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Blog and Media Roundup - Sunday, October 17, 2010; News Roundup
Topic Started: Oct 17 2010, 04:12 AM (343 Views)
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/9942226/article-Durham-Committee-says-no-to-Nov--2-vote-on--20M-in-street-improvements?instance=main_article

Durham Committee says no to Nov. 2 vote on $20M in street improvements
The Herald Sun
10.16.10 - 06:33 pm
By Cliff Bellamy

cbellamy@heraldsun.com; 419-6744

DURHAM -- The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People has recommended a vote against $20 million in bonds for street improvements that city voters will see on the ballot in November. The committee also recommended a vote against a proposed state constitutional amendment barring anyone convicted of a felony from ever serving as sheriff.

Both recommendations were part of the committee's political endorsements released Saturday. While there was considerable debate on the street bonds, the committee decided to recommend against them because of unfinished street work from previous bonds in 2005 and 2007, and a lack of information about how that work is progressing, said Lavonia Allison, chairwoman of the Durham Committee.

"There are still unpaved streets that impact the African-American community," Allison said, and this particular bond does not address those streets. While current lower interest rates would make borrowing advantageous for the city, the committee weighed that fact against economic hardships many citizens are facing and recommended a vote against the bonds.

On the constitutional amendment, the committee decided the language painted too broad a stroke given the number of possible felony offenses, Allison said. She cited the example of someone bouncing a check. But if that person was young when the offense occurred, and had since kept a good record, that past offense should not preclude their serving as sheriff, Allison said.

The committee began interviews Monday. By committee rules, every candidate for office who receives an endorsement has to show up for an interview, Allison said.

The committee made only one endorsement in the instant runoff voting for Court of Appeals judge, for incumbent Cressie Thigpen, the only candidate who requested an interview, Allison said. Voters can pick three choices for the seat. The ballot allows voters to make a second and third choice in addition to their first choice. Those second and third choices would be considered in case of a runoff. Confusion over that process and committee rules precluded endorsements for second and third choices, Allison said.

In partisan races, the committee endorsed only Democrats, including N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall for U.S. Senate in her bid against incumbent Republican Richard Burr. Incumbent 4th District Rep. David Price, a Democrat, received the endorsement for U.S. House.

In state legislative races, the committee picked Democratic incumbent Bob Atwater for N.C. Senate District 18, and Democratic incumbent Floyd B. McKissick Jr. for Senate District 20.

In N.C. House races, the committee endorsed incumbent Democrat Larry D. Hall, running unopposed in District 29. Incumbent Democrat Paul Luebke received the endorsement in District 30. Incumbent Democrat H.M. "Mickey" Michaux received the endorsement in District 31, and incumbent Democrat W.A. "Winkie" Wilkins in N.C. Senate District 55, running unopposed.

In the county sheriff's race, the committee gave its endorsement to Democrat Worth Hill over challenger Roy G. Taylor, the Republican.

Voter turnout will be crucial in this election, Allison said, and she outlined some important issues. Candidates elected to state office will have authority over redistricting, and President Obama "whom we supported heavily in Durham," needs congressional support, she said.

Here are other committee endorsements:

- District Attorney: Tracey Cline.

- Clerk of Superior Court: Archie Smith.

- Supreme Court Associate Justice, Robert C. "Bob" Hunter.

- Court of Appeals Judge: Jane Gray, Rick Elmore and Martha Geer.

- District Court Judge, District 14: Pat Evans, Nancy E. Gordon, James T. "Jim" Hill, Doretta Walker, Marcia H. Morey and Brian C. Wilks.

- Superior Court Judge Distict 14B: Elaine M. Bushfan and Michael O'Foghludha.
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/9943160/article-For-court--Read--Hardin--Bushfan?instance=hs_editorials

For court: Read, Hardin, Bushfan
The Herald Sun
10.16.10 - 09:18 pm
There is a stunning shift ahead at the courthouse, but outside of a handful of attorneys and court watchers, it has gone largely unremarked.

Three open seats for Superior Court judges -- an astonishing number -- mean an inevitable shift in the pace of justice as usual in Durham County.

As The Herald-Sun considered its endorsements in this race, we were gratified to find a field of impressive candidates who were uniformly well-qualified but nonetheless distinct in their priorities, experiences and sense of the law.

