When is a hate crime not a hate crime?

In ultra-liberal Austin, Texas, an interesting answer is provided by the city's politically correct police department, a naive newspaper reporter named Juana Summers, and the race-hustling president of the local NAACP, Nelson Linder.

By David Paulin

Crimes motivated by racism are classified as "hate crimes" under federal statutes. Consider one hate crime that occurred not long ago in a mid-sized city in Texas.

Late one night, a black woman living in a predominately white neighborhood was startled awake by the sound of breaking glass. Inside her 4-year-old son's room, she found a brick. Attached to it was a note: "Keep Eastside White. Keep Eastside Strong."

Yes, a clear-cut case of racism. A hate crime. Yet incredibly, the police decided otherwise. Why? Police said the note did not constitute "hate speech." Accordingly, the crime "probably would be criminal mischief and deadly conduct, both misdemeanors," according to police.

No doubt, the brick-throwing incident -- and the police's handling of it -- would surely make a good story for Harvard's Henry Louis Gates to include in yet another essay or book on America's deep-seated racism. Racism that he recently experienced first-hand.

The forgoing incident, by the way, occurred not long ago in Austin, Texas. However, a few small details were changed to make a point: The mother was in fact white; she was living in a predominately black neighborhood; and the note on the brick said: Keep Eastside Black. Keep Eastside Strong." This may help to explain why police decided there was no hate crime: Hate crimes, of course, can only be committed by whites against other racial and ethnic minorities.

The mother in this case, Barbara Frische, also got no sympathy from the head of Austin's NAACP -- a group that, of course, is the first to shout "hate crime" when the victim is black -- and the perpetrator white.

"Throwing a brick into somebody's home, that's a crime. It's a criminal act, and that's how it should be addressed," said Nelson Linder, president of the local NAACP chapter, during an interview with the Austin American-Statesman.

According to reporter Juana Summers, "Linder said this incident is linked to an undercurrent of racism that city leaders have yet to address in East Austin." It's a curious statement. Because presumably, Linder is talking about racism against blacks – not whites – in the predominately black part of town where Frische lives.

The politically correct Statesman -- attempting to put the brick-throwing incident into context -- explained that the neighborhood where Frische lives has been undergoing lots of changes that are upsetting to minority residents:

African-American and Latino residents had been in the majority since the 1920s and '30s — a trend that is starting to change. Now, some of their descendants are selling their properties to a new wave of affluent investors and would-be residents. Property taxes have doubled, tripled or more since 2000, according to Travis Central Appraisal District records.

"I think it's a very sensitive time for a lot of people," Linder said. "Certainly as African Americans we're under a lot of pressure, but that's not an excuse" (for throwing a brick through somebody's window).

The Statesman's Alice-in-Wonderland story had an Alice-in-Wonderland headline:

"Police: Brick thrown through window not hate crime/Incident is linked to an undercurrent of racism that city leaders have yet to address in East Austin, NAACP leader says."

In other words, blacks who commit hate crimes are not racist because, well, it's white racism that's motivating them.

Make sense? It does to many in a liberal city like Austin.

This was originally published at American Thinker.

Angry citizens fight ethnic lobbies in Austin, Tex.

By David Paulin

Angry citizens in Austin, Tex. are giving local ethnic lobbies a taste of their own medicine.

It's the latest twist in a controversy that has gripped this liberal and open-borders city -- the state's capital --since last week. That's when two local radio hosts engaged in a politically incorrect discussion of illegal immigration during their morning talk show.

Last Monday, the radio station canceled the "Todd and Don Show" following vocal complaints from a local Hispanic group and self-appointed "Hispanic leaders" who felt insulted by the show. But since then, some angry listeners who felt the cancellation was a case of political correctness gone amuck have fought back. They began boycotting one of the radio station's big advertisers, according to an article in yesterday's Austin American-Statesman.

Ironically, the station, KLBJ-AM, had caved into the vocal Hispanic lobbies after they had threatened to boycott the radio station.

The KLBJ advertiser being boycotted is a mortgage broker and small-business owner named Chris Penders. He has "lost out on $28,400 from four clients who chose not to close on mortgage refinance loans because they were upset with KLBJ owner Emmis Austin Radio for canceling the talk show after protests from Hispanic leaders," the Statesman reported.

The paper also noted:

Callers upset over the cancellation of the show far outnumber the other side, said Penders, whose business has about a dozen full-time employees. Penders said he's fielded about 20 e-mails and 15 phone calls about the controversy since Tuesday. He said he is worried that the boycotts will put him out of business.

