Saturday, August 26, 2006

Duke lacrosse: "Old grey lady" attacked

Readers' Note: The New York Times has the nickname "the old grey lady of W. 43rd Street."

Yesterday the "lady" published a story clearly intended to prop up Durham DA Mike Nifong's travesty of a "case" against three Duke students.

Many bloggers are responding with careful, informed analysis that's exposing the story's omissions of important information; it's half-truths; and its "Go Mike" bias.

I applaud their work.

John
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JinC News Service is reporting :

Durham, NC – Durham police are investigating what they’re describing as “a very extensive truth attack” on “an old grey lady” found dumped in a trash bin.

A source close to the investigation confirmed that the “lady” is from New York and was once a trusted news organization. She’s believed to have been in the area visiting “nieces and nephews” at the Raleigh News & Observer.

It’s JinC policy not to disclose the identities of formerly respected news organizations who are subjects of truth attacks.

“IN TIMES LIKE THESE”

Police learned of the attack as a result of a 911 call. The caller declined to give her name. Police released the following transcript of the call:

Me and my girlfriend were just driving by the Durham County Courthouse and this large, loud group of people were coming down the steps. I recognized one of them was DA Mike Nifong

I could hear them saying things like “That was a great story you wrote” and “I loved your indictments” and “See you at Blincos.”

Then, as we bicycled by them, they started hollering, “Vote for Nifong.”

That was so hurtful.

I stopped walking and looked back. That’s when I saw the “old grey lady.”

She was sticking out of Nifong’s back pocket.


Police say at that point the caller hung up and they dispatched a patrol car to the courthouse.

The police arrived at the courthouse two minutes later. The steps and sidewalk were deserted, but while searching the surrounding area police found the “old grey lady” lying in a trash bin.

“In times like these, you’re ready for anything,” said one officer. “Still, what my partner and I saw was so shocking we immediately decided to take the ‘lady’ to the ER at Duke Hospital.”

“THE BLOGGERS DID IT!”

A spokesperson for Duke Hospital, citing patient confidentiality, declined to disclose anything about the “lady.” However, JinC obtained her hospital records from another source. A copy follows:

“Patient entered ER disoriented. Kept offering doctors/nurses anonymity if they’d disclose national security secrets.

Patient presented with signs and symptoms of severe readership decline.

Examination revealed right and medial paralysis but strong left side usage. Ego bloated and severely bruised. Extreme sensitivity to criticism.

Patient at first denied she’d suffered a truth attack but later told an MSM Rehab nurse she’d been attacked by 3, 5, maybe as many as 20 bloggers. At one point she shouted, “The bloggers did it!”

Although the patient denied having credibility problems, her credibilty levels were dangerously low. So her news columns, editorials and Sunday Magazine section were swabbed and the swabs were sent to a lab in Raleigh for further testing.


Lab results are expected back in two weeks.

No arrests have been made.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why did those want to see justice in this case ever think The New York Times would publish a thorough, accurate story?

Anonymous said...

Wow. Us bloggers better be careful. Next thing we know, we are in a line up consisting of bloggers only, accused of attacking the little old lady. Who knows who this lady is going to pick with the help of Gottlieb? Excuse me while I go and hide.

Anonymous said...

Is Arico actually saying there was blunt force trauma? I don't think so at all. She is describing what you can say in the process. She is not talking about the exam of the AV at all, but only describing what a nurse can or can't say. Somebody is trying to make it look like Arico is describing the AV's exam, but she isn't.


From that Herald Sun 4/1 article titled "Lag in search of Lacrosse homes draws questions":


Quote
"Theresa Arico is a sexual assault nurse examiner and coordinator of that program at Duke.

She described the process as a comprehensive combination of interviews and physical examinations of the person making the sexual assault complaint.

"You can say with a high degree of certainty that there was a certain amount of blunt force trauma present to create injury" by the physical examination, which uses a device called a colposcope to magnify a woman's internal parts where injuries consistent with a sexual assault would occur, Arico said.

But sexual assault nurse examiners do not render an opinion on whether a rape has occurred. That is for the State Bureau of Investigation to determine through its forensic lab work.

"I can reasonably say these injuries are consistent with the story she told," Arico said.

If DNA evidence is present where the assault was said to have occurred, that can further corroborate the victim's account, Arico said.

A typical exam might collect oral swabs, blood samples, hair and pubic hair. Special equipment might be used that emits a light that fluoresces when semen is present, for example. Fingernails could be scraped to look for an attacker's tissue. Any DNA material that does not match the victim's might be collected.

Arico said the DNA suspect kits that the Duke players provided under court order collect the same samples -- blood, oral swabs, hair and pubic hair."

Anonymous said...

I think Gottlieb's "blunt force trauma" notes came from Arico's generic comments about SANE exams in the 4/1 H-S article.

The NYT article seems to attribute them to Levicy, but they are way too similar to Arico's comments in the 4/1 article.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if Mark Levin of Judicial Watch has been contacted?

Anonymous said...

Poor old gray lady. Too bad I wasn't ambulating by the scene. I could have helped her.

Anonymous said...

Very, very clever JinC. I especially liked the 911 call, and the aller's ever changing mode of tranportation.