Our decisions came at a very narrow margin. The Herald-Sun endorses:

Jim Hardin

Although this is his first election for a Superior Court judge's seat, Hardin is an old hand on the bench. A former district attorney, Hardin was appointed as a Special Superior Court judge in 2005, and then, after a break when he stepped in to replace disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong, he was returned to the bench by reappointment in 2007. In 2009, he was appointed as a resident Superior Court judge.

Hardin is an interesting jurist -- "not necessarily concerned about what the community thinks, less about the strength of a case, very concerned with what the law allows," he said -- who believes both that capital punishment is "a legitimate tool of punishment" and that "we're seeing the end of it" in North Carolina. He has had just one case -- a civil suit -- reversed on appeal.

Along with the other judges interviewed by The Herald-Sun, Hardin was deeply concerned about the state's long trend of shortchanging the court system. Citing statewide personnel shortages, he noted that, to clear the average number of cases filed in a year, the district attorney's office used to run eight to 10 courtrooms every day.

The number of cases hasn't dropped, but furloughs and hiring freezes have decimated the clerk's office and the district attorney's staff.

"I am so frustrated as a judge. I am infuriated as a citizen," he said. "We're an equal branch of government and we're funded at 2 percent [of the state budget]?"

Dan Read

Read is a veteran attorney who, despite a 2008 campaign for the District Court bench, is best known within the courthouse walls.

We urge Durham voters to get to know him. Read's 20 years of experience as an attorney has been, he estimates, 80 percent criminal work and 20 percent civil. His experience as defense counsel in kidnapping, armed robbery and sexual assault cases adds depth to the slate of Superior Court judges.

We like his take on the job: "I think the ... thing the judge has to do is know the law [or] research it quickly," a skill set he has acquired while filing appellate briefs.

We were also struck by his candor and common sense in discussing judicial activism: "The law is made of words, which are subject to interpretation," he said. "... Strict adherence to following the law involves adhering to case law but also to be the conscience of the court."

In many cases, that comes down to decisions like whether a convicted defendant should serve concurrent or consecutive sentences.

He also supports increasing the minimum requirements for candidates who want to file for judicial seats, but -- disagreeing with both former Justice Sandra Day O'Conner and this newspaper -- continuing to elect judges in North Carolina because the appointment process is similarly fraught with politics and "if any mistakes are going to get made, the voters should make them."

Elaine Bushfan

Bushfan is an unusual case: After just three years of legal practice, she was elected to the District Court bench in 1994, where she has served for the past 15 years.

The question raised by her critics is whether Bushfan's short time as an attorney has prepared her for transition from District Court, where judges rule on small civil suits and misdemeanors, to Superior Court, where the judge acts as a referee between attorneys and coaches the jury through the fine points of law.

We are persuaded that Bushfan, a quick study who has all but grown up on the bench, brings important experience. "I do my work," she said. "You know what I'm like as a judge. You know my demeanor, how I preside. ... I go in there trying to realize that I'm dealing in human drama every day. I have to go in there prepared to learn, be a compass and know the law."

We agree with Bushfan's thoughts about sentencing. She is concerned that North Carolina is one of the few remaining states that allows children to be sentenced as adults, and she supports a review of sentencing for non-violent crime.

"We have to determine who we're angry at versus who we're afraid of," she said. "... Jail space is valuable. ... We have to place a limit on who we incarcerate and how long."
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/17/745047/isleys-climb-at-sbi-followed-his.html


Published Sun, Oct 17, 2010 04:31 AM
Modified Sun, Oct 17, 2010 04:49 AM
Isley's climb at SBI followed his claim of racism

It's been a mystery how SBI agent Mark Isley's career soared while evidence mounted that he fabricated a confession that forced a mentally disabled man to be locked away at a mental hospital for 14 years.

Isley's climb is now clear, chronicled in a racial discrimination settlement released Friday, months after The News & Observer first requested the documents.

In 2004, Isley complained to agency leaders that he and several other black employees had routinely been passed over for better jobs. Isley bragged that his record was unblemished and that he was better qualified than white counterparts picked for promotions.

