QUICK HITS: Stanley Crouch weighs in on the reversed convictions in the Abner Louima case. There's an interesting revelation that I apparently missed (and I haven't heard publicized too much, either):
Louima, as we all knew he would, became a millionaire, although I thought the $8.7 million he got was light, at least by half. At almost every point, Louima conducted himself with radiant dignity. He even admitted to having been initially advised to lie for the headlines and say the cops who sodomized him with a broomstick sneered, "It's Giuliani time!"
I thought the bit about the officer yelling "It's Giuliani time" actually happened. Interesting what you learn years after the fact. Crouch also had this useful note:
Of course, as any number of Haitians will tell you, if his torture had happened in Haiti, one would never have heard of Louima. And if there had been much of a fuss, those doing the fussing probably would have disappeared. Anyone from Guinea, with the possible exception of Diallo's parents, will tell you that in his homeland he would have died with no more noise than the 41 shots, and that would have been that. In those black countries, you don't say much about the police or the army unless you say it under your breath — and only then to those you trust with your life.
Funny how no one in the mainstream media mentioned this when the controversies were raging.
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It seems that members of the left-leaning British press aren't as high-minded as they'd like to believe. They've been silencing dissent, according to this article.
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Bill Quick has some great stuff on the media today. Just go there and read. I'm way too busy right now, and it looks like he stayed up pretty late last night (on a school night, no less). Quick points out something I missed during my daily reading: a "Washington Post" story on the dangers faced by journalists in Afghanistan.