First Presidential Debate: Confusing CNN Graphic Showed Audience Reaction?

CNN's "Thingamajig":
"Live Audience Reaction" Graphic
Flat-lined at the Presidential Debates
StinkyJournalism

Can't CNN Leave Gismos Alone? Every time I looked at the "Audience Reaction" meter during the debate, it was flat-lined. Were these candidates dead men walking? The sciencey look of the graphic, you must admit, has an appealing truthiness.

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The similarity of CNN's "Live Audience Reaction" meter to the vital sign monitors in a hospital is unmistakable. Everyone knows from TV --"Doctor, come quickly. Code blue!"-- that flat lines in wave form graphics spell death for a hospital patients. But what the heck do the same flat lines mean for viewers watching the presidential debates?

The "Audience Reaction" meter – three colored lines at the bottom of the CNN News screen during the debates – combined with the enforced audience silence to provide a surprising effect: I felt slightly anxious and kept looking for signs of life.

Was I watching dying patients in the hospital with the mostly flat-lined and smoothly flowing and colorful wave forms? And what exactly was being measured anyway? My busy CNN television screen did not say.

Even media bloggers had no clue

MyChances.net asked, "Anyone have any idea how the little scrolling ‘Audience Reaction' is measured? CNN has one trend-line for independents, republicans, and democrats, and I'm not sure where they're getting those numbers."

Speculation abounded on the Web. SteveK on Media Bistro agreed that the meter "is fairly difficult to decipher."

At Yahoo! Answers, Austin M said, "CNN has chosen 3 audience members to give their reactions to CNN by giving them through a pulse machine. This is possible by seeing their pulse and looking at how it rises and lowers based on the questions asked. Also, those same people have a handheld device where they press 1 of three buttons meaning plus a little, minus a little, or back to neutral. (Used after each question.) Hope this helps."

Not really, Austin, but thanks.

Dennis left a comment on MyChance.net " with this CNN link which gives a partial answer: ' Voters watch the debate from Columbus, Ohio, and give their reaction to the responses in real-time.' But how this is done is not clear; nor is it stated how they gauge who is republican, democratic, or independent (presumably self-identification)."

Even the Wall Street Journal 's "Numbers Guy" couldn't enumerate--literally. He wrote, "Beneath the candidates, reaction from 32 undecided focus-group members in Ohio was presented graphically rather than numerically...reaction, positive or negative, was displayed as a rising or falling line."



The answer was from Ernanio was the best: "They have a bunch of potential voters from OHIO seated in a room with a dial thingamajig on their hands that when rotated can go from 0 - 100 to show how much they are liking the candidates intervention."

[Photo RIGHT: Some bloggers mistakenly thought the audience reaction meter measured pulse rates of the focus group. Here StinkyJournalism illustrates what a focus group member would look like, had it been true.]

What the heck was the thingamajig? Will CNN keep using it on the next two presidential debates?

So what does CNN News say?

I wrote to Edie Emery, in media relations at CNN, seeking answers. She kindly e-mailed me CNN's press release. It explained (emphasis mine):

Continue reading: CNN's "Thingamajig": "Live Audience Reaction" Graphic Flat-lined at the Presidential Debates


by Rhonda R. Shearer
images: Stinky Journalism
Source: CNN's "Thingamajig": "Live Audience Reaction" Graphic Flat-lined at the Presidential Debates

Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Conversation Between Fake Lori Drew & Internet Commenters, Part I

Lori Drew or Internet Troll?
Are we seeing a conversation between Lori Drew, Internet hoaxer, and hundreds of Internet surfers?

Or is this another hoax?

In either case, the reading is riveting. On one side is the author of the 'Megan Had Coming' Blog, which appeared on the weekend the Megan Meier story broke across the country.

Originally, the author identified herself as "Kristen", supposedly an acquaintance of Megan Meier, before the 13-year-old committed suicide in 2006. The author then posted, what she claimed, was a "true picture of Megan".

---BREAKING: 12-4-07 2:00 pm EST Drew's Lawyer: Drew Knew, Didn't Stop It VIDEO REPORT

NOW the same blog, after largely being inactive, has another post. This one is titled "I'm Lori Drew". It purports to be from the hoax-instigating mother, Lori Drew.

Is it?

Is "Kristen" really Lori Drew?

In our earlier story, "Lori Drew, Author of 'Megan Had it Coming' blog? , we reported on the "I'm Lori Drew" post.

There are now over 800 comments to that post at Megan Had it Coming, as well as a running verbal battle between the post's author and Internet commenters.

Once again, is this Lori Drew?

We can't know if it really is or if it's the elaborate work of a "troll", claiming to be Ms. Drew.

The timing of the posts argue against a troll. If it had been someone seeking attention, rather than justification for their actions, the stories would have been posted before this--at the height of press attention and the reactionary outrage.

We present the first in a running commentary between the author claiming to be Lori Drew and her readers.

Anonymous said...

Wrong is wrong, whether or not it's technically legal. You victimized a person a quarter of your age and you feel not one iota of remorse. just relief that you won't be charged and resentment that the rest of the world won't just let it go.

December 3, 2007 10:22 AM

You have it coming said...

You are one sick, twisted woman. Don't cry victim when you have a blog called "magen had it coming". Give me a break. You brought all of this on yourself by misleading someone who by your own admission had "issues" but you continued to do it anyway. You, your daughter, your tdmp worker all deserve whatever hard times come upon. My only regret is that your husband, if he knew nothing about it, will be guilty by association. In fact maybe he may think about divorcing you, since you yourself seem to have the same dark side that Megan had.

December 3, 2007 10:31 AM

Kelly said...

If you had been 15 when you did all this, I would have understood. I would have had the reaction I think you intended when you wrote this.

But you were not 15. You were giving a 13-year-old girl a "taste of her own medicine." Which means you, a grown woman who is supposed to help her own 13-year-old grow up, thought it was perfectly acceptable to act like a 13-year-old herself.

I think you believe that people care what Megan did, how innocent she was or was not. I don't. I think most people think there is nothing a 13-year-old girl could do that warrants a grown adult initiating a set of events intended to harass and bully her.

Your explanation is the equivalent of "a ten-year-old bully beat up my eleven-year-old on the playground, so my 35-year-old husband beat the crap out of that ten-year-old." Because you knew that Megan suffered from depression. You knew that emotionally, she was weaker than you and weaker than your daughter. Yet you chose to take advantage of that weakness, and justify that by saying "she started it."