In fall 2005, the agency gave Isley a raise, made him chief of the Medicaid fraud unit and gave him offices in Charlotte and Raleigh.

Months before Isley complained about being passed over for promotions, attorneys for Floyd Brown, an Anson County man with the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, accused Isley of lying and planting evidence on defendants. Months before the SBI settled with Isley, Brown's attorneys argued in court that Isley falsified a confession for Brown to the 1993 slaying of a woman in Wadesboro.

Those complaints grew louder and louder over the years as lawyers fought to free Brown from confinement at Dorothea Dix Hospital. SBI leaders and the Attorney General's Office turned a deaf ear, even as a judge released Brown in 2007 and cast doubt on the alleged confession.

The N&O chronicled Brown's case in "Agents' Secrets," a series that documented how SBI agents bullied the vulnerable and twisted reports and court testimony when the truth threatened to undermine their cases. Problems extended beyond field agents to the SBI laboratory, where analysts pushed past the accepted bounds of science and shaped evidence to fit the needs of police and prosecutors.

After the articles ran in August, the new SBI chief in August called for the first - and only - internal investigation into Isley's handling of the case.

"This investigation should have begun long ago," said David Rudolf, a Charlotte lawyer who filed a civil suit this summer on behalf of Brown. "It's unfortunate that it took a lawsuit and newspaper reporting to motivate the SBI to look into the actions of Mr. Isley over all these years."

The settlement that boosted Isley's career cost the SBI little. Now, a lawsuit attacking Isley's handling of Brown's case and agency leaders' unwillingness to supervise him may cost the SBI and the state big bucks.

Nationally, juries have awarded those wrongfully convicted an average of $1 million for every year of incarceration, Rudolf said.

If the case goes to trial, Rudolf will likely argue for punitive damages. The SBI and its insurers could be forced to pay triple damages if jurors find that Isley and his supervisors had consciously and intentionally disregarded Brown's rights and safety. If a jury were to award Brown $1 million for each year he was locked up, triple damages could bring the total to $42 million.

A key element for punitive damages would be management's failure to investigate Isley despite multiple warnings of misconduct. Former SBI Director Robin Pendergraft has defended Isley as recently as July, saying she knew of no facts that showed Isley had done wrong.

Isley did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Brown's vulnerability would be front and center in any jury trial.

Brown spent 14 years locked away at Dix Hospital because doctors declared him incompetent to stand trial. Brown can't read or write or manage his daily life. Doctors at Dix testified that the handwritten confession logged by Isley was far too coherent and advanced to have been uttered by Brown.

The SBI was on alert about potential misconduct by Isley in the spring of 2004. Brown's attorneys requested Isley's personnel records, and in the presence of SBI attorney John Watters alleged that Isley had planted drugs on defendants and had a pattern of coercing confessions from others.

Isley testified in April 2005 that he had taken down Brown's confession verbatim.

SBI settles with Isley

In December 2004, Isley filed a discrimination complaint against the SBI.

According to those documents, Isley had applied to be the special agent in charge of the Capital District in Raleigh. Isley said he had more education and more experience as a manager and supervisor than Marshall Tucker, who got the job.

"I have never as much been reprimanded/written up during my 15 year SBI career," Isley wrote. "My last two (2) employee evaluations were documented at a level of OUTSTANDING."

Isley went on to detail cases where black agents applied for supervisory positions that Pendergraft gave to white men.

"There has not been a single SBI sworn law enforcement black male ever promoted by the current administration when a white person also applied for the same managerial position," Isley wrote. "This discriminatory practice has resulted in a white male being promoted each of the ten (10) times that a black male had applied for the same position."

The SBI settled with Isley in October 2005. As part of settlement, Isley was made a supervisor in the Medicaid fraud unit. The agency raised his salary to $72,081. Isley was the highest paid special agent in charge in his pay grade.

The SBI based Isley in Charlotte, near his home in Monroe. It gave him two offices, one in Charlotte and one in Raleigh. Officials agreed to pay his travel expenses and per diem when he worked several days a week in Raleigh. And the agency agreed to pay $1,575.53 to Isley's lawyer, Julius Chambers of Charlotte.

Pendergraft also issued a policy revising the promotion process and increasing minority recruitment and hiring.

