Police have released the 911 call from Max Wolfard of SAE. My favorite part is the girl in the background when she finds out the laptop was stolen by Masoli.  Below is the video from Downtown Eugene News.

This photograph was taken of the tennis courts on the back side of the turf fields. Looks like someone is really sticking it to the man by defacing public property–property that everyone’s money will go to help clean up.

Great job, activists. You’ve sincerely shown just how little you understand.

Oregon Commentator/Kiefer VerSteegh

This image was taken from one of the outer walls of Bean West, near the Hamilton complex. Apparently somebody thought that the dorms (or the university) was much like that of a repressive regime. Does that mean that Dick Lariviere is comparable to Stalin? According to the meaningful social commentary spray-painted on a college dormitory in Oregon, yes. Yes he is.

No word yet on finding the perpetrators. Must solve other spray paint-related crimes first.

Embry and Masoli/KVAL

“So when my little brother comes to visit in April, does this mean I can take him to the Eugene prison to get his football signed?”

That was what my friend’s Facebook status read today. That particular person is from the state of New York, only further proving that the rest of the country thinks our football team is a bunch of losers.

Jeremiah Masoli plead guilty today, as I am sure you are all aware of. What does this mean now, as far as our football team goes? To be honest, I don’t particularly care (blasphemy!) What I am worried about, however, is the strain this puts on our school and our surrounding community. The comparisons have been ample, so I won’t go into depth here, but I assume the coming wave of displeasure will feel much like it did around the summer of 2003.

Is it too cliche to wonder about the sense of “entitlement” our athletes have, what with the lavish surroundings Uncle Phil surrounds them with?  Masoli ran into legal trouble in high school, and the fact that he was willing to again commit a crime–this time with so much more to lose as an adult and as the face of a team that is sponsored by the world’s largest shoe company–is absolutely inexplicable.

There are so many consequences to Masoli’s actions, much farther reaching than I’m sure he’s imagined up until now. The state of Oregon, Eugene, even Phil Knight’s contributions to the University could be affected Masoli’s lust for musical instrumentation.

I’m also curious about how the rest of the student-athletes feel, especially from the football team. I highly doubt any of them would talk (for “brotherhood” or from simply being muzzled by the AD) but I’m sure that many of them, upstanding individuals, feel like they are now unfairly painted with the same colors as Masoli, James, Beard and Embry.

Good thing Spring Break is coming up. We all need some rest from this insanity.

Apparently a few police officers in Clackamas have had their feelings hurt by a local man, Robert J. Ekas. According to an article by the Oregonian, Ekas has been arrested several times in the last few years for offering his middle finger to passing officers as a sign of civil protest.

Ekas gave the finger to a deputy in July 2007 while driving near Clackamas Town Center, according to the lawsuit. With the deputy in pursuit, Ekas said he opened his sunroof and again extended a middle finger. The deputy turned on his flashing lights. Ekas stopped and was cited for an illegal lane change and improper display of license plates. He was acquitted of the charges.

Apparently Ekas has filed a lawsuit in the matter, and I really hope he wins it. The purpose of the police force is to “protect and serve.” It is not an uncommon feeling among our citizens that often times they do not fulfill those duties.

What it boils down to is the fact that Ekas has a right to free speech, even if it is a daily bird-flipping to a sheriff. I’m glad to see that self-important traffic cops got their panties in a fuss. It might help them to understand the law next time.

Stumbled across this totally great interview between Oregon head coach Chip Kelly and the Oregonian’s John Canzano. The conversation is ridiculous, mostly because I can’t tell if Canzano is an idiot or if he’s just trying to squeeze some information out of Kelly that he doesn’t want to give out.

Around minute 1:15 Canzano raises a concern to Kelly about whether or not LaMichael James is receiving “star treatment” referencing Kiki Alonso’s year-long suspension after getting a DUII recently. Canzano points out that LaMichael was in jail for 2 days and he hasn’t received an equal amount of discipline.

