Update V (1/8): Commenting closed. To continue discussion, see “Reade Seligmann: ‘Mom, she picked me.’”

Update IV (1/1/07): Merry New Year! Check out this must-read article by “Duke writer” William Anderson, “What the Duke Non-Rape (and Non-Kidnapping/Sexual Assault) Case Taught Me in 2006.” Thanks for the acknowledgement!

Update III (10:30 p.m.): It’s getting hotter in here. Mike Nifong’s colleagues keep up the pressure. The North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys has asked him to step down from the Duke case.
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For Mike Nifong, Durham County district attorney, his words are coming back to haunt him in real life. His colleagues at the NC State Bar have filed ethics complaints against him, based on statements he made about the “rape” case generally and accused players specifically. Read the 17-page complaint (PDF) or the HTML version at The Smoking Gun.

Watch this space because I’ll update it later today with my assessment of the complaint and predictions about Nifong’s next move. Until then, discuss the new developments here.

I love blogging.

Update (1:08 p.m.): I decided to open this post for discussion. Durham native Mary Katharine Ham has posted a funny video of her walking “Tour of Things That Did Not Happen in Durham” for her Ham Nation video blog. Clever!

Do I hear “Carolina Girl” in the background?

A special shout-out to frequent commenter Seahawk, who wrote:

If three innocent guys don’t end up in prison for 30 years, then a part of the credit will be due to bloggers like LaShawn, who didn’t give up, weren’t satisfied with the MSM’s portrayal of events, and were willing to swim against the tide of popular culture and preconceptions.

And that’s no small accomplishment for 2006, or for a blog, or for a person.

I don’t think the part I’ve played in the drama is that significant, but thanks all the same, Seahawk.

More Nifong ethics complaint-blogging: The Johnsville News, LieStoppers, John in Carolina, Crystal Mess, Durham-in-Wonderland, Captain’s Quarters, Ankle Biting Pundits…

Update II (3:40 p.m.): I’ll post my groundbreaking thoughts about the NC State Bar’s complaint next week. In fact, I’ll probably write about it for my next column.

Ring in the New Year safely, everybody.

Update (10:51): Jennifer Gratz, of Gratz v. Bollinger fame, stopped by LBC to give us this update:

“An update on the legal front … this evening (about 3 hours ago) the 6th Circuit lifted the preliminary injunction — which means Proposal 2 will be implemented immediately. The decision also debunks many of the claims made by BAMN, the ACLU, the NAACP, the Universities, etc. The decision can be read here.” (PDF)

Thirteen pages worth. Can’t wait to dig in… (Thanks, Jennifer!)
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What a cause!

Certain Negroes and their white liberal cohorts in Michigan are trying to overturn Proposal 2, which prohibits the state from treating its citizens differently based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin. Fifty-eight percent of voters said “YES” to the measure on November 7, 2006.

The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) has filed suit to stop the implementation of Proposal 2.

Back when the measure was known as the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), BAMN and other groups challenged the legality of the petition to get MCRI on the ballot. A Michigan circuit court ruled that the petition language was misleading and should not have been approved, but a Court of Appeals panel disagreed, unanimously affirming the legality of the petition language.

The case went to the Michigan Supreme Court, which declined to hear it. As a result, MCRI appeared on the ballot as Proposal 2, and the people of Michigan decided that government-backed discrimination had seen its final days.

(Isn’t it ironic that blacks, who once struggled for equal treatment before the law, now use their race to rally for special treatment before the law? And I use the word special in the sense of “mentally retarded,” not “good” or “unique.”)

Continue reading Update on Fight to Maintain Lowered Standards for Blacks in Michigan

When Deborah Uhler asked me to contribute to her (mostly) conservative bloggers cookbook, Blogalicious, I had to think long and hard about what recipe to send. Being a single gal, I cook well enough and often enough to get by. My culinary fare is quite limited. But…

Over the years I’ve become quite adept at making a dish my mother used to make when I was a kid. If you want to know what it is, you’ll have to order the book.

Thursday, December 28: Frequent commenter Andy writes: “Our view is that nannies are fine, as long as they aren’t used as a substitute for two working parents.”

That’s what I’m talking about.
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I read a sad/unintentionally funny story in the New York Times (free reg. req.) this morning about blacks looking for nannies. An excerpt:

“As more blacks move up the economic ladder, one fixture — some would say necessity — of the upper-middle-class income bracket often eludes them. Like hailing a cab in Midtown Manhattan, searching for a nanny can be an exasperating, humiliating exercise for many blacks, the kind of ordeal that makes them wonder aloud what year it is.”

Continue reading Nanny-Hunting While Black

Friday, December 29 : Closed to commenting, but resume discussion of this case at Haunt Me In My Dreams…

Thursday, December 28 @ 6:13 p.m.: The North Carolina State Bar has filed ethic charges against Mike Nifong.