Expanded lawsuit

Pendergraft and her hiring practices were at the center of Isley's complaints against the SBI in 2004. Now, she's under attack again, front and center in a lawsuit brought by Brown's attorneys.

Brown's attorneys filed a lawsuit in June against the SBI, specifically Mark Isley and retired agent Bill Lane, who was present during Brown's interrogation.

Now Pendergraft has been added to the suit, partly because of her continued defense of Isley and his handling of the Brown case.

Pendergraft was removed as SBI director in July following an interview with The N&O, in which she struggled to answer questions about the agency.

In Brown's amended lawsuit, lawyers allege that Pendergraft and other unnamed supervisors showed "malice, ill will and wanton disregard" for Brown by failing to appropriately supervise and train Isley and Lane. Pendergraft, the lawsuit claims, acted in concert with Isley and Lane to "conceal evidence that pointed to Floyd Brown's innocence."

Pendergraft did not respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the SBI said there has been no change in Isley's position or duties.

Pendergraft now heads the Medicaid fraud unit for the Department of Justice. As a result, Isley again works for her.
mandy.locke@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8927
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/17/742580/judges-and-voters.html


Published Sun, Oct 17, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Sun, Oct 17, 2010 12:21 AM
Judges and voters

Press Millen's Oct. 10 Point of View article ("Voters' verdict on judicial elections") denigrating an elected judiciary contains fatally flawed arguments. The first flawed argument addresses low participation rates in judicial races compared with other races on the ballot.

Millen implies, but never states, that this is a bad thing. This is a misapplied metric. Of course, an electorate fully knowledgeable about all the candidates is the ideal, but the uninformed voter who leaves the decision to those better informed is better than a coin-flip electorate. However, both knowledgeable and coin-flip electorates defeat Millen's flawed argument that elected judges can be bought with campaign loot.

Of course judges can be bought with campaign loot, but campaign finance laws can uncover and neutralize them, as his example of the West Virginia judge testifies. His own example argues against his viewpoint.

Appointed judges can still be bought through contributions to the appointing official's campaign, but the relationship between such contributions and a judge is much harder to detect. Electing judges is part of the public's involvement in government, which is our constitutional right.

Michael Sarles,

Raleigh
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http://justice4nifong.blogspot.com/2010/10/duke-could-learn-thing-or-two-from-york.html

Saturday, October 16, 2010
Duke could learn a thing or two from York Properties
On October 13, 2010, a security guard at the Cameron Village Shopping Mall in Raleigh asked two lesbians to leave the property after she observed them kissing and hugging. The female security officer requested that they vacate the property because they were publicly showing affection outside one of the mall's eateries. When asked if she (the security guard) would have asked a heterosexual couple to leave for showing affection in public, the guard answered, "no." One of the lesbians asked to speak to the guard's supervisor. When the supervisor was questioned by the lesbians about their treatment, he backed up the security guard who initially requested the two to leave the property.

Now, the entire local news media (WRAL, ABC-11, The News & Observer) covered this event in which the guards discriminated against the couple on basis of their sexual orientation. The ACLU became active advocates on behalf of the lesbian couple. And, to its credit, York Properties, which manages the Cameron Village Mall, was quick to implement principles of restorative justice. First, the management publicly acknowledged wrongdoing on behalf of its security guard and her supervisor. Secondly, York Properties issued a public apology to the two through the media, and more likely than not made a more personal apology. Third, they tried to restore the couple to enjoy the same peace and security they had prior to the incident, by giving them assurances that such discrimination would never take place again. And finally, it arranged to make sure such discrimination would never take place again by agreeing to meet with the two, to reassign the guard and make her take classes in sensitivity training (along with the other security officers). York Properties is to be commended for acting swiftly and appropriately when discrimination by their employee was brought to its attention.

Contrast this with my wild adventure on the Duke University campus when I merely attended an event which was open to the public. I was appropriately dressed (wearing my Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong tee shirt), was behaving appropriately, and minding my own business when a security guard singled me out as I was leaving the event with other attendees. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him that I had just sat in on the event which was open to the public that featured U.S. Justice Stephen Breyer. He told me that I was trespassing and had to leave the grounds immediately. (I was in the process of doing that when he intercepted me.) I asked him why I was being kicked off the campus. He told me that he did not know... that he was only following orders.

