Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J.B.C. who wrote (16336)	12/6/2005 6:22:29 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Respond to of 35834

No bruises and cuts to show? No police report? No hospital ER visit? Yeah, I'd doubt that one.

To: J.B.C. who wrote (16336)	12/6/2005 7:07:14 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35834

Laz has a point. Paul Mirecki's story seems a bit fishy. If he was attacked as he alleges, it would seem he'd need fairly serious medical attention & there would be abundant physical evidence to support his allegations. "beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists, and possibly a metal object" Possibly beaten with a metal object? Who beats someone on the shoulders & back with their fists? That's a sure recipe for injuring your hands while doing little harm to your victim. That tells me either the beating was quite severe (with a metal object), or something is awfully wrong with his story. If this happened as alleged, those people should be severely punished. If Mirecki made it up, he should be prosecuted.

To: J.B.C. who wrote (16336)	12/8/2005 5:28:24 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Religious intolerance in Kansas by Mike S. Adams Townhall.com Dec 8, 2005 Dear Professor Mirecki (PMirecki@ku.edu): My name is Mike Adams. I am a columnist for www.TownHall.com. Just a few minutes ago, I called your office seeking an interview about your alleged roadside beating at the hands of two apparent Christian fundamentalists. First, let me say that as a fundamentalist Christian I am opposed to any such violence. I am writing, in part, to help you find the men responsible for this beating. Q: Will you consent to a brief interview? A: No comment. Q: Professor, I understand that some people are accusing you of falsifying a report to the police. They say that you were never, in fact, accosted and beaten by a couple of Christians. I want you to know that I will listen to your side of the story. Will you please consent to a brief interview? A: No comment. Q: The local Lawrence, Kansas newspaper quotes you as saying, "The right wing wants blood, period. They're not going to stop until they see blood. They're not into anything else." Is this quotation accurate? If so, do you really believe that all members of the “right wing” are violent? As a criminologist, I am interested in your assertions. I also wonder whether there have been any instances of left-wing speakers being assaulted on your campus by right-wing members of the audience. Please report any examples including, but not limited to, pie throwing. A: No comment. Q: Professor, the aforementioned local paper also quotes you as saying, "Whatever I do, whatever I say, they don't believe anything because that's the way they are... I know what happened. I got the hell beat out of me. They can say what they want.” Are you asserting that all members of the “right wing” want to a) attack you physically and b) attack your character? Is this why you refuse to answer any questions? Do you think that there is a conspiracy to misrepresent your words? A: No comment. Q: Can I ask you some simpler questions, professor? For example, how long have you been chairman of Kansas University’s Religious Studies Department? A: No comment. Q: Recently, you wrote an e-mail discussing a course you developed in response to “religious fundamentalists” and their efforts to promote intelligent design theory in Kansas’ public schools. In the email, you stated the following: "The fundies (fundamentalists) want it all taught in a science class, but this will be a nice slap in their big fat face by teaching it as a religious studies class under the category 'mythology.'" Did the two men who allegedly beat you by the side of the road have “big, fat faces”? Did they assault you with any weapons including, but not limited to, food products? A: No comment. Q: The comments you made in the aforementioned email were made on a public list-serve, weren’t they? You have stated publicly that a "mole" recently monitored the atheist and agnostic student organization's list-serve in order to forward your message to a fundamentalist organization. You stated that "It's their version of ethics - one citizen spying on another and reporting to authorities.” Do you believe someone can be spied on in public? Do you consider this “fundamentalist organization” to be one of the “authorities” monitoring you? A: No comment. Q: I am told that your beating at the hands of two unidentified men began after they had been tailgating you in a large pickup truck. During the attack, what did they say to you that made you believe the attack was by Christian fundamentalists retaliating against you for your recent email comments about “fundies”? A: No comment. Q: After the pickup truck began tailgating you, why did you decide to stop your vehicle? A: No comment. Q: When these two men pulled up behind you by the side of the road, why didn’t you just drive off? A: No comment. Q: And when the two men got out of the truck, why did you unlock your car and get out? A: No comment. Q: You told a reporter earlier this week that you were also struck with a metal object? What did the object look like? How did you know it was metal as opposed to wood, for example? Did you see it? A: No comment. Q: After the police arrived at the hospital around 6:40 A.M., you claimed that one of the white males that allegedly attacked you was wearing a red visor and wool gloves. Is that correct? A: No comment. Q: Was it cold in Kansas the morning you were allegedly attacked by the side of the road? A: No comment. Q: How could you discern the color of the attacker’s visor given that the sun did not rise in Lawrence, Kansas until 7:27 on the morning of the alleged attacks? A: No comment. Q: Why was the attacker wearing a visor, which protects one from the sun – and, certainly, not the cold – given that it was not sunny but cold at the time of the alleged attack? A: No comment. Q: What do you say to those who suspect you have fabricated these charges in order to promote bigotry against Christians? A: No comment. Thank you for your time, professor. Update: Just hours after his exhaustive interview with Dr. Adams, Professor Mirecki resigned as Chair of Kansas University’s Religious Studies Department. Nonetheless, Dr. Adams insists that the case is far from over. To be continued… Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and is a regular columnist for Townhall.com. townhall.com