I think you need help. Your explanation is far worse than I had anticipated. I had reserved judgment believing that perhaps you had nothing to do with the bullying. Perhaps you already felt guilt and remorse. What you wrote here is far, far worse than I could have imagined.

and by the way, people do not have to be unbalanced to destroy a foosball table that belongs to a GROWN ADULT who bullied their daughter. Unbalanced, they would have done far worse. I think they showed amazing restraint.

December 3, 2007 10:31 AM

Anonymous said...

Those responding should be aware that this woman is baiting you to respond in a mean way because she plans to use the new law to pursue YOU. Ooooops, outted again Mrs. Drew.

December 3, 2007 10:35 AM

Megan Had It Coming said...

YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME! It's not like we set out to "beat up a 10 year old." Just to give her a taste of what she was doing to others. BUT IT GOT OUT OF CONTROL WHAT PART OF THAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND????

The only thing worse than the media is the mob mentality shown on these 1,000+ comments. People don't listen, they don't think, they don't analyze, they don't understand.

GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD I DIDN'T KILL MEGAN I DID WHAT ANY REASONABLE PARENT IN MY POSITION WOULD HAVE DONE WHY WON'T YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THIS????

December 3, 2007 10:35 AM

Dee said...

I'M SORRY. Lori, say it. I'M SORRY.

December 3, 2007 10:40 AM

Anonymous said...

You are one sick bitch. Goddamn you.

December 3, 2007 10:43 AM

Anonymous said...

Ok, this is the real problem. kids at that age are cruel, we all went through it, we've all seen it, we've all experienced it. You are an adult with a developed mind and the ability to understand where your actions may lead. Most 13 year olds can't think past next week let alone understand the real pain they inflict, but you can. Also to pretend to be someone else and say she "had it coming"....my god what even justifies that? Does any child deserve to be ridiculed or slandered against? No, but it happens and thats life in the awkward teenage years. Its about communication with your kids about even though what other kids say and how hurtful things are, none of it really matters. Although most teenagers think this is a line of shit, which seems like it can be at times. But on the flip side no adult or parent should ever attack any child mentally, which is what you did. You may not have typed the key strokes, but you were the mastermind behind them. Aside from the fact she was clinically depressed, something you knew. You're extremely lucky no charges will be brought, but whats worse, prison or the stigma of having the blood of a child on your hands? Guess only you will know that for the rest of your life. All the verbal attacks and actions by the community you brought on upon yourself, you made your bed and now you must lie in it. Nothing you can say will EVER sway the fact that you started a my-space page to enter into communications with a child with the sole purpose to trick her. Its to bad someone had to die, what if it was your little girl hanging in her closest...what would you do then?

December 3, 2007 10:44 AM

Anonymous said...

If you feel badly about what happened, about the fact that a young girl took her life, that two parents lost a daughter, why would you name your blog "Megan had it coming" that sounds to me like you wanted it to happen and that you don't feel regretful that it went the way it did. If you knew the girl was unstable why would you destroy her self esteem further? You seem happy and smug about the whole situation... not like someone who made a mistake and took it too far. You should be ashamed of yourself and your children should be taken away from you so they can have someone that will teach them to live a good life instead of one of revenge and spite.

December 3, 2007 10:44 AM

Bob said...

So let's get this straight. You're a mature, reasonably intelligent, presumably educated adult. You knew Megan was a mentally unstable adolescent who often displayed extreme unreasonable reactions. And you deliberately concocted a scenario that would result in this girl's public humiliation. You may not be technically guilty of murder, and Internet harassment may not be illegal in Missouri. But you certainly are guilty of intentional depraved indifference. You may not have wanted Megan to kill herself, but you clearly wanted to cause her harm. Your actions were clearly a cause that had the effect of Megan's suicide, however much you may wish to deny it. I hope no violence comes against you. However, I believe your fate will be to lose your business and your husband's, and you will be a pariah for years. And I think you deserve that fate.

December 3, 2007 10:45 AM

You have it coming said...

To state you had no direct role in Megan's suicide proves you are a sociopath. You actions of creating the Myspace account, allowing other the ability to post message from it, directly lead to Megan taking her own life.

You also seriously need parenting classes. No reasonable parent would try to dupe a 13 year old girl with the help of her daughter and a temp worker by pretending to be a 13 year old boy. Then bring others into the scam once it was exposed so they could also try to enact mob bullying. You are reaping what you have sewn.

Considering that after the suicide you tried to bury it all, deleting the Myspace account, telling people to keep quite, etc... would indicate a criminal conspiracy had certain circumstances been different.

December 3, 2007 10:46 AM

Dee said...

Also, if this was all done because you had such a problem with internet bullying and rumors, then why DO internet bullying and rumors? If you thought her behavior was so wrong, then why would you do it and encourage others to also? Either lying and bullying are wrong or they are not. Everyone seems to know the answer to these questions but you.

December 3, 2007 10:47 AM

Anonymous said...

"I DID WHAT ANY REASONABLE PARENT IN MY POSITION WOULD HAVE DONE"

No, you did not. Any reasonable parent would have told their child that relationships change and that if they were really hurt by those changes that they could come to their parent and talk about it. No reasonable parent would do the heinous things you have done, then attempt to demonize the victim and thier family, then brag about getting off scot-free.

December 3, 2007 10:49 AM

Anonymous said...

How old are you? Great work, justifying how you, as an adult, bullied a teenage girl- and not even feeling sorry at all for her death. Your daughter must be so proud of you.

December 3, 2007 10:49 AM

Anonymous said...

This latest post raises an interesting question if you are truly Lori Drew.

If your relationship with the Meier family had turned so acrimonious, why did you ask their favor in storing the Foosball table for Christmas?

That doesn't seem to add up in your "version" of the story.

December 3, 2007 10:51 AM

Anonymous said...

Someone tell me the Meiers are going to file a civil suite against these people...

December 3, 2007 10:52 AM

Anonymous said...

The title of this blog says it all: "Megan had it coming."
Wow. You are possibly the most callous person I have ever heard about. I am amazed that you can justify your actions as a parent and adult. This is behavior that can be expected of a teenager, but for a parent, it's just sad. You set a fine example for your daughter!

December 3, 2007 10:53 AM

Anonymous said...

