The graduate student who allegedly called in a bomb threat to the Knight Library two weeks ago pleaded innocent on Wednesday to charges of charges of menacing, harassment and disorderly conduct. In an e-mail to the Oregon Daily Emerald, James Evangelista blamed his actions on his abuse of the stimulant ephedra:



“The tragic consequences of losing grasp on my reality due to the buildup of this drug in my system and my poor judgment and choice making are only now unfolding for me.”



Will ephedra become the “twinkie defense” of this decade?

Edit: Post has been updated to add “allegedly” in the first sentence.

It’s up online, finally, despite that attack by Penguinclese earlier in the eveing, and my unfortunate run-in with Mechagodzilla. Yeah, umm, so read it. Click the links provided elswhere on the site, because it’s 6:18 AM, I’ve been up for going on 24 hours after pulling 42 up and 6 down, and I’m still writing a paper…so you’re not getting another link out of me. BAH! Just go read the issue, dammit.

J-School professor Kyu Ho Youm has this op-ed in today’s R-G. Some phrases instantly leap off the page.

…our intuitive perception of our press freedom in the past 2 1/2 years is clearly off base… Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, however, freedom of speech has been noticeably constrained in the United States… The paternalistic and sometimes dismissive attitude of the federal government toward an inquisitive press and an engaged citizenry is repugnant to the central meaning of the Sullivan case: Criticism of the government is not a crime, but a right under the First Amendment… “Other countries use the erosion of human rights in the United States to justify their own abuses” [quoting former Irish President Mary Robinson]…

I’m no fan of PATRIOT, but this a little bit over the top, isn’t it? Or is there some nefarious scheme afoot to render criticism of the government criminal? (If so, I would greatly appreciate being told about it.)

So it turns out that the outraged pols and social critics were absolutely right when they fumed that Janet Jackson’s notorious Super Bowl half-time show nipple-baring really did drive some Americans stark raving nuts. It’s just that they were talking about themselves…

According to Nick Gillespie in this Reason piece, the FCC just came within a single vote of regulating basic cable and satellite.

Also, there is apparently a “relationship between indecent programming and media consolidation.” I thought that, what with Clear Channel and all, that relationship worked the opposite way to what the Senate Commerce Committee is implying here.

Muff Chin being, of course, Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks (because last year he had a really awful goatee during the playoffs). He apparently punched an Avalanche rookie and fractured the poor kid’s neck. The incident precipitated a huge brawl, penalties all around, and Bertuzzi really deserves to be banned from hockey. Damnable Vancouver, hopefully the Wild will get them tonight.

While this isn’t exactly timely, I would like to direct your attention to an article in March 6’s Register-Guard. The article discusses, in the most unbiased way possible, the school board’s resistance to the proposal of naming a new elementary school after Cesar Chavez. While a number of aspects of this article deserve notice (its leaving resistance to naming the school after Chavez wholly unexplained; its use of quotes like “don’t be mean” from a fifth-grade girl), one part really seemed to stand out.

Maybe I just like to look at pictures rather than read an entire news story, but the photo that accompanied this article made very, very little sense to me. The second paragraph reads: “Wearing bright red arm bands and red bandanas, the many Latino youths there were the focal point of the midafternoon rally, which drew close to 150 people of all ages and colors.” But did they get a picture of these youths? Heck no.

What they got appears to be two middle-aged white women. The only person in the picture wearing a red bandana who could fit into the “youth” category sure looks blonde from this angle. And the rest of the crowd just sort of looks bored. (Granted, in the on-line version of the article, there is a picture of several bandana-clad youths. However, when I read the article in print on Saturday, that picture was not included — notice the lack of a caption.)

Score one for the R-G photo department!

Someone has been putting fliers inside copies of the Oregon Daily Emerald alleging rape at a University fraternity. Emerald staff removed the inserts from about 100 papers on Monday. There’s no information on how many of these inserts were taken by students. Did anyone get a hold of one?

Sorry about the lack of posts so far this week, folks. The Commentator staff is working on a new issue and can’t provide any more commentary or links on gay marriage, November elections and all that fun stuff (well, unless we’re procrastinating).