Kelly responded to Canzano that “I believe my player” leading me to think that at some point, both Alonso and James have had conversations with Kelly. The result of those conversations, or so it seems by Kelly’s responses, is that Alonso may have admitted to Kelly that yes, he was at fault, and that James has told Kelly that he is innocent. Of course, this is merely speculation, as Canzano asked Kelly directly whether or not Kelly was implying that James was innocent. “I’m not commenting on a specific situation,” said Kelly.

Kelly got pissed at Canzano saying, “When this whole thing shakes out, when all the facts are out, you put me on the air again. And you apologize [to me].” The rest of the conversation is totally hilarious, with Kelly arguing semantics of his quotes with Canzano, and Canzano pushing Kelly to ban LaMichael James, “On my program!”

The situation is rapidly becoming more and more ridiculous. Of course, the question is and always will be, why are our football players — seemingly all at once — deciding to get themselves into trouble? Since the parties are innocent until proven guilty, I won’t make overly broad statements, but it should be pointed out that if you are in a situation where you are accused of something like DUII or putting your hands on a woman (or really, anyone), you need to seriously reconsider your direction in life. At the least, there should be some kind of serious oversight by the Athletic Department and our Administration.

What is it with Oregon athletics? We just got over the infamy of being the “Jail Blazers,” the pot smoking, player punching, reckless driving numbskulls of the early 2000’s…. then we have Blount sock a guy in the face and run after a fan… then we get an alleged theft charge against Masoli and Embry… and now…..

LaMichael James faces domestic violence charges.

After reaching the Rose Bowl, the offseason hasn’t gone so great for Oregon. Three weeks after starting quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was accused of stealing laptops, top running back LaMichael James has been arrested on a domestic violence charge.

Police in Springfield, Ore., would not discuss the incident. James, who ran for 1,546 yards as a freshman last season, is facing misdemeanor charges of menacing, strangulation and assault.

This is not the first arrest for James. He was charged with disorderly conduct and third-degree battery in 2008. Those charges were dismissed last year.

Masoli and James were the two top offensive weapons for the Ducks in 2009 and both were mentioned as possible Heisman contenders.

There was no reaction from Oregon after the arrest.

“We don’t know any more than than what’s been reported,” athletic department official Dave Williford told KVAL News

Right after I get all happy about the Marcus Camby trade to the Blazers, I get all sad. PS: That trade was awesome, and, even if Camby doesn’t work out (he’s a bit old if you haven’t noticed), he’s a free agent next year and it opens up some cap space for us to make a push at signing a big, young guy, like Bosh or Horford or something. Cross your fingers.

It’s just not fair. This could have some serious ramifications toward next years team if menacing or assault gets upgraded to a felony.

Maybe Oregon should start an MMA team or a professional klepto-team or something and actually win a championship.

An e-mail between a former OSPIRG employee and last year’s ASUO Executive Sam Dotters-Katz

This morning I came to the office, and one of our staffers gave me a hard copy of an e-mail given to her by a person who wished to remain anonymous. It was an e-mail sent last year to then-ASUO Executive Sam Dotters-Katz by a former staffer at a branch of what I believe is SOUPIRG (The redacted parts, from what I can make out, say “SOU”–Southern Oregon University). I contacted Mr. Dotters-Katz this morning to confirm the legitimacy of the e-mail, which he verified. The e-mail is rather interesting. Here’s the body:

“Sam,

I felt compelled to write you after watching part of the Senate meeting last night, especially the part involving OSPIRG’s appeal. I am currently a grad student at U of O, but I was an OSPIRG organizer for one term in REDACTED, when I worked at the REDACTED campus.

Toward the end of my term, I began to feel increasingly uncomfortable “selling” OSPIRG to REDACTED students, as my job basically required me to do. The main reason was that it became so apparent that the decision-makers in the organization weren’t the students, but were the staff. The OSPIRG board meeting I attended then were essentially shames, where students would read from a script prepared by a staff  member and then ram all staff proposed decisions through.

When our student chapter at REDACTED tried to request a small amount of money for a Hunger and Homeless Benefit, we were subjected to a horrific bureaucracy. To be blunt, the student’s couldn’t even retrieve a portion of their own money [emphasis original].