No "reasonable" parents would set out to give a 13 year old girl a taste of her own medicine. Nor would a "reasonable" parent set up a blog entitled "meganhaditcoming". It's disturbing that you would ever have the lack of judgment to go through with this harassment in the first place. Perhaps it's even more disturbing that you have set about trying to justify your actions. You place the blame on Megan's mental state, but that just makes it even more horrifying that you would treat a mentally unstable child in such a cruel way. I have my doubts over the legitimacy of this blog, but if any of this is actually written by Lori Drew, I am deeply disturbed by your lack of remorse and hope that somehow justice is served.

December 3, 2007 10:56 AM

Anonymous said...

GOOD GOD WOMAN. How many fake online identites, myspaces, blogs do you have?????

December 3, 2007 10:57 AM

Megan Had It Coming said...

YOU PEOPLE STILL ARENT LISTENING!!!!!

Any reasonable parent would have told their child that relationships change and that if they were really hurt by those changes that they could come to their parent and talk about it.

It wasn't just a friendship going sour. Megan was systematically harassing and manipulating my daughter! Separating them was not enough. What would you have done? You can't go to the police, the other parents won't listen, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE??

I did the only thing I could do. Unfortunately, Megan chose to make this a tragedy for everyone involved by killing herself.

December 3, 2007 11:00 AM

Anonymous said...

You knew Megan had problems or was troubled. Instead of using the fake profile to do this kind of damage why didn't you try to convince her to get help and become a better friend to those she had upset? I do not wish anything bad upon you but what goes around comes around!

December 3, 2007 11:01 AM

Megan Had It Coming said...

why didn't you try to convince her to get help and become a better friend to those she had upset

YOU THINK I DIDNT TRY???? I'm not one to parent others' kids but I tried talking to Megan on several occasions when her behavior disturbed me. She blew me off. She accused me of trying to sabotage her friendship. Instead of listening, she became angry. Just like her parents.

December 3, 2007 11:05 AM

Dee said...

If you truly believe that "systematically harassing and manipulating" is so wrong, then WHY DO YOU DO IT?

December 3, 2007 11:06 AM
You have it coming said...

"You can't go to the police" You must be the most ignorant person capable of blogging. The police are your second step in any situation between two children after confronting the parents about any problem. But you instead resort to your own version of internet vigilantism. I said it before; you are reaping what you have sewn.

December 3, 2007 11:07 AM

Is this Lori Drew?

Surely no one could be this callow and petty.

But then, surely no one would set up an account on MySpace for the purpose of the online harassment of a 13-year-old neighbor girl she'd known was suffering from depression.

Surely, no one would file destruction of property charges against the suffering parents of the victim, upon learning of their reactionary destroying of a foosball table.

Surely.

Everyone will have their own opinion. One opinion here: it's probably Drew, if the reports of "no remorse", by neighbors who knew Drew longer and observed during the last year, are to be believed.

Maybe her advertising business is suffering from a loss of revenue and she now feels it's time to answer some of her critics.

This is Part I. More to follow.

by Mondoreb & LBG
[image:fairieworld]



DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page

Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Parent's Interview with Anderson Cooper

Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Complete DBKP Story and Video Listing

UPDATED: January 9, 2008 The story of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who was harassed by adults and others online at social site MySpace and her subsequent suicide. Includes stories concerning the creation of the November 18 2007 blog, "Megan Had it Coming" and the blog's author subsequently claiming in a December 3 2007 post, "I'm Lori Drew". Also includes related stories. * Subpoenas Heat Up Cyber Battles Once Again MHIC: Google and Lori Drew MHIC: A Final Round-Up The Increasing Victimization of Lori Drew Megan Had it Coming Blog: HOAX! Cyber-Bully Quiz: Are You a Cyber-Bully? Kids On-line: 10 Tips For Parents All Big Internet Stories Start as Local Ones A Multitude of Statements Edna Bambrick's in Town and You're Gonna Be Sorry! Internet Porn Watchdog, Edna Bambrick, Monitoring MHIC Comments Lori Drew: Anatomy of an Apology The Mystery of the Megan Had It Coming Blog Megan Had it Coming Blog: Author a Troll? Megan Had it Coming Blogwatch Time Elapsed Since Blog First Appeared. Lori Drew, Megan Had it Coming: What Her Lawyer Says, What Google Says Megan Had It Coming" Blog Still Going Strong St. Louis Post-Dispatch Believes Real Culprits are Bloggers Megan Had it Coming Blog Under Investigation by Local Authorities Megan Had it Coming Blog Vs. Internet Readers, Part III Lori Drew Statement Comparison: What Her Lawyer Says in 2007, What She Said in 2006 Prosecutor Presents Points in Lori Drew's Defense Lori Drew or Internet Troll? - Part II A Conversation Between Lori Drew and Internet Readers? - Part I Lori Drew: Author of 'Megan Had it Coming' Blog? No Justice For Megan Teenage Girls MySpace Profiles Hacked by Predator Cyber Bully Laws to be Enacted VIDEO Parents' Interview with Anderson Cooper 30 Memorable Quotes One More Prayer for Megan Candlelight Vigil Announced by Tina Meier Town Cracks Down On CyberBullies Reactions to the Reactions to the Reactions **Blogger Says Megan Had It Coming** Transcript **CNN Interview With Parents** Video **CNN Interview with Parents** Video **MySpace Suicide: The Megan Meier Story** REACTION **No Justice For Megan** REACTION **Cruel Hoaxers Outed** **Megan's Story May Prevent Others** REACTION: **MySpace Suicide: Outrage! Outrage!** Our Original Story **MySpace Cruel Prank Leads To Teen's Suicide**

by Mondoreb & Little Baby Ginn




Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Cruel Hoaxers Outed, Let The Lesser Outrage Begin

We first wrote about Megan last Monday. The reactions to the story were those of disgust, horror, anger, and outrage.

Outrage over the death of 14-yr.-old Megan Meiers, a girl targeted by the perpetrators of a vicious hoax. Outrage that no charges have been filed.

Lastly, outrage at the paper who broke the story, the St. Louis Dispatch Suburban Journal, and their decision to not identify the hoaxers. The names of the "alleged" hoaxers have now been outed by bloggers.

MySpace Cruel Prank Leads To Teen's Suicide

A cruel and unbelievably vicious prank perpetrated upon a young girl has stripped away the "Leave It To Beaver" veneer of a suburban St. Louis neighborhood. A fourteen year old girl is dead by her own hand, her parents shattered, and in disbelief, wondering if there will ever be justice for their daughter.