To: J.B.C. who wrote (16336)	12/8/2005 5:36:32 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35834

In order to accept this story, you would have to believe that these two rednecks were acquainted with the world famous Paul Mirecki, and recognized him in the dark (the sunrise in Kansas that morning was 7:25), from behind, on a rural highway. (Either that, or they were staking out this unknown stretch of road, somehow knowing that Mirecki would aimlessly drive by, thinking of things.) And that Mirecki drove himself to the hospital afterwards, without remembering where the crime took place. As they say, read it all. sean.gleeson.us

To: J.B.C. who wrote (16336)	12/14/2005 3:01:56 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

The strange tales of Paul Mirecki by Michelle Malkin townhall.com Dec 14, 2005 Paul Mirecki -- the Kansas University religious studies professor who derided Christian fundamentalists as "fundies" -- is a strange man with strange tales of alleged persecution. Contrary to his knee-jerk defenders on the Left, it is not bigoted, hateful, or intolerant for me to scrutinize his story. It's rational. The professor first created controversy in November after penning an unhinged e-mail message expressing his desire to deliver a "slap" to the "big fat face" of the "fundies" by teaching an intelligent design course "as a religious studies class under the category 'mythology.'" The message was sent to the mailing list of the university's Society of Open-Minded (snort!) Atheists and Agnostics. Mirecki signed his taunting diatribe "Evil Dr. P." These are the words of an individual more than a few cards short of a full deck. After his remarks were publicized, KU cancelled the proposed course. Mirecki was forced to apologize. And then, out of the blue, It Happened. Last week, Mirecki claimed he was beaten by two mysterious white men on a rural highway. He says the unidentified assailants, in a pickup that tailgated him in rural Douglas County, Kansas, targeted him for his views while he was "taking a long, pre-dawn drive in the country to clear his mind," according to the student newspaper. Mirecki says he pulled over to the side of the road to let the men pass. He then said he got out of his vehicle. The alleged attackers got out of their truck and beat "the hell" out of him, reportedly using a "metal object," Mirecki said last week before abruptly clamming up about the attack and sequestering himself in his house. News of the beating aligned perfectly with the mainstream media's template of Christian fundamentalists as right-wing vigilantes. Mirecki's liberal supporters on the Internet swallowed the story whole. The Wichita Eagle told those with questions about Mirecki's account to "give it a rest." A Kansas City Star columnist called allegations of a manufactured hate crime a "cheap shot." Why? Mirecki can't remember where the incident took place, according to local law enforcement, and has offered only the vaguest of suspect descriptions. There are conflicting accounts about Mirecki's physical appearance the day of the attack. While a faculty colleague claimed that "big swollen spots" had "transformed" Mirecki's face, Jesse Plous and Tiffany Jeffers, two of Mirecki's students, told the campus newspaper they didn't notice bruises or scratches when they met for his class six hours after the alleged attack. Lindsay Mayer, another student in the class, "said injuries weren't extremely noticeable." Mirecki did not mention the alleged beating in class. Now, a week after the alleged attack with the alleged assailants still at large, Mirecki is poised to take both his university and the local sheriff's office to court for their insufficient support and investigation. The fundies! Academia! The cops! They're all in on it! After university officials announced that Mirecki had voluntarily resigned as chair of the religion department, the professor came out of his shell to blast the school for forcing him to step down. The university stands by its account. Mirecki has complained that law enforcement officials have seized his car and computer, and doesn't like the direction of the probe. "If I have to sue, I will," he told the Lawrence Journal-World. None of this smells right. The truth is there are too many cases of hate crime hoaxers on campuses -- a phenomenon most left-leaning journalists are loathe to cover -- to dismiss the possibility in this case. Last year, Claremont McKenna College professor Kerri Dunn was sentenced to prison after she staged an anti-Semitic hate crime against herself. Earlier this year, a lesbian student at Mt. Tamalpais High School in Marin County, Calif., faked several anti-gay incidents to garner attention and sympathy. Leah Miller, a black student at San Francisco State University, admitted to scratching "NIGG" on a dorm room door and writing herself a note with the same epithet. Jaime Alexander Saide, a Northwestern University student, admitted making up anti-Hispanic threats against himself after the school rallied around him with "Stop the Hate" marches. Strange, isn't it, how leftists on campus who sneer at blind faith are so often fooled by it themselves. Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at michellemalkin.com. Copright © 2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc. townhall.com