I asked him who ordered me off the campus, and he replied, "the business manager." I asked him to take me to see the business manager, and he said, "no." I told him that I was leaving to catch a bus home when he came up to me, and as I walked towards the building's exit, he followed. I told him that he did not need to follow me and he replied that he was going to see that I left the campus. Because he would not put me in contact with the person who ordered my ouster, by proxy he became the person to whom I vented my disappointment. On the way to the bus stop, without provocation he called for backup, and within seconds a patrol car pulled up and a menacing police officer stepped out, and joined the guard as they tailed me to the bus stop. While boarding the bus, the security guard told me that I was nearly arrested three times.

What makes my experience at Duke more egregious than that at Cameron Village are the following: 1) I did nothing to provoke action against me by the guard; 2) the Duke security guard was kicking me off the property, but did not know the reason that he was ordered to do so; 3) Unlike the Cameron Village incident in which the security guard arranged for the lesbians to have contact with her supervisor, the Duke guard refused to take me to see the "building manager"; 4) there is no mention in the media that the guards followed the two off the Cameron Village grounds; 5) unlike the Cameron Village guard, the Duke guard called in backup; and 6) I was threatened with arrest and was nearly arrested despite leaving the premises.

Because the lesbian couple showed affection in public, they were discriminated against. Because of my opinions and views, specifically that Mike Nifong was selectively and unjustly disbarred and persecuted because of his handling of the Duke Lacrosse case, I was the target of discrimination. Discrimination in both cases is wrong, whether it has to do with sexual orientation, or personal views and opinion. A law school, such as the one at Duke, should appreciate and protect my civil rights in this matter... definitely it should not be an instigator in depriving me of my basic civil rights.

When I requested an explanation about my mistreatment by the guards from Pamela Bernard, the university's general counsel, she wisely passed it on to spokesman Michael Schoenfeld, who unlike York Properties, proceeded to state that the university did nothing wrong, and that I was at fault because I repeatedly violated the school's policy against solicitation, which he specifically described as me handing out a half dozen Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong business cards and telling recipients to visit my website. As ridiculous as this excuse sounds, it is the best that the university could come up with for humiliating me, embarrassing me, intimidating me and nearly arresting me. And to shield the administrator responsible for kicking me off campus, Mr. Schoenfeld claimed that the Duke Police was responsible for ordering my removal from campus.

I have brought my discrimination story to the media, but, not surprisingly, they want no parts of it because my complaint is legitimate, it is against Duke University, and it brings out the not so hidden animus against Mike Nifong that is wide spread in the North Carolina culture. Hostility against Mr. Nifong and his supporters that was fueled by the media itself.

The two aforementioned cases exemplify the right and wrong way to deal with instances of discrimination. York Properties is a shining example of how misconduct involving discrimination by a company should be handled, and Duke University showing the exact opposite. Duke should study the actions of York Properties and how they utilized the concept of "restorative justice" in an attempt to make things right.
Posted by Nifong Supporter at 2:16 PM
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http://njlax.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/summer-of-crotty/

Summer of Crotty

Ned Crotty

By Mark Kitchin

After one of the best summers that any men’s lacrosse player has ever had, it looks like Ned Crotty is already looking to the future as well as embracing the present. Crotty seems to be combining his ability to play and his acquired business acumen in order to stay involved in the sport he loves far beyond a time when his playing days are over.

In late September, it was announced that Crotty was being hired as Sales and Marketing Manager of Trilogy Lacrosse, a Manhattan-based lacrosse business that holds camps and clinics across the country. There are New Jersey ties in this as well. The five-year old company was founded by former Princeton lacrosse players Ryan Boyle and Rob Lindsey.

Crotty has emerged as a star and is arguably the best lacrosse players ever to come out of the Garden State. No one can deny that the lacrosse summer of 2010 could be renamed the “Summer of Crotty”. Although he didn’t always dominate the games he played, Crotty seemed to be everywhere a lacrosse stick was raised.

The New Vernon resident and Delbarton School graduate’s busy season started in March when Duke was preparing for their 16-4, national championship season. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound athlete was truly sensational. He led the nation in assists with 63 and was fourth in total points. His efforts were rewarded with NCAA Lacrosse’s highest honor, the Tewaaraton Trophy.