Thursday, December 28: KC Johnson, “Duke blogger” and history professor, penned an article for Inside Higher Ed chastising 88 members of Duke’s faculty for their hypocrisy to date.

KC included a statement I also included in a column I wrote last week, which is unpublished because it needs to be updated (emphasis added):

Over the last nine months, Mike Nifong has coupled demagogic appeals to prejudices based on class and race with a habit of making public charges unsubstantiated by material in his own files. Meanwhile, he overrode standard procedures (ordering police to show the accuser a lineup confined to suspects; refusing to meet with defense attorneys to consider exculpatory evidence; concealing DNA test results) and mocked due process. In one of his most outrageous lines, he mused, “One would wonder why one needs an attorney if one was not charged and had not done anything wrong.”

A prosecutor about to charge men with forcible rape wonders why such men need an attorney even if they didn’t nothing wrong? For a reminder of Nifong’s other boneheaded statements, see Scottsboro, NYT, and Hauntings, and keep scrolling.

In other news, 400 complaints have been filed against Nifong…

Continue reading 2007 Prediction: Mike Nifong Will Drop All Charges

I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.

Reasonable people would be hard-pressed to find the “hate” in that quotation, but certain liberal types and conservatives have got their knickers in a twist.

Last week, U.S. Congressman Virgil Goode wrote those words in a letter to constituents in reference to newly-elected Muslim Keith Ellison in Minnesota. What makes Goode remarkable in my book is not that he had the ba*** to say what needed to be said, but that he refuses to apologize for saying it. (Yes!)

In a world where men are afraid to say what they mean, mean what they say, and stand behind their words like men, it’s a refreshing change to see a politician with integrity. It’s a rare sighting.

Continue reading In Defense of Virgil Goode

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’”
(Luke 2: 1-12)

Merry Christmas, dear readers.

Update (12/24 @ 6:00 p.m.): New Line Cinema has made available a six-minute clip of “The Nativity Story.” The link will be live for 24 hours, so check it out.

I’m in SC with family and lots of food. See you Tuesday!

Wednesday, December 27: This post is closed to commenting. To discuss recent case developments, see 2007 Prediction: Mike Nifong Will Drop All Charges.

Update II (12/23): From a reader:

Dear LaShawn,

There are so many things I don’t agree with in your blog, however, you and I have seen eye to eye on the Duke scandal.

As a black woman, I was so annoyed and frankly embarrassed at people jumping to conclusions and lining up to defend this woman and drag these men through the mud. This was a disservice to black causes and to women’s causes. This was a disservice to humanity. To automatically judge a case based on people’s melanin content and whether they have a uterus or a penis is truly a disgrace, and the perpetrators of this are now laying low, hoping the whole thing goes away. I guess crow is a meal better eaten silently.

Thank you for staying on this case the way you did. I am glad those fake civil-righters and lame pseudo-feminists have been proven wrong. Since most of them lack a moral compass, I doubt that they will learn from their lessons but, hey, I can dream.

Jaded in California

Update (12/22 @ 3:33 p.m.): The Smoking Gun has posted the dismissal order. It seems the stripper-accuser may claim she was penetrated by something other than a penis. Under NC law, that’s not rape. Although I don’t believe she was penetrated by anyone or anything at 610 N Buchanan on March 13, 2006, the rape charges can’t be sustained based on the latest version of her gang-rape fantasy.

Commenter Richard Nieporent wrote:

It is perfectly obvious what Nifong is doing by not dismissing all of the charges. He is holding the three Duke Lacrosse players hostage in an attempt to prevent their lawyers from filing criminal and civil charges against him. Nifong knows that it’s much easier to convict the Duke Lacrosse players of sexual assault because DNA evidence is not needed. He is hoping that by holding these remaining charges over their heads they will be amenable to a quid pro quo of Nifong dropping all charges if they do not pursue a criminal or civil case against him.

Continue reading DUKE RAPE CHARGES DROPPED!

Tuesday, May 29: For the latest on Laura Mallory’s misguided crusade, see Laura Mallory, Foiled Again!

Update II (12/21 @ 2:47 p.m.): Would it be too much to ask readers to follow links and read the articles before commenting on this post? Probably.

Update: According to Scholastic, J. K. Rowling’s American publisher, Book 7 will be titled, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. More here.

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Laura Mallory, Christian mother, has been on a year-long crusade to have the Harry Potter books removed from government school library shelves in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

A few months ago, the Gwinnett County School Board refused to remove the books. Last week, the Georgia Board of Education upheld Gwinnett County’s decision. Mallory says she may appeal.

By the way, she’s never read the books. Not one.

Mallory’s quest is misguided, and her efforts will be fruitless. I don’t know any Christians who want to ban books, and I hope I never meet any. In the scheme of things, what Mallory is doing doesn’t matter that much. There are more important things going on in the world for Christians to worry about, and the Harry Potter books are so far down the list, they barely register.

So what is it about the books that offend Mallory’s sensibilities as a Christian?

Continue reading Laura Mallory and the Misguided Crusade