Reality distortion zone

I heard interviews of Colorado editors on this. They described Mr. Churchill and Mr. Lane as “the only two people in Colorado who believe what Ward Churchill says.” Good to see, they are continuing their consistancy.

As to Mental Ward’s ethnicity — across the U.S., the number of minority-gendered physically-challeged just increased 1000%. Why? Hey — if B.S. is good for Psycho Ward — why not everyone?

Looking forward to what Mr. Lane has to say, when the outside academic review committees are brought in, to review Ward-o’s work. My reasoned guess is, Ward-o doesn’t have the notes to back up his work.

What else can be said in a case, in which *both* major daily papers have called for the same result — dismissal?

Bye-bye, Ward-o. Have a nice, $68,000/year retirement, drinking coffee at McDonald’s.

A.D., at 9:29 am EDT on August 23, 2005

So bumbling your ethnicity won’t affect your research quality?

“.. comments on previous articles .. have slandered Churchill by accusing him of misrepresenting his ethnicity .. should make it a little difficult to go after Churchill for sloppy research....”

As an ethnic minority, let me be clear, about the accused:

he played the race card 100%, without ever having lived an ethnic childhood, with its alienation and other issues.

he has been the target of numerous accusations of ethnic misrepresentation by various American Indian groups for more than 10 years.

As in most judicial-like proceedings, the accused was NOT found clearly innocent (e.g., Baretta, O.J., Michael Jackson), with the state withdrawing its accusations.

Rather, there was insufficient evidence to prove the state’s case — not guilty of the state’s specific accusations. As to the court of public opinion — well, that’s another story, isn’t it?

If the accused were working in the private sector — he’d be on unemployment, right now, for deceiving his employer. Thankfully, the accused should be the last CU employee to use this kind of questionable charade.

So — if the accused has created so much furor about the accuracy of his past — why should anyone believe anything the accused has written, which could be a muddled and shady as his past?

Five of seven charges, going forward for further review and investigation, is 71%. Hardly a ringing “victory.”

A.D., at 1:10 pm EDT on August 23, 2005

Kudos to CU on dropping the ethnicity charge. While Churchill obviously cannot prove any Indian heritage, neither can CU conclusively prove that he consciously engaged in ethnic fraud. Dropping this charge now places the focus precisely where it belongs—on Churchill’s research misconduct.

Churchill’s claim that this development represents a “victory” is absurd, and characteristic of his upside-down view of reality. Had the committee dropped all of the charges, that would be a victory. Instead, they’ve accepted the most potent indictments and forwarded them for investigation by experts. Churchill cannot possibly hope to prevail on all of the remaining charges of plagiarism and fabrication. The evidence against him is overwhelming.

Churchill’s defense to date has been to play the race card. The CU committee deftly pulled that out from under him, leaving him to twist in the wind on the remaining charges.

Lynn, A “Victory"? Don’t make me laugh., at 2:36 pm EDT on August 23, 2005

Churchill is really being given the benefit of the doubt here. Numerous American Indian groups have been loudly proclaiming him to be a fake, long before the current scandal. AIM, for one.

Part of this investigation should be focused on the administration for “aiding and abetting” — this guy was given tenure without a terminal degree or strong research. Shame on them. They dont get to screw up like that, then be shocked — just shocked — that Churchill turns out to be a dud.

Dan, at 8:58 pm EDT on August 23, 2005

so why should I take your words for it ?

Does anyone know if there is a website which provides a line by line comparison of the allegedly plagiarized works ?

I would expect that everyone who claims that he plagiarized has seen some comparison, because making such claims without a factual basis is, in my mind, on par with terrorism.

Because so much of the criticism seems to be politically-driven (one way or the other) it is difficult to take any of it too seriously without actually seeing the source materials, and protestations that it is “overwhelming” just doesn’t cut it when everyone seems out to get this guy (or make him a saint) because of his political views.

Larry, at 10:29 am EDT on August 24, 2005

Ward’s alright with me

the bottom line for me here is that one day while riding in my car i heard a ward churchill speech on the radio, and this speech totally blew my mind. My first impressions of him were that he was astonisingly well read, and definitely well intentioned, by giving a voice to the voiceless. The fact that he might not be Indian, or the fact that he might borrow other peoples information and spread it around doesn’t matter a lick to me — as long as he’s out there talking about Indians and reminding people that they’re still alive and reminding people of their history in general. as far as i could tell from that speech, he’s on the side of Indians — maybe the reason why so many people come out against him is because they’d simply like to forget the Native American’s, and there he is, not allowing us to do that.

miguel felix, at 9:59 pm EDT on August 24, 2005

AD, I think that you and Bart really need to provide specifics. Bart’s post did not include a single link to both 1) Churchill’s works and 2) the allegedly plagiarized works. Therefore, I don’t think he has actually read either of them. Likewise, while you claim that if his work is discredited other people’s work will be discredited, you have not show which veins of theory rely on his work. Therefore, unless either of you provide specifics, it is difficult to take you seriously.

A link to a general google search is not what counts for a specific reference.

Since everyone manipulates affirmative action (in my experience) for their own benefit, I don’t really think that this will change much long before he was designated the villain of the week.

Larry, at 7:42 am EDT on August 25, 2005