Referring to the boycotts, Penders -- a long-time KLBJ advertiser -- told the Statesman: "What's really outrageous here is we haven't done anything wrong."

That some Austin residents are taking on the city's bullying ethnic lobbies calls up an observation that Thomas Jefferson once made: "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." And in Austin, that means public-spirited citizens have decided they've had enough of ethnocentric ethnic groups that have traditionally gotten their way, until now. Those lobbies and self-appointed "Hispanic leaders," to be sure, do not speak for every American of Mexican descent in Austin, far from it. In fact, many have themselves left comments at the Statesman's website complaining about the talk show's cancellation.

An earlier article at American Thinker's blog -- "Ethnic Lobbies Handed Victory in Austin, Texas" -- provides additional background about the controversy.

America's New Surgeon General: Is she 'Fat with Hunger'?

By David Paulin

President Obama's pick of Alabama physician Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General -- a woman whose ample figure has raised eyebrows -- comes amid news reports that obesity among black Americans is at an all time high and is far more problematic for blacks than for other ethnic and racial groups.

How times change. In the early 1960s, socialist author Michael Harrington discussed obesity among poor Americans in his seminal book on poverty, "The Other America." Harrington, though no dietitian, explained away an odd contradiction unique to America: Why were so many poor folks fat – not skinny? It was, he wrote, because they were "fat with hunger, for that is what fat cheap foods do."

Harrington's book came on the eve of President Johnson's ill-fated "War on Poverty." Some observers credit Harrington's book with having been a "driving force" behind the epic program's initiatives that changed American's culture and helped expand its deficit -- Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, expanded Social Security benefits.

Today, interestingly, hardly any credible discussion of obesity does what Harrington did – positing a singular link between obesity and the claim that millions of Americans are "fat with hunger" because they're able to afford only "cheap foods." Indeed, recent reports about America's obesity epidemic -- which is hitting blacks and Hispanics the hardest -- focused attention mostly on behavior and culture.

As a recent article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:

Here are the hard numbers: Blacks have a 51 percent greater prevalence of obesity than whites, and Hispanics have 21 percent greater obesity prevalence than whites, according to researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Obesity rates also vary geographically. Among blacks and whites, the highest rates of obesity are in the South and Midwest.

Among Hispanics, obesity rates were highest in the South, Midwest and West, according to the July 17 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a CDC publication.

"There are at least three reasons for these findings," said study author Dr. Liping Pan, a CDC epidemiologist. "The first is individual behavior." For example, blacks and Hispanics are less likely to engage in physical activity compared with whites, she said.

There are also differences in attitudes and cultural norms, Pan said. "For example, black and Hispanic women are more accepting of their own body size than white women," she said. "They are happy with their weight and less likely to try to lose weight."

The third factor is the limited access to healthy affordable food and safe places to engage in physical activity....

Presumably, neither Regina Benjamin nor many other members of the comfortable black middle-class suffer from the third (and least common) cause for the obesity epidemic: "limited access to healthy affordable food and safe places to engage in physical activity."

Perhaps it's time for Harrington's publishers to issue an updated edition of "The Other America."

This was originally published at The American Thinker.

Global Warming and Giant Squid

By David Paulin

It was bound to happen: Some jokers in the mainstream media would make a connection between global warming and all those giant, monster squad swarming off San Diego. Sort of reminds me of one of those 1950's sci-fi movies on atomic monsters. Here's a link to Google hits. It seems that global warming is not only responsible for the giant squid swarming off Southern California's shores, but global warming is responsible for their huge size, too.

This sort of news must be really scaring the hell out of little kids. Just think of all the bad publicity the Bush administration would have gotten if the squid had showed up a few years ago.

Nobody is saying how these sea monsters taste, incidentally. Personally, I love fried squid.

My favorite Op-Ed on the psychology of global warming comes from the Wall Street Journal: "Global Warming as Mass Neurosis." The Journal, however, is not the sort of paper that young journalists read who rush to make connections between global warming and giant squid.

A slightly different version of this was originally published at the American Thinker.

Ethnic lobbies handed victory in Austin, TX

'Hispanic leaders' enraged over ethnic 'slur scandal' -- a controversy hyped by politically correct newspaper

By David Paulin

A radio station in Austin, Texas, has canceled a talk show after local ethnic lobbies expressed outrage over politically incorrect banter on the show concerning illegal immigration.

KLBJ-AM announced on Monday that it had canceled the “Todd and Don Show" following complaints and lobbying from local "Hispanic leaders" and the Austin-based U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association.