"Fourteen years old, Megan was a victim of a cruel hoax on MySpace. The end result of the hoax, Megan is dead by her own hand, the hoaxer exposed as parents of a former friend of Megan's. The story was published on November 13 by the St. Louis Dispatch Suburban Journal in Missouri. The paper made the decision not to publish the names of the hoaxers. Their excuse, because the hoaxers had a child of their own and the fact that they had not been charged with any crime."

Source - MySpace Cruel Prank Leads To Teen's Suicide

14-yr-old Megan Meier

The original story provided enough clues to the identity of the hoaxers, plus the fact that the parents of Megan had unknowingly stored a foosball table that belonged to the hoaxers in their garage:

"The day after Megan's death, they went down the street to comfort the family of the girl who had once been Megan's friend. They let the girl and her family know that although she and Megan had their ups and down, Megan valued her friendship.
They also attended the girl's birthday party, although Ron had to leave when it came time to sing "Happy Birthday." The Meiers went to the father's 50th birthday celebration. In addition, the Meiers stored a foosball table of the hoaxers in their garage"

The paper went on to describe how, six weeks after Megan's sad death, her parents were informed that their precious daughter was the victim of a cruel hoax through the site, MySpace.com. That the perpetrators were the people, who after Megan's death, had asked Megan's parents if they could store their foosball table in the Meier's garage, as well as the parents of one of Megan's one time "best friends". The paper reported that, upon of learning the gruesome details of what had happened to their daughter and who was behind it, Megan's father destroyed the foosball table.

"Tina used an ax and Ron a sledgehammer. They put the pieces in Ron's pickup and dumped them in their neighbor's driveway. Tina spray painted "Merry Christmas" on the box."

The cruel hoaxers filed a police report over the destruction of their foosball table. They also sent a "condolence" note to Megan's parents:

"In a letter dated Nov. 30, 2006, the family tells Ron and Tina, "We are sorry for the extreme pain you are going through and can only imagine how difficult it must be. We have every compassion for you and your family."

Outraged by the decision of the Suburban Journal to not report the names of the "alleged" hoaxers, bloggers quickly went to work:

"Anyway, then I had a conversation with Steve "Pokin Around" Pokin, the columnist who broke the story of Megan's tragic story after her aunt called him up upon reading his slightly-less-disturbing tale of a teenage Myspace tormentor who eventually got charged with "littering."

Steve didn't really want to go too deeply into things, though he claimed that he was pretty sure not naming Curt and Lori Drew was the right decision, to which I said, "Um, those fuckers will be named SOON ENOUGH." And when I asked him whether the Drews -- he confirmed the names, though I'm not sure he meant to -- seemed ready to take responsibility or atone for their actions in any way, he said, "I don't know. All I know about that is in the story. I'm thinking that's a "not so much."

Source - Jezebel - Are The Parents Who MySpace-Tormented Megan Meier Into Killing Herself Ready To Atone? Um...

There will be those who will be "outraged" over the reporting of the names of the hoaxers. A "lesser" form of outrage than the outrage over the details of what happened to Megan.

The moral of this story?

Instant Karma.

By LBG

Source - Suburban Journals - My Space' hoax ends with suicide of Dardenne Prairie teen

More on Megan:

LATEST:
Supposedly an ex-friend of Megan's replies to our stories in, "Megan Had It Coming"

MySpace Suicide: The Megan Meier Story - Video

Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Cruel Hoax: No Justice for Megan
MySpace Suicide:
Megan Meier's Story May Prevent Others
MySpace Suicide Reaction:
Outrage! Outrage! Outrage!

MySpace Cruel Prank Leads To Teen’s Suicide



DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

MySpace Suicide Reaction: Outrage! Outrage! Outrage!

The "MySpace Suicide" reaction to the Megan Meier story has been outrage. Outrage on a lot of levels.

Outrage at the vicious Internet attack on a 13-year-old girl by parents of the girl's erstwhile friend.

Outrage that the responsible adults have not been held accountable by the law.

Outrage that the only action taken has been a complaint filed by the parents who concocted this cruel hoax against the parents of the girl who committed suicide. They filed a complaint with local police against Megan's parents.

The reason?

After finding out who was responsible for the creation of the fictitious MySpace account that led to their daughters suicide, Megan's parents destroyed a foosball table they had been storing for the heartless adults.

Some of that outrage surfaced at the Orlando Sentinel:
Girl Commits Suicide Over Internet Prank by ADULTS--Who is Responsible?

I heard this on the MJ Morning Show this morning and had to share. This story is so heinous, disgusting...I don't even know where to begin.

Any folks out there who are lawyers, law enforcement officers, or judges--can you shed some light? I'm looking for your input.

Some of it surfaced at the home of the original reporter, Steve Pokin, of the story in suburban St.Louis. Readers Respond in Force to Story on MySpace Suicide

Some of you have asked your children to read the story and have requested/demanded to look at their MySpace pages.Of course, there has been outrage over the fact that Josh Evans - a 16-year-old who never existed - was created not by a teen, but by an adult. That anger is reflected in the comments posted on the Journal's Web sites.

The comments on both pieces were mostly of the "WTF" variety.

BACKGROUND:
Cruel MySpace Prank Leads to Teen's Suicide

DBKP, because we were the first in the blogosphere to pick up on this story, was contacted early yesterday morning by FoxNews from New York. The story is still flying under the radar for most of the nation.

It will get more attention for a variety of reasons. It's tragic that a young girl lost her life. It's tragic that it was adults that were responsible for her misery.
And that tragedy continues that no justice has been found for the bereaved parents of Megan Meiers.

It will draw attention to the mostly unsupervised world that teens inhabit on MySpace. The Internet, in our minds, should remain free.

However, that puts a responsibility on parents to properly supervise their children's actions. It's a responsibility that many parents voice, but far fewer practice.

It will command some space in any article wishing to argue against 'decadent American suburbia'. It will serve as an excuse to discuss some writer's pet peeve, however unrelated to this story it may be.

Additionally, it may focus attention on a culture that focuses on drama 24/7. The betting here is that there are more conversations on the latest drug-induced bumblings of Britney than there are about responsibility in many homes.

Drama sells.

Ask Inside Edition or any of the celeb-pandering shows that proliferate on the tube.

The story of Megan Meier is tragic story.

