feared people would no longer respect him and because he didn’t feel comfortable returning to campus, she said.

From this Emerald article regarding the suicide of Eric Dylan Jones. Personally, I was kind of shocked by the way the Emerald ran the initial story regarding the beat-down. If I recall correctly, the Emerald blurred out the faces of students photographed during the fall “riot.” The decision to run an above the fold full color head shot of a suspect seemed to be an about face. An low-and-behold, the kid kills himself as a result. Is the first campus death attributed to the Daily Emerald?

And… Greg Diamond is a stand up guy, but I think he’s overstating his affiliation with this publication.

Guess Who’s Back?

Yeah.. it’s me. I haven’t posted anything in well over a week, so here are a few bones.

Chinese Democracy is finally going to be released, sort of…

If you’ve been living in a cave (or Boise) for the past year, here’s a good look back at the path to war.

And finally, here’s Mary-Kate Olsen’s thong.

Mork Weighs In

Robin Williams has launched a “scathing” attack against President Bush with respect to the war. One interesting argument is that America is “almost broke.” I am not at all convinced Mr. Williams has a firm grasp on the economic underpinnings of the American juggernaut economy — at least it’s not any firmer a grasp than he seems to have on reality. At the same time, Al Gore is supporting the Dixie Chicks through one of the worst arguments about free speech you’ll ever read. I urge you to look through the brief story and decide if a man who can’t distinguish between political speech and commercial speech ever should have been Senator, let alone President.