The entire show may be heard here. Radio hosts Todd Jeffries and Don Pryor, during their morning broadcast last week, frequently uttered the term “wetback” when discussing the political correctness of illegal immigration and, specifically, the terms used to describe illegal immigrants.

The radio personalities, who'd already apologized for their comments, had been on unpaid suspension for two weeks. The men, who are white, will reportedly be reassigned.

According to the local newspaper, the liberal Austin American-Statesman, the use of the term “wetback” by the radio hosts had deeply offended local “Hispanic leaders” and members of the Austin-based U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association. The paper described “wetback” as an “ethnic slur.”

Unfortunately for the radio hosts, the contractors' group and local Hispanic leaders” said there were not satisfied with their mere two-week suspension. Accordingly, the contractors' group threatened a boycott of the radio station's parent company. Emmis Austin Radio, its six local stations and their advertisers.

Interestingly, the radio hosts had not engaged in name calling. Their use of the term “wetback” was part of a wide-ranging discussion about illegal immigration and the terms used to describe people who cross the nation's borders illegally. At some points during the show, the two hosts even expressed sympathy for illegal immigrants. They even gently upbraided a listener for having, they said, made unfair assumptions about Spanish-speaking families standing in lines at local grocery stores. (She said she knew they were illegal immigrants.)

But no matter.

The radio show was too much for politically correct and ultraliberal Austin -- an open-borders and “sanctuary city.” Here, local media outlets avoid terms like “illegal immigrant” or “illegal alien.” More often than not, a person's status as an illegal immigrant is not even mentioned when that person is arrested by police.

In its hyperventilating news stories about the ethic "slur scandal" -- as the Statesman called it -- the paper frequently referred to “Hispanic leaders” being outraged over the radio show. Those Hispanic leaders included a former Austin mayor Gus Garcia and former Texas Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos.

Interestingly, they and other Hispanic leaders involved in the "slur controversy" were at the center of another controversy last year -- one in which when they reportedly pressured Austin's new city manger to award city contracts to Hispanic contractors. The meeting between the city manger and Hispanic leaders had racial overtones, because the newly hired city manger is black.

Describing what occurred, local Statesman columnist Alberta Phillips, who is black, contended that City Manger Mark Ott was not insensitive toward Hispanics. She condemned the Hispanic leaders for having “tried to pressure Ott into steering more city contracts their way and promoting Assistant City Manager Rudy Garza to the position of deputy city manager — never mind that the post does not exist.”

The uproar over the politically incorrect radio show take a strange twist when it emerged that the website of the Hispanic contractors group contained a video clip making fun of the local gay community. The contractors' association, however, did not suffer any of the fallout that befell KLBJ-AM and its two radio hosts.

While the Statesman frequently referred to the outrage of “Hispanic leaders” over the show, there was a more muted reaction from many of the Statesman's readers who – in comments left at the paper's website – identified themselves as Mexican-Americans or as Americans of Mexican descent. Many said they either were not offended or felt that many people were overreacting to the alleged “ethnic slur.”

Beyond that, many readers said the uproar over the radio show – a controversy the Statesman hyped to the limit – was a case of political correctness gone amuck and a defeat for free speech.

Some noted that members of the local “Hispanic community” use terms like “wetback” and “gringo” - terms that also are heard on local Spanish-language radio shows.

Two comments underscored the political and cultural divide in Texas regarding illegal immigration.

One reader wrote:

I voiced my opinion several days ago that I believed Don Pryor should be fired for repeatedly saying "wet****" and then asking what's wrong with using this good old word. I remember hearing that insulting and derogatory word here in Austin in the 1950s. I couldn't believe it when I heard on the local news that this word had been aired!! Don must also be ignorant of history. The U.S. government imposed that border after waging an illegal and immoral war against Mexico in 1846. Indigenous peoples had been migrating back and forth for thousands of years. This is their sacred Motherland and not somewhere across oceans and thousands of miles away. That's why it's erroneous and ironic to call them "illegal immigrants" as soon as they cross over that scar on Mother Earth.

Another reader responded:

And what history book did you read...? The official biased history of Mexico? Try reading some *real* history books and you'll see that the Revolution against Santa Ana and Mexico in 1846 was justified, and Mexico is damn lucky that the US didn't decide to conquer everything between Panama and the Rio Grande when that scumbag hero of yours, Pancho Villa, started raiding the border. We should have taken over Mexico, added about 10 more stars to the US Flag, and then run that part of the world properly instead of the total clusterf*ck it is now.