Hopefully, that story will spark some conversation and debate that will prevent other stories like hers from happening.

by Mondoreb

More on the Megan Meier MySpace Suicide:

LATEST:
Supposedly an ex-friend of Megan's replies to our stories in
"Megan Had It Coming"

MySpace Suicide: The Megan Meier Story - Video

Megan Meier MySpace Suicide Cruel Hoax: No Justice for Megan
Cruel Hoaxer's Outed: Let the Lesser Outrage Begin
MySpace Suicide: Megan Meier's Story May Prevent Others Like It
Megan Meier MySpace Suicide: Cruel Hoaxers Outed, Let The Lesser Outrage Begin

Mondoreb @ BNN:
MySpace Suicide Reaction: Outrage!



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Interview UPDATE: Marcus Wilder

Our sit-down with author Marcus Wilder must have attracted some attention. The Wilder interview was a Q and A session with author about his travels and wanderings in Pakistan, the people and the riveting things he observed.

Apparently, some of DBKP's readers had their interest piqued. Naive and Abroad: Pakistan, Travel in a Land of Mullahs moved up almost 90,000 notches at Amazon, where the book can be obtained.

After some of the eye-openers Marcus disclosed here this past weekend, we're not surprised. Read the interview, get the book. That's our take in the nutshell.

by Mondoreb



Back to Front Page.

Dog the Bounty Hunter-Canceled: Mexican Charges Finally Dismissed

DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER UPDATE: 11-06-2007 TUESDAY
* Dog has charges dropped at last.
* Lands at LAX.
* Dog will appear on Larry King Live on Wednesday.


Finally.

The Bounty Hunter got a bit of good news yesterday: he will not be extradited to Mexico to face a pending appeal on kidnapping charges against him, a judge ruled Monday.

Coming after 5 days of turmoil over the tapes of his private cellphone conversation with his son, Tucker, were made public and Arts and Entertainment Network first pulling his show from the air, then canceling it--this was good news.

Duane "Dog" Chapman, the star of Bounty Hunter has had two relatively quiet days, free from bad news. An appearance at an El Cajon, CA parade was canceled yesterday, but that's been about it.

Now he can finally put the Mexico legal hassles behind him.

The U.S. government was trying to send Chapman, his son Leland Chapman and a third man to the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, where they were charged with kidnapping Andrew Luster, a Max Factor heir who had jumped a $1 million bond on charges that he drugged and raped three women. Luster's disappearance during his trial in Ventura set off an international manhunt by police, FBI and bounty hunters trying to recoup some of the bond money.

On June 18, 2003, Chapman and the other men apprehended Luster, and the fugitive was taken back to the United States to serve the 124-year sentence he was given while on the lam.

But because bounty hunting is illegal in Mexico, prosecutors in that country charged the three with kidnapping and asked U.S. authorities to arrest the trio and ship them to Puerto Vallarta.

On July 27, a Mexican judge dismissed the charges, ruling that Mexican prosecutors had taken too long in their attempts to bring the trio to trial. But the U.S. attorney's office in Honolulu, where the senior Chapman lives, declined to dismiss the extradition proceedings because Mexican prosecutors are appealing the judge's ruling.

Still, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren in Honolulu on Monday dismissed the extradition attempt because the judge said the trio are no longer charged with any offenses, despite the appeal.

"I don't think they have any regrets whatsoever in facilitating the capture of Mr. Luster, who is a known and convicted rapist," his San Francisco lawyer, James Quadra, said Monday. "Though this has been a difficult process, they are proud of what they have done."

Quadra declined to comment on the tempest Chapman created last week when he was caught on tape using the racial epithet.

A&E pulled Chapman's show "Dog the Bounty Hunter" from the air indefinitely after a private phone conversation between the reality star and his son was posted online.

Chapman, 54, has been under fire since The National Enquirer posted a clip of Chapman using the N-word repeatedly about his son's black girlfriend. Chapman apologized and vowed to never utter the word again, but at least two advertisers have pulled out from the show and civil rights groups have called for its cancellation.

DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER-Canceled-Monday UPDATES:

Dog "Duane" Chapman, Day 6 in the continuing story of Dog the Bounty Hunter, the tapes of his cellphone call to his son about his son's girlfriend. Throughout the tapes, Dog can be heard using the N-word repeatedly, but says that he doesn't care if the girl is black or not and is more concerned with her character than the color of her skin.

Dog's spiritual adviser, Tim Storey, then issued statements repeating Chapman's remorse at his language. Storey also related that for the last year, he's been working with the Bounty Hunter to clean up his speech in general. Storey is black and testified that Chapman's use of the N-word was not hate-directed.

"Dog the Bounty Hunter" is first pulled from the air and then production is canceled by the Arts & Entertainment Network. A & E's statement seems to leave the door open that the popular series might resume at a later date, however.

FAN REACTION:Fan speculation has been both passionate and continuing. From the letters, comments and browsing, it seems that fan reaction is running about 80% in favor of the Bounty Hunter. The most common response seems to be "He shouldn't have said it, but he was on a private cellphone to his son. Get the show back on the air."

Of course, with any large group of people, you have people at both extremes of the issue. Some want Chapman's hide, some use the incident to spew slanderous things. But, on the whole for a story which stirred some passions, the reaction has been mostly passionate, but reasonable.

Chapman, upon the release of the tapes, apologized and expressed the wish to meet with black leaders and make amends. Tamkika Mallory, a member of Al Sharpton's group called for the show to be off the air at about the same time it was going down. This weekend, Sharpton himself issued a statement which called on Dog to march in an anti-hate demonstration at Jena, LA. No reaction from Dog on the Sharpton proposal.

Meanwhile, we also learned this weekend that Chapman's son, Tucker, sold the tapes for a "large sum of money" to the National Enquirer, which had released them. This wasn't the first time Tucker Chapman had sold the tabloids information on his perp-tracking father.

Tucker Chapman appears to have violated Hawaii law by making the tapes of the cellphone call without his father's knowledge.

That's where the situation stands now. Not much happening and it seems that Dog is laying low and taking the stand that "no news is good news."

Expect to hear more on this later today as everyone involved returns to their workaday routine after this bizarre and unfortunate incident.

by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn

MORE BACKGROUND, AUDIO TAPES And Video Reports:

Click Here and
Here.