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In accordance with the post I published on Feb. 1st, it seems more and more OSPIRG representatives (many of them non-students) are milling around campus, collecting signatures for their upcoming ballot measure, handing out stickers etc. I’ve stood by and heard the pitch to unassuming students and it goes something like this, “Are you a student? Do you want to help get lower textbook prices and tuition? I’m from OSPIRG and we’re trying to get our funding back so we can send students to work on issues important to students here at the UO.”

What they do not volunteer, however, is how their funding is appropriated from our students. That is, unless you’re like our distribution manager, Nicholas Ekblad, who had a conversation with one of the signature gatherers in which the OSPIRG employee gave up asking for his signature once it was evident Ekblad was aware of how their funding worked.

If you want a primer on the OSPIRG situation in general, CJ Ciaramella wrote a great article about it last year. If you want to see how and where OSPIRG is suggesting appropriating their budget, you can read my post from this Summer.

What is concerning about the signature gatherers, however, is their lack of explanation regarding the appropriation of would-be OSPIRG funds. To be honest, the fact that OSPIRG isn’t telling students that $103,000 would go directly off campus seems pretty predatory. Under the premise of “saving students money” OSPIRG wants to recklessly spend over $100k off campus. Of course, there are still some people who believe that the money–for some astounding reason–should go off campus.

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This swastika was spray painted on the carpet of the LGBTQA on Sunday

There has been a candlelight vigil. There has been a march. As DPS continues to investigate the spray painting of a swastika in the office of the LGBTQA, we still have yet to find any answers. And, looking at the happenings going on in the Daily Emerald columns and their comments section, many people are jumping to rather rash conclusions.

Members of the LGBTQA have already tied the swastika directly to the Pacifica Forum, as seen in today’s Emerald, “LGBTQA Co-Director Alex Esparza linked the Forum’s rhetoric to the incident and criticized the ASUO’s decision. ‘I would like to see a student government that takes a stand against acts of hate like this,’ he said as EMU staff were removing the pieces of carpet upon which the symbol was painted.”

This is a slippery slope, legally speaking, as the organizers of the Forum exercise no control over what speakers say.  So even if a speaker got up and incited the crowd to immediately go break into the LGBTQA with spray paint only the speaker would be guilty of incitement.

Of course, now from the other side (quoting here from the Emerald’s comments section) there has been much discussion as to whether or not the LGBTQA, “may have painted it on their own office floor.” Again, this is a serious allegation, one of political violence as a means to an end.

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Today we received a disturbing e-mail from ASUO VP Getachew Kassa informing us of vandalism on campus.

Hello,

It saddens me to inform you this morning with disturbing news that has
occurred on our campus. Sinjin Carey a member of the ASUO Executive
and a LGBTQA member informed me the LGBTQA office experienced
disturbing acts of vandalism and hate over the weekend. This is wrong
and will not be tolerated. The people responsible for such a hateful
act will pay for there actions. The right folks are being informed. As
more Information is collected it will be shared.

Sincerely,

Getachew Kassa
ASUO Vice President

UPDATE: KVAL University has more information on the vandalism. It occurred sometime late Sunday night or early Monday morning. The vandalism is being reported as  a 4 foot by 4 foot swasitka on the floor of the LGBTQA office.

O’Keefe keepin’ his pimp-hand strong. In jail.

It seems that James O’Keefe, the pimp in the ACORN prostitution scandal, has been arrested for trying to tap the phones of a Democratic Senator from Louisiana.

Of course, as I reported in our Holiday Issue, I’ve seen O’Keefe speak in person. Oddly enough, he spoke during an “Ethics in Journalism” portion of the seminar. The consensus between Drew, Guy and I was that O’Keefe had a loose concept of journalistic integrity. That or he chose to ignore it. Either way, he advocated asinine concepts like, “Start insane student groups that your student government wouldn’t want to fund. Then report them to your students when they do fund something like ‘Students for Beastiality’ ” as the Dartmouth Review did in the 80’s. Other gems of wisdom from the disgraced O’Keefe? “Kill your Dean’s dog. That’s a headline!”