Some excellent ruminations on that much used but seldom understood phrase via Volokh. Why? Oh, no reason . . .

Still haven’t seen that new Jesus flick myself, I’m not terribly interested and I’ll probably just wait until it’s at the $1.50. Kevin Murphy hasn’t seen it yet either, but has some pretty nice thoughts anyway. Furthermore, he has this great quote:

I mean, if we’re going to talk about Jew-hatred overseas, lets be honest about it, and let’s talk about the virulent home grown stuff over there that really is far, far worse than anything Mel or his movie have even been accused of. Try Little Green Footballs if you want to find links to some real live breathing Jew-hatred.

Ouch. I think, I’m not quite sure if he’s implying that LGF are a bunch of anti-semites or that LGF tends to find anti-semitic crap and expose it. Personally, I’m more inclined to believe that LGF has a pretty heavy anti-Arab bias. It’s like the guy doesn’t recognize the difference between Arabs and terrorists. LGF: Weblog of the insane.

From the immortal Scary Go Round:

Do not take Hugo Rodriguez for the idiot. Unlike Ryan, I did not think Superman was a movie about two dudes living coincidentally similar lives.

In conclusion: There is no conclusion.

In his end is his beginning. The column is being retired, folks. But more on that anon.

[Audre] Lorde reclaims the term [“erotic”] from its common, plasticized definition and says that the erotic is true knowledge, a true understanding “which can only wait upon, or clarify, that knowledge, deeply born…”

Leaving aside the harmless fun that Audre Lorde seems to be having with her definitions, I would like to draw attention to the use of the word “plasticized”. I think we all know what he’s talking about. That’s right: dildos.

Despite its vague meaning, in the context of this particular society, true action is when we begin to distinguish who we are from a society that increasingly values thoughtless visual captivation, fear, conformity and domination.

Lorde says that once we have experienced a fullness and depth of feeling, we go “beyond the encouraged mediocrity of our society.”

To a sort of super-mediocrity? Oh, never mind.

Actually, these quotes pretty well sum up everything I find infuriating about this kind of piece. The unfocused bleating about Society, the pompous aphorisms about poetry, the endless preening over the word “spiritual”. As PJ O’Rourke once put it: “Here we have the very worst kind of person: the self-righteous beatnik.”

The next logical step is to stop writing about this stuff and take it to the streets.

But of course it is. I am pleased to report that Shakra’s mission is well underway, being put into action by an army of rigorously-trained disciples. During the twenty minute walk from my apartment to campus, I have passed as many as half a dozen people wandering around on the street in small circles, mumbling incoherently to themselves. I presume this is what he’s talking about.

Sorry, but I’m not going to be voting for you. If this were 2000, maybe then I would. If national security weren’t the most important issue facing America, maybe then. If I thought you being president and the congress remaining Republican would be the best thing for America as a whole, maybe then. But, John, you’ve got some rather unsavory friends. Well, maybe friends is the wrong word, but fans might be pretty close:

But the Dear Leader is not the only one getting deferential treatment from the communist state’s propaganda machine: John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic candidate, is also getting good play in Pyongyang.

In the past few weeks, speeches by the Massachusetts senator have been broadcast on Radio Pyongyang and reported in glowing terms by the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), the official mouthpiece of Mr Kim’s communist regime.

As much as El Presidente is annoying the piss out of me with his spending, and his FMA supporting, I think you’ll probably be worse. You’ve got the Mondale platform, John. You think terrorism is a police matter, you want to increase taxes, and you look like a zombie. Sorry John, not this time around. Try again in ’08, maybe once we’ve beaten back the forces of darkness will we libertarians feel better about getting back to gridlock as usual.

All The Best,

Tim

Here’s a random link to Vice magazine online. The print edition is way funnier than the online version, but it’s still pretty solid. Has anybody read the print edition of The Onion? Oh, oh, oh… I have. It’s way better than the online version, though I still tend to skim the front page and get right to the AV section.

Although in my pre-work morning haste I responded to Pete’s post on getting snubbed, perhaps I should have snubbed him to keep the joke alive. If anyone else would like to snub Pete for me, please do.