Source:Press-Enterprise

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Dog the Bounty Hunter Canceled: UPDATE -11-05-07 Monday

DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER-Canceled-UPDATES:

Dog "Duane" Chapman, Day 6 in the continuing story of Dog the Bounty Hunter, the tapes of his cellphone call to his son about his son's girlfriend. Throughout the tapes, Dog can be heard using the N-word repeatedly, but says that he doesn't care if the girl is black or not and is more concerned with her character than the color of her skin.

Dog's spiritual adviser, Tim Storey, then issued statements repeating Chapman's remorse at his language. Storey also related that for the last year, he's been working with the Bounty Hunter to clean up his speech in general. Storey is black and testified that Chapman's use of the N-word was not hate-directed.

"Dog the Bounty Hunter" is first pulled from the air and then production is canceled by the Arts & Entertainment Network. A & E's statement seems to leave the door open that the popular series might resume at a later date, however.

FAN REACTION:Fan speculation has been both passionate and continuing. From the letters, comments and browsing, it seems that fan reaction is running about 80% in favor of the Bounty Hunter. The most common response seems to be "He shouldn't have said it, but he was on a private cellphone to his son. Get the show back on the air."

Of course, with any large group of people, you have people at both extremes of the issue. Some want Chapman's hide, some use the incident to spew slanderous things. But, on the whole for a story which stirred some passions, the reaction has been mostly passionate, but reasonable.

Chapman, upon the release of the tapes, apologized and expressed the wish to meet with black leaders and make amends. Tamkika Mallory, a member of Al Sharpton's group called for the show to be off the air at about the same time it was going down. This weekend, Sharpton himself issued a statement which called on Dog to march in an anti-hate demonstration at Jena, LA. No reaction from Dog on the Sharpton proposal.

Meanwhile, we also learned this weekend that Chapman's son, Tucker, sold the tapes for a "large sum of money" to the National Enquirer, which had released them. This wasn't the first time Tucker Chapman had sold the tabloids information on his perp-tracking father.

Tucker Chapman appears to have violated Hawaii law by making the tapes of the cellphone call without his father's knowledge.

That's where the situation stands now. Not much happening and it seems that Dog is laying low and taking the stand that "no news is good news."

Expect to hear more on this later today as everyone involved returns to their workaday routine after this bizarre and unfortunate incident.

MORE BACKGROUND, AUDIO TAPES And Video Reports:
Click Here and
Here.

by Mondoreb



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Elimination Crisis: If You Hate "Hate", The Left Hates You

by Mondoreb
Oh, to be a Leftist blogger! No connections to reality to slow down the rhetoric! No need to resort to reasoning! Just the free, unfettered flow of feelings flushing your face with flecks of frothy fantasia!

Some delusional Delirium Tremens from Sadly, No!Sense:

For Long Island’s lunatic race-baiter Pamela ‘Atlas’ Geller Oshry, what started last week as a two-day jaunt across the pond to drink a few Flirtinis, slur some Arabs and bash out a few choruses of the Horst Wessel Song, has turned into a living hell. For pony-tailed smooth jazzman-cum-paranoid bigot Charles Johnson, what left his keyboard as an uncharacteristically lucid post about non-imaginary fascists, has returned painfully in the horrific guise of a woman scorned.

One of these days, the Left will get around to detailing the Hate Crimes of LGF's Johnson. It will be an easy post for Left bloggers to write, as it will be a blank page.

Another story they might well concentrate their gerbil-wheel-spinning energies on, "What the Left Hates about Charles Johnson" will be much more meaty. It will include, as "Exhibit A", Johnson's exposure of the chummy relationshiop between Islamofacsists and the Left. "Exhibit B" might be LGF's relentless attack on the Left's insistence on shouting down those they disagree with by labeling them; perhaps as a, oh, "jazzman-cum-paranoid-bigot".

"Racist", "Nazi", "knuckle-dragger", "jazzman-cum-paranoid-bigot": just another day at the blog for those disagreeing with any Left Wing bloggers with the DTs.

[image:genesis.faithweb]
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For Every Action: Recent Reactions to Things We Wrote

[image:itsunderstood]
by Mondoreb

Chugging along, just another pawn in the vast blogosphere nebula:

1-More on Glenn Beck's "Handful of Haters":
Jon Swift, a bearer of the subtle sword, observed (about JammieWearingFool's observation)

"It's Beck's opinion that some who hate America live in that area. Is this even debatable?" Of course not.

Shout-outs are always appreciated.

2-On Turkish General Warns U.S.: Danger! Democrat Foreign Policy At Work:
Snarky Bastards wasn't snarky when saying:

I’m not sufficiently up on my facts about the Armenian Genocide to say whether it actually deserves that label (though the bettin’ man in me says it is), but Mondoreb makes a fair point at deathby1000papercuts:

Snark then makes some humorous observations about the politics of the Google toolbar.

3-On Maureen Dowd and her fixation on the Vice-President--
More Evil Dick Cheney Evidence:
Shrink Wrapped commented in "The Beauty of Modern Liberalism" that

"Mondoreb has his own view of Dowd's piece at Death by 1000 Papercuts. I suppose we would call this European Sophistication:".

I've always been a fan of Shrink Wrapped--maybe from my days working in the shipping department.

4-On McCain: "I'd Shoot Osama! OK, Maybe I Wouldn't":
We were all fired up about the shout-out from Salon.

5-Lastly, we got bloggings at Boxxet on Harry Potter's Dumbledore Outing, Snookerbrief, in46, and zippsyzippicun on the Gary Zerola Teen Rape case. And one mustn't forget to mention Bird Flu Breaking News, on our 1918 Spanish Influeza story.

Being read is truly the mother's milk of blogging.

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Beauchamp, TNR Take A Powder: 2 More Forgotten Brand Names

[image:cbsnews]

by Mondoreb

When you're looking for succinct, usually-hilarious reaction to news, you could do worse than read Mark Steyn, the doomsday-slinging prophet of European demographic decline. The revelation that The New Republic knew that its crack war zone reporter was not what he was cracked up to be gets the once-over from Steyn at the Corner:

No disrespect, Kathryn, but count me among those who raised an eyebrow over your five o'clock Scott Thomas Beauchamp post. It's not about Beauchamp "confessing". Given the alarm bells Beauchamp's original piece set off among those familiar with the subject matter, and given that the anecdote on which the entire premise of the essay hangs has already been determined to have occurred in Kuwait rather than Iraq, all The New Republic had going for it were its editors' insistence that (a) Beauchamp was standing by his story, and (b) the military were preventing him from speaking to them.

