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February 13, 2012
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Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
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Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
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January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
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Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
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Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
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Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
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Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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January 13, 2012
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January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
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Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
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January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Sept. 9, 2005
/ 5 Elul, 5765
Using the Old Bean
By
Gene Weingarten
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Are you as tired as I am of how the media demonizes people?
For example, take the case of Mark Downs, the T-ball coach in Uniontown, Pa., who is charged with having promised to pay an 8-year-old kid $25 if he hit a 9-year-old kid in the head with a ball. Now the whole country thinks this is a bad guy.
I admit it looks bad, but when you investigate the case further, you learn that the kid on whom the coach allegedly ordered the hit was autistic, and a little mentally retarded, and lacked the physical skills to duck out of the way of a thrown ball.
Okay, okay, still not so great. But, see, that's not the whole story. It turns out that when the thrower only managed to hit the mentally handicapped kid in the groin, the coach allegedly ordered him to try again, and go for the head, and to throw harder this time, dagnabbit. And the kid did, whacking the other kid in the ear.
Yes, it still sounds bad. But that is why the press gets the reputation it does. No one ever asks why someone might twice order a kid to bean a physically and mentally handicapped child with a baseball for a fee of $25.
Well, I found out there was a reason, thank you very much: The coach allegedly wanted to win the game and felt the disabled kid was a loser.
Now, here is what distinguishes me from the average guilty-before-being-proven-innocent reporter, who will just blindly go with these seemingly damaging facts. Knowing that there must be another side to the story, I telephoned the alleged skunk's lawyer for a full-bodied defense.
Me: As far as the world is concerned, your client is evil incarnate. Is he evil incarnate?
Tom Shaffer: No, he is not evil incarnate. He is a family man who works three jobs.
Me: Now, you have been quoted saying that this was all some sort of misunderstanding . . .
Tom: Yes.
Me: . . . Even though the beaner testified at a pretrial hearing that the coach told him to hit the handicapped kid, and the beaner's father testified that, after the beaning, your client admitted to him, directly, that he had ordered it.
Tom: Yeah, well, the father also said his son was the best player on the team. But the statistics say he was not.
Me: Oh.
Tom: And the mother of the boy who was hit testified that her son was bleeding from the ear. So I asked, "When did you take him to the hospital?" And it was five days later! After the game, she took her son for ice cream, along with the boy who threw the ball. See, her son wasn't really hurt.
Me: Is that really the point? Isn't the point whether the coach ordered the hit?
Tom: I'm not going to present my case in the column. I'm not saying this is the case, but let's say that the coach said, "If you throw this ball at this kid, I will pay you $25"?
The question is, doesn't that fall under the category of free speech? In a 1960s case, a Black Panther said, "If you make me put a gun in my hand, the first SOB I'm gonna shoot is LBJ." The Supreme Court ruled that was protected speech.
Me: Because it was conditional?
Tom: Right. But the problem with arguing the First Amendment is that you lose jurors; you can't make these highly technical arguments they can't understand. And I'm not going to have the other side's lawyers play on the feelings and the compassion of the jurors. So I am going to ask for a bench trial, before a judge.
Me: You are Mr. Downs's attorney, trying to spin the best possible case for him, right?
Tom: Right.
Me: Okay, just checking.
Tom: There was a sports story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently about a situation just like this.
Me: [After reading it] It had a line about Ernie Banks offering anyone $100 to hit a certain player. It's from 1961, and everyone involved was a professional athlete.
Tom: Same issue.
Me: You are a toughie, aren't you?
Tom: I played rugby for 20 years, and my father was a boxer, so maybe I am. I have to go out now to run five miles in the heat.
Me, too. I gotta go. I hope youse all learned your lesson about judging people without first getting the whole story. And if you haven't, I'll come over there and bash your head in.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Gene Weingarten writes the Below the Beltway humor column for The Washington Post. To comment, please click here.
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