Obviously O’Keefe was never respected for his moral compass. Even the nature of his ACORN scandal was still more along the lines of manufacture than of investigation. Now, with O’Keefe facing criminal charges it’s hard to wonder how anyone took him seriously in the first place.

Especially with those ridiculous glasses.

The recent string of Bank Robberies in Eugene finally have a suspect, and he’s a star. Joshua Tel Warner of the hit reality show “Deadliest Catch” has been named the suspect in the case.  I have always wondered what crab fishermen do when they are not aboard the fishing boats and now I finally have my answer, they rob banks. 

Eugene Police detectives have identified a suspect in three Eugene Bank Robberies and surprisingly the suspect has been on national television.

Joshua Tel Warner, age 23, who appeared as a crewmember aboard the “Wizard” on Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch,” is wanted for the October 19, 2007 robbery of Washington Mutual Bank at 2840 Willamette Street, the April 3, 2009, robbery of Pacific Continental bank at 1450 High Street, and the August 28, 2009, robbery of the same Pacific Continental Bank.

Warner’s date of birth is June 29, 1986. He is a white male, 6′1″, weighing approximately 185-195 pounds. He has an unknown tattoo on his right thigh.

Warner was accompanied by a second male during the most recent robbery. Police have identified the second suspect but an arrest warrant is being sought prior to publicly naming him.

Warner, a former Oakridge resident, is aware that police are looking for him. He has likely fled the local area and may have gone to the east coast. There are also concerns he may try to flee to Canada or Mexico.

Warner came to national attention during the 2008-2009 Alaskan King Crab season featured on the Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch.” He was a “green-horn” deckhand aboard the “Wizard” where his actions and confrontations with deckhands and the captain made him well known to the show’s followers.

Prior to fishing in Alaska, Warner was a Dungeness Crab fisherman on the Oregon coast and a wildland firefighter.
Anyone with information about Warner’s whereabouts is asked to contact their local police department or Detective Jeff Donaca of the Eugene Oregon Police Department at (541) 682-5193. Also, anyone with additional information about the robberies or other crimes involving Warner and his accomplice is asked to contact Detective Donaca.

Well

Happy New Term!

Ruining family values, one supervillain at a time.

In sticking with the concept of global natural rights, it seems that the country of Uganda is considering passing a law that makes homosexual activity punishable by death. No mucking about with jail time – it’s straight to the gallows for Barry and Terry.

To give you an idea of just how against homosexuality Ugandans are, here’s a quote from a New York Times article:

“Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity (who previously tried to ban miniskirts) recently said, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.”

Uganda has a rich history of being mind-fucked by Evangelical Christians, so it should come as little surprise to learn that their fervor for Christian Orthodoxy has dribbled into their legislative system. Although many U.S. citizens fail to act on their homophobic feelings (with exception) apparently Uganda has missed the memo on that bit.

Of course, the Ugandan leaders are considering their options as several countries, including the United States, has threatened the removal of international aide if the law is passed. One can only hope that the law does not pass, but indeed it seems probable that it will in a country so staunchly against basic human rights (you know, the one that lets you live if you’re gay). The issue hits especially close to home for us here in the U.S. considering the current political climate. Let’s hope that if/when the law passes, the U.S. actually has the balls to back up its threat by yanking its aide.

The cartoonist who drew this image, held as one of the most controversial in 2006, was attacked in his home in Denmark recently.

One of the cartoonists of the famous Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons was attacked recently, alongside his granddaughter, inside his home in Denmark. The man, 73, was attacked with an axe by a Somali man (whose name has been withheld in accordance to Danish law) who apparently “has close relations to the Somali terror organization Al Shabab and leaders of Al Qaeda in East Africa”.

The Commentator has always been supportive of the publishers of the cartoons as far as their right to free speech was concerned. Indeed, the Commentator ran the cartoons in their entirety in 2006 and was one of the only western media outlets to do so. Thousands of editorials were printed all over the country, but no one had the balls to contextualize them by re-printing the comics. Indeed, the Commentator found this depressing, and in that issue’s editorial, publisher Bryan Roberts wrote:

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