Crotty was selected by the Chicago Machine of Major League Lacrosse. He would eventually score 11 goals and 13 assists in seven games for the squad which worked as a traveling team and didn’t play a game in Chicago. He would eventually be selected as the league’s Rookie of the Year.

On July 6, he signed a multi-year endorsement deal with Brine Lacrosse for an undisclosed salary. By mid-July, he was off to Manchester, England playing for the U.S. team in the FIL World Championships. He didn’t dazzle during the tournament until it mattered most. He tallied the game’s tying and go-ahead goals in the U.S. team’s 12-10 win over Canada in the title game on July 24.

In August, the 3-time collegiate All-American earned another extremely rare honor, that of All-Atlantic Coast Conference Male Athlete of the Year. Only two men’s lacrosse players have been recognized in the 56 years the award has been given. Next Crotty was chosen by the National Lacrosse League’s Colorado Mammoth in their lacrosse draft. He was the first pick in the second round, the 11th pick overall and the first American college player to be chosen. As of now, he has not signed a contract yet with the indoor league team which begins its season in January.

The summer of success probably wound up on September 13 when all the NCAA champion teams visited the White House on Champions Day. He had the honor of attending the special event which included a speech from President Obama and celebrating with his teammates one last time.

Always a team player, both at Delbarton and Duke, he finished his NCAA career with 92 goals and 147 assists. The soft spoken athlete seems to go about his business, often helping his teammates as much as himself. Wherever he goes from here, Crotty seems to be readying to make an impact in the sport of lacrosse whether that happens on the field or off.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 16th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
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http://www.examiner.com/american-politics-in-vancouver/john-edwards-estranged-wife-elizabeth-said-to-be-final-stage-of-cancer-fight


Elizabeth Edwards in slightly healthier times
Photo: Wikipedia
John Edwards’ estranged wife Elizabeth said to be in final stage of cancer fight

* October 17th, 2010 4:04 am PT
* By Marc Schenker, Vancouver American Politics Examiner

Democrat John Edwards’ estranged wife Elizabeth is said to be in the final stages of her cancer struggle. The attorney and cancer activist who used to be a stalwart presence beside John Edwards, the one-time, presidential hopeful who always claimed there were "two Americas," now admits that she is losing her fight with advanced breast cancer, according to both reports from insider sources as well as her own comments. Separated from John since earlier this year, Elizabeth was cheated on by her estranged, Democrat husband at the darkest hour in her life—when her breast cancer had returned and was determined to be incurable. Now bald, wearing a wig, and undergoing new medications to desperately stave off her cancer, Elizabeth’s final last years have been miserable to say the least, much of that, the fault of her estranged, Democrat husband and full-time trial attorney, John.

According to two reports in the National Enquirer from just a couple of days ago as well as one from late last month, Elizabeth recently spoke at a luncheon on October 7 at which she admitted, "I have stage 4 cancer and I’m dying." If true, this was the first, confirmed public statement by the former confidante of failed, presidential candidate John that both realized and acknowledged that her prognosis for surviving her breast cancer struggle was gloomy, indeed. In fact, she told the same luncheon audience that her outlook would be quite "dim unless there are great breakthroughs."

Now, before anyone gives me grief about the citation of the National Enquirer in this article, just remember that when it comes to the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious scandal that has been the John Edwards affair, they have nailed it throughout in terms of sheer accuracy. Not only were they first on the ball by exposing John’s extracurricular activities with that home-wrecking hussy, Rielle Hunter, but they have been 110% accurate throughout the whole scandal to the point where they should have won a Pulitzer Prize just for that coverage alone. In fact, earlier this year, when the Pulitzer Prize was criminally awarded to the staff of that 110% yellow journalism rag called the New York Times, a complete theft occurred! But I digress.