UPDATED: The Austin American-Statesman finally did a story about what many in politically correct Austin see as a double standard by the U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association. The Austin-based ethnic lobby has been in a rage over the use of an alleged "ethnic slur" ("wetback") during a local radio show last week. Yet the contractors' group, ironically, had itself crossed the line of political correctness: On its website was a video clip making fun of gays. Whether anybody at the contractors' group suffers the same fate as the radio hosts, who are white, remains to be seen. The contractors' group pulled the gay-bashing clip from its website after finding itself in the glare of the political correctness spotlight -- a spotlight the politically correct Statesman

belatedly turned on the contractors' group late Tuesday afternoon.

This was originally published at the American Thinker.

Liberal economics: Utility hikes will pay for 'Green' energy in Austin, TX






By David Paulin

In wacky Austin, Texas, liberal elites in city government have for years promoted "Green energy" -- including wind-generated and solar power -- to fight global warming. And no matter if "Green energy" was more expensive than power generated by fossil fuels: Fortunately, those who wanted the more expensive "Green" energy were -- under long-standing policy -- the ones who paid for it.

Now, however, the cost of the city's "Green energy" -- specifically, its wind-generated power -- has gotten so expensive that ALL of Austin's utility users will, it seems, have to pay for the cost of going "Green," according to liberal elites on the Austin City Council. Thomas Lifson, American Thinker's publisher and editor, previously warned of this when liberal greenies refused to pay the higher costs voluntarily

As the Austin American-Statesman reports:

The council's ambitious goal of getting 30 percent of the city's electricity from renewable sources by 2020 could be in jeopardy if Austin Energy relies exclusively on its landmark GreenChoice program, which offers wind-generated power at a cost that recently spiked to more than 50 percent higher than that of the standard electricity generated by fossil fuels.

Now, City Council members say, all Austin Energy customers may need to shoulder the cost of going green.

"If we have to spread the cost" to sell enough renewable energy, "that's something we should do," Council Member Sheryl Cole said. "Austin should move forward in its leadership role in heading off global warming."

The mentality here calls up a famous quote from William Graham Sumner, an influential academic in the 19th century. He wrote:

The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C's interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man.

That phrase -- "The Forgotten Man" -- is also the title of Amity Shlaes' recent book -- a fascinating revisionist history of the Great Depression. It provides a good read for those who want to understand how big government under FDR prolonged America's dark economic troubles rather than easing them. That liberal media elites have dubbed President Obama the "black FDR" says much about the direction the country is heading. --originally published at The American Thinker.

Venezuela newspapers under siege

David Paulin

Hugo Chavez has apparently found a new way to crack down on Venezuela's press -- by denying newspapers the chance to buy U.S. dollars needed to import news print. In one sense, this is business as usual in Venezuela -- albeit with much more ideological bullying and dictatorial impulses on the part of the Chavez administration.

Venezuelans and foreign companies -- under the exchange controls implemented by the previous administration of Rafael Caldera -- also had problems obtaining dollars under exchange controls. But those who were politically well-connected, or who kissed the rings of the right bureaucrats, were able to go to the front of the line and buy all the dollars they needed to import goods needed to keep their businesses afloat --and profitable.

Chavez, when campaigning for office in the late 1990s, had promised to stop widespread corruption, restore living standards, and make Venezuela's government accountable. Instead, he repackaged three bad ideas from Venezuela's past -- Statism, populism, and authoritarianism -- and took them to new heights. What's more, he rebranded these bad ideas under a socialist, anti-American banner. Not surprisingly, this has made Chavez a hero to the international left, even as Venezuela sinks deeper into chaos and poverty. The latest causalities are Venezuela's newspapers. (This was originally published at The American Thinker.)

Among other articles on Hugo Chavez and Venezuela at this blog, also see: "In Perspective: Hugo's Anti-Americanism."

Texas radio hosts suspended for 'ethnic slur' (updated)





David Paulin

Responding to outrage from the city's ethnic lobbies, a local radio station in ultraliberal Austin, Tex., has suspended the two hosts of a local radio show. The men, during some morning banter on illegal immigration, uttered what's being called a hateful "ethnic slur" -- "wetbacks." An excerpt from the program, as described by the politically correct daily paper, the Austin American-Statesman, related:

(Don) Pryor began using the word during a discussion at the outset of the show about the language used to describe people who are in the country illegally. (Todd) Jeffries noted that the USA Today newspaper uses the term "illegal immigrants" but not the words "illegal" or "illegals" as nouns, and avoids using the term "alien" unless it's in direct a quote.