It has now been revealed that (a) Beauchamp declined to stand by his story, and (b) the editors spoke with him and knew this weeks ago. Presumably The New Republic's readers are relatively relaxed about the editors colluding in slandering the troops at a time of war: only uptight squares get hung up on that sort of thing. But they ought surely to be concerned at the abuse of trust perpetrated by the magazine against its own readers.

Steyn goes on to relate some facts about TNR's ownership.

Few remember that back in the early 1960s, the best-selling beer in America was--Carling Black Label? CBL's "Hey Mabel--Black Label" was much more recognized among consumers than Budweiser's "When You've Said Bud, You've Said it All".

For consumers of news and the truth, The New Republic is soon to be consigned to the forgotten name brand remainder bin.
TNR will then join CBL.

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The HLF Mistrial & The NY Times: How About a Serious Discussion For Once

by Mondoreb

The Holy Land Foundation mistrial was seen in the New York Times as an exoneration. But was it? Or was it a signal that a different approach is needed. Libertarians, War on Terror warriors and others will now square off.

From the New York Times:

A federal judge declared a mistrial on Monday in what was widely seen as the government’s flagship terrorism-financing case after prosecutors failed to persuade a jury to convict five leaders of a Muslim charity on any charges, or even to reach a verdict on many of the 197 counts.

The case, involving the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and five of its backers, is the government’s largest and most complex legal effort to shut down what it contends is American financing for terrorist organizations in the Middle East.

The story goes on to hint that the trial was a failure for the proscecution. Although there will be many takes on this, Lawhawk's is one of the best I've read. He provided a blow-by-blow account and provides a different conclusion:

This was not a stunning defeat, but it definitely is a wakeup call for the Justice Department to do a far better job prosecuting these cases than it has up til now.

This is yet another example as to why you cannot simply trust the law enforcement approach to solely defend the nation against terrorism and terrorist attacks. HLF was busy providing aid and comfort to enemies that seek to do America and its interests harm and because all the members of a jury could not find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, a mistrial had to be declared.

As Lawhawk sums up, this is not innocence, no matter how hard the Islamo-apologists spin it. The cheers at CAIR, the New York Times and Hamas notwithstanding, they were not declared "innocent", although you can bet that you'll hear plenty of that in the coming days.

Civil liberties must always be guarded, but so must the country. When agents of a foreign group that is working against America operate in this country, they have to be brought to justice. This is different from hauling the Average Joe up in court.
The next 9/11 incident to occur in the U.S. will silence the CAIR crowd as long as the victims are being shown on TVs; then the attacks on any who want to take action will resume.

It's just more proof why the Left/Islamofacsist alliance wants the War on Terror to be fought as a crime problem instead of what it is: an attack on America, her citizens and her interests.




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DBKP Round-up: Latest Reaction to Things We Wrote

[image:dupontbooks]
by Mondoreb

We know how hard(?) we work here at jotting down our opinions. We thought we'd show just a little bit of the recent reactions to those opinions. We thought our readers might be interested. Well, at any rate, we're interested.

1-On Glenn Beck's "Handful of Haters":
He Said, She Said, ad infinitum? We had a beef with Media Matters quoting talk-show host Glenn Beck out of context. At issue was whether it was a fair portrayal of what Beck really said. We quoted JammieWearingFool:

It's Beck's opinion that some who hate America live in that area.
Is this even debatable?
These Clinton stooges forfeited all credibility in their most recent smearing of Rush Limbaugh.Apparently, these Stalinist punks have a hitlist they're working through, so this week, it's Glenn Beck. I'm sure he's quaking in his shoes.

The good folks at Alicu took issue with us:

Just some nut, right? Like this one, right? Surely the Serious People among them will go another way.

It all turned out for the best: we all had something to write about.

2-Dumbledore's Gay, Parents Less So put us squarely in the "Anti-Gay, Special "All Dumbledore" Version" catagory according to Comic Gays. We've never been accused of being anti-gay before, but we're all for new experiences. So Comic Gays is to be thanked.

Like the Twelve Days of Christmas, we were "[1000?] Wingnuts Frothing" over at Lean Left, where our observation that parents might be concerned about the Dumbledore outing caused some concern and a bit of dispepsia:

R-i-i-i-g-h-t. Children the world over are going to be “burdened” with “worry” that Albus Dumbledore’s sex life doesn’t meet this clown’s approval. The bit about “someone from her new circle” is incomprehensible, but he seems to be darkly hinting that Rowling has new gay friends that she didn’t have before she wrote the books. Because of course she couldn’t have had any then. Or something. And this is a problem . . . how? Oh, who cares?

3-Our post "Warning Over Oil Production Decline: Just Another Wrong Prediction got a reaction from the Wall Street Journal in an article about Chevron and Climate. We're just not exactly sure what was said, we're no longer a WSJ subscriber and you had to be to see the online article. Still, it's nice to see someone notice.

4-We got a nice shout-out from ltradio on the Randi Rhodes non-mugging:

But this wasn't enough. Oh no. You guys in the conservative blogosphere were crapping mountains with glee, wagging those self-important fingers with false pride about 'dem librulz is lyers.' What one will see, in browsing your various wingnut screech blogs, is a lot of crowing headlines like these:

Crapping mountains with glee? Well, we can't remember any Ex-Lax in our diets last week, but we're getting older.

5-Lastly, our Perfect Google Search Story about Tom Cruise and Marijuana Burrito got a line at MSNBC's Clicked. With all the Keith Olbermann vitriol we've unloaded recently, it's reassuring to know they're not holding grudges.

OK, that's it for today. Most days in this land of educational dysfunction: you're just glad someone is still reading.

Back to Front Page.

Bush Blasts Congress? More Like BB Gun Rhetoric

[photo:CNN]
by Mondoreb

At CNN's website, the headline read "Bush Blasts Congress". Oh, if only that had been true. What was reported in the story and what the headline screamed were two different thingss. President Bush's press conference sounded pretty tame for a 'blasting'.
From CNN:

President Bush attacked Congress on Wednesday, ripping the new Democratic leadership for failing to achieve much in their first nine months of power.

Bush used his opening statement to list areas where he said "Congress has work to do": health care; security; the budget; education; housing; trade; help for military veterans; law enforcement and the judiciary.

He complained about progress on a number of bills before Congress, including children's health insurance, spending plans and internal surveillance legislation, saying Congress has wasted much of the past nine months.

"Now the clock is winding down. In some key areas, Congress is just getting started," Bush said.