Furthermore, the Enquirer’s recent report on Elizabeth’s imminent approach to death from stage 4 breast cancer is actually corroborated by an outside source: the Nate Berkus Show. The Nate Berkus what’s that, now? Yeah, I never heard of that interior designer who’s been relentlessly featured on Oprah myself until I researched this report…and also because I’m not a stay-at-home mom who can watch his syndicated show every day from the comfort of my couch. Anyway, on the September 17 edition of the aforementioned, "electrifying" Nate Berkus Show, Elizabeth was a guest and appeared on the program wearing a wig, due to baldness from a last-ditch attempt to try a new medication against her worsening cancer. She also appeared noticeably more gaunt than what audiences had remembered her looking previously.

As for that bastion of Democrat, male shame, John Edwards, it looks like his life could get a whole lot worse than it already is, and it absolutely should as a way of him facing the consequences of not only cheating on his wife when she needed his support the most, but also, as it is increasingly looking, his potentially criminal activity to cover-up his supercalifragilisticexpialidocious scandal. According to a very recent report by Diane Dimond, the former loser along with John Kerry of the 2004 presidential election now could really go down hard as a result of the ongoing criminal investigation against him. It seems that 20 new subpoenas have been issued for new witnesses against the former senator (but full-time ambulance chaser).

Elizabeth is scheduled to file for divorce officially from John at the beginning of next year, as the one-year, mandated separation period ends. But the real question is, Will she even live to make it that far?
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http://weaselzippers.us/2010/10/16/mccain-unloads-on-boxer-ive-had-the-unpleasant-experience-of-serving-with-the-most-bitterly-partisan-anti-defense-senator-in-the-u-s-senate/

McCain Unloads on Boxer: “I’ve Had The Unpleasant Experience of Serving With The Most Bitterly Partisan, Anti-Defense Senator in the U.S. Senate”…

(The Hill)- Campaigning for former adviser Carly Fiorina Saturday in San Diego, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ripped into fellow Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), calling her the “most bitterly partisan, most anti-defense Senator in the United States Senate today.”

McCain told the crowd at a rally for Fiorina that he has had “the unpleasant experience” of serving with Boxer in the Senate, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“When you hear her say that she supports the men and women in the military, my friends, she does not,” McCain said, according to the Times. “Because she has never supported the mission, she has never supported victory whether it be in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the world. Barbara Boxer wants to wave the white flag of surrender and endanger this nation’s national security. It’s time she went back to San Francisco with Nancy Pelosi.”

Boxer faces a tough challenge from Fiorina, who served as co-chair of McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. The latest Field poll in the race shows Fiorina within a point of the incumbent.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/124547-sen-mccain-hits-boxer-most-bitterly-partisan-anti-defense-member-of-the-senate
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Why is this not even remotely a surprise?
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"This investigation should have begun long ago," said David Rudolf, a Charlotte lawyer who filed a civil suit this summer on behalf of Brown. "It's unfortunate that it took a lawsuit and newspaper reporting to motivate the SBI to look into the actions of Mr. Isley over all these years."

(snip)

If a jury were to award Brown $1 million for each year he was locked up, triple damages could bring the total to $42 million.
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http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/16/2321133/nfl-will-meet-with-favre-on-tuesday.html

Posted on Sat, Oct. 16, 2010
NFL will meet with Favre on Tuesday about allegations

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre will be interviewed by a member of the NFL’s security team on Tuesday, Commissioner Roger Goodell told NBC on Saturday.

Milt Ahlerich, NFL vice president of security, will meet with Favre regarding allegations that Favre sent inappropriate messages to former Jets sideline reporter Jenn Sterger when he played for the team in 2008.

The meeting will take place in the Twin Cities, but Goodell is not expected to attend, NBC reported.

Favre could be subject to either a fine or suspension under the league’s personal conduct policy.

“We want to make sure that we understand exactly what happened,” Goodell said. “We also want to make sure that everybody in the NFL, whether you’re a player, coach, commissioner, recognize the responsibility that we all have to the public, to the people who follow our game.”

Several reports indicated that the league has yet to talk with Sterger.

The website Deadspin broke the original story about Favre and Sterger and has since reported that Favre also pursued two female massage therapists who worked part-time for the franchise. The Jets said they would give contact information on the therapists to the league
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sceptical

Here is a segment of a video piece on the Duke lacrosse saga which features interviews with John Danowski and Sam Payton:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aijI4w1vMoY
Edited by sceptical, Oct 17 2010, 11:04 PM.
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