"One of Congress' basic duties is to fund the day-to-day operations of the federal government. Yet Congress has not sent me a single appropriations bill," Bush said.

Bush said congressional Democrats are wasting time with proposed legislation calling the actions of Ottoman Turks against Armenians during World War I "genocide." Video Watch Bush address the Turkey issue »

"With all these pressing responsibilities, one thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire," Bush said. "The resolution on the mass killings of Armenians beginning in 1915 is counterproductive. ...

Yeah, Bush's a regular demolition man. "Congress has work to do" is pretty strong language. Contrast with the everyday invective the President endures from Congressional Democrats.

Yahoo News reports the following quotes of Democrats about Blaster Bush.

"Never has it been clearer how detached President Bush is from the priorities of the American people. By vetoing a bipartisan bill to renew the successful Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), President Bush is denying health care to millions of low-income kids in America." — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"The president has denied basic health coverage to four million children, putting ideology ahead of compassion and common sense." — Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

"This president's priorities are unconscionable." — Presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

Need more?

Boston.com:

"President Bush needs to quit stonewalling about his White House's connection to corruption, and finally tell us how he's going to reform Washington," Reid said.

And again:

"The president's budget is filled with debt and deception, disconnected from reality, and continues to move America in the wrong direction. This administration has the worst fiscal record in history and this budget does nothing to change that. It clings to the same misguided policies: costly tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthiest, cuts in domestic priorities and more fiscal irresponsibility." -- Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

Compared to the opposition, Bush did no blasting yesterday. He was using a rhetorical BB gun. Unless you happen to be reporting from the mainstream media.
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Post-Email, Michelle Malkin Still Going StrongMuch Pooh About Nothing

[photo: Baltimore Chronicle]
by Mondoreb

You know you've struck a nerve when the Left starts calling you names. You know you're really making a difference in opinion when your every move is tracked; when hours are spent blowing gassy vapors in the absurd attempt to construct political balloon attack animals.

The latest proof that Michelle Malkin has risen to the upper tier of conservative opinion-makers is the Left BlowhardFest over Malkin's decision to forgo hosting anymore Bill O'Reilly shows. The decision, the result of a on-air flare-up, resulted in more calls to San Francisco emergency rooms for hyperventilation treatment than any time since Nixon was president.

MM chronicled the fortunes of the Frost family and their use by Democrats in the Schip debate. Once exposed, nothing was done to refute Malkin's findings: what could be done, really? Instead, another round of "attack the whistleblower" was quickly organized by Leftards the Internet over. Nothing was said about the comic attempts to use an obviously comfortable family as an example of Republican coldheartedness toward the poor. So they focused on a pin to dance on.

It all resulted from this email, found on Michelle Malkin's site:

Thanks so much for your kind words. Much appreciated. I made the decision to quit appearing on the O’Reilly show in response to the poor handling of the Geraldo Rivera matter (in case you hadn’t heard, he threatened to spit on me because of my views about illegal immigration and his staged “apology” on The Factor was a complete farce). I won’t go into details, but please know that your support means a lot to me. You can catch me on other Fox News shows and read my daily blog posts and weekly columns at MichelleMalkin.com.

From the reaction of the Socialist side of the Blogosphere, you'd have thought MM called for the seizing of Starbucks' assets.

Such as this:

I think one of the funniest aspects of the political sphere today is that some of the toughest talking folks in the business really turn out to be big, fat, tear leakin’ wimps.

Or this:

WAAAAH!!
Pauvre Michelle. Booted off a FOX News show? Even better, booted off O'REILLY'S hatefest? That's quite the feat.

In a world where there's not enough news to justify the billions of pixels slaughtered daily on the blogosphere, non-events are just an excuse to unload your favorite pejorative on those you disagree with. And no brain cells were harmed in the making of the reactions of the blogo-pathological side's posts: none were used.

Michelle Malkin's a big girl: she can handle the slurs and arrows of the midget class. She makes arguments for and against important issues based on facts. It's a skill her opponents might try taking up instead of calling her names.

For at this moment, Leftist wordsmiths are busy coining new terms of derision for conservatives. If only they spent half as much time trying to answer our arguments, they could get out of the balloon animal business.



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Bollinger's RemarksQUESTIONS THE LEFT WON'T ASKOF MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD

[Photo:Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism]
by Mondoreb

When Columbia University extended an invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he came under heavy criticism by many on the Right. Harsh words and numerous charges were flung at Columbia President, Lee Bollinger. "Inappropriate" was one commonly used word.

Bollinger bravely stood his ground.

Resisting calls to cancel the speech, Mr. Bollinger stood up for the concept of unpopular but free speech. He was applauded by a few civil libertarians, anti-war groups and a handful of liberal pundits.

Now, the other shoe falls for Bollinger. In his introductory remarks before Ahmadinejad's speech, the president of Columbia posed a series of hard, tough questions to the would-be Hand of the Apocalypse. As if by magic, his critics on the Right largely disappeared. These were many of the same questions that they would have asked if given the chance. The flip side to that: howls of protest from the now-aroused Left. Mr. Bollinger, who had given Ahmadinejad his forum, evidently had no right to ask anything but softball inquiries.

Ahmadinejad responded as he usually does: with a mixture of evasions, lies, half-truths, 'believe-it-or-not' declamations and changing the subject. When he ran out of those, he turned to outright denial. But, unlike his opponents back home in Iran, Mr. Ahmadinejad got to have his say--in front of an audience, on TV and and in front of a battery of news reporters. When he was finished, Ahmadinejad was able to walk out of Columbia and leave.

He wasn't detained, handcuffed, taken to some unknown location, blindfolded, questioned, tortured or shot in the back of the head. Appealing as many of these options may be to some, he was free to go about his business. Again, unlike his opponents back home in Iran. Unlike uppity women, homosexuals, or those who watch banned TV cable channels in Tehran.

The whole Ahmadinejad affair is now finished. At the end of it all, Bollinger can be proud that he stood his ground and didn't cancel the appearance by the Iranian Madman. He has nothing to be ashamed of; nothing for which to apologize.

On Monday, Mr. Bollinger asked the hard questions. Now, it's time for many on the Left to ask some questions of their own. Of themselves. Leading off they might examine Ahmadinejad's answers and wonder, "Who would support such an obviously disturbed man"?

Like Lee Bollinger, it's time for liberals to starting asking some hard questions of their own.
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