"OK, so that's not PC," Pryor said.

When Jeffries said the National Council of La Raza, the Hispanic advocacy group, encourages the use of "undocumented immigrants" or "undocumented workers," Pryor asked: "Whatever happened to the good old word 'wetback' ? What was wrong with that?"

"Inappropriate," Jeffries responded.

Later during the discussion, Pryor, the son of local radio legend and humorist Cactus Pryor, said he was merely trying to come up "with a more efficient way of saying it, that's all, and just bring back a little of good ol' classic Americana."

According to Statesman writer Juan Castillo, "many Mexican Americans consider (the term "wetback) hurtful and highly offensive, on par with the n-word for African Americans." However, in a section for readers' comments, some Mexican-Americans say they have no problem with the word to describe Mexicans who are here working and living illegally. One reader, summing up the controversy that has attracted a massive number of reader comments that reflect Austin's cultural divide, wrote:

I know plenty of Hispanics who use that term regularly to describe Hispanics that come across the border illegally. It's apparently a well-used term in the Hispanic community. But, when a white person uses the term, it's politically offensive. Thank god we have the PC police working to keep everyone in line. God help us. Don't we have more important things to worry about???

The Austin American-Statesman ended up taking down all 290 readers comments -- all made since this morning -- regarding its story on the alleged "ethnic slurs" (i.e. "wetbacks") made by two hosts of a local radio program. Apparently, strong comments by readers regarding illegal immigration -- together with the use of politically incorrect terms such as "wetbacks" -- were too much for Austin's ethnic lobbies. And so the comments had to go: A case of self-censorship by politically correct editors.

Meanwhile, the Statesman has posted audio of comments with this statement: "Editor's warning: Contains offensive language." You can judge for yourself whether the comments are hateful and offensive given the context in which they were made.

Incidentally, Statesman author Juan Castillo, in his article, mentioned alleged abuses evolving from an Eisenhower-era deportation program known as "Operation Wetback." Some quick research I did shows there were indeed some abuses. However, the program also appears to have been a huge success, as this fascinating article notes in the Christian Science Monitor.

Update: Well, wouldn't you know it. The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that the city's "Hispanic leaders" are "not satisfied" with a two-week suspension (without pay) of two radio hosts who used an allegedly hateful word on the air -- "wetback." Accordingly, they're demanding that a local radio station take "further action." As usual, the readers' comments at the end of this article are illuminating. Read'em while you can before the politically correct Statesman deletes them!

This was originally published at The American Thinker.

How Obama is good for business

By David Paulin

Who says the Obama administration is not good for business? This article refutes that claim: "States awash in stimulus money to weatherize homes." And no doubt about it: weatherizing homes would be a good racket to get into right now -- especially with concerns rife that the program will "stimulate" lots of waste and fraud.

How does one get started in the "weatherizing" business?

In ultra-liberal "sanctuary cities" like Austin, Texas, you could go to one of those city-run "day labor" sites, and pick up some illegal immigrants to do the work. To transport them around town, you could trade in your gas-guzzling SUV and get a $4,500 tax credit. And besides weatherizing homes, you might check out projects that the city offers to businesses that are "certified (as) Minority or Women-Owned Business Enterprise." (Those are businesses that are "51-percent owned by "minorities".) If your "minority-owned" business is short of cash, the details on how to get startup funds are laid out right here: "Minority Business Grants - How to Get Free Government Money You Never Pay Back."

Of course, the one pitfall of such business opportunities is that you'll need to make sure you're company is not too successful -- or you'll be taxed to death to support a slew of "green" initiatives. Not to mention "social programs" for the nation's growing ranks of the unemployed. The Obama administration giveth -- and it taketh away. But business people who know how to play the game are sure to win.

As the old saw goes: "It's an ill wind that blows no good."

This was originally published at the American Thinker blog.

Out of the Past: Ordeal by Newspaper

By David Paulin

Americans were shocked by the story of a petite 72-year-old grandmother getting “Tased” during a routine traffic stop in Texas last month. Dash-cam video of the screaming grandmother and strapping, Taser-wielding deputy was a YouTube hit.

Now, a second story from central Texas has emerged involving the “Tasing” of an elderly woman. However, this was what might be called a journalistic “Tasing.”

The victim was 81-year-old Lori Adams of Smithville – a town of 4,400 residents about 40 miles southeast of Austin, the capital. Adams' tormentors were a young newspaper reporter, Andrea Lorenz, and her editors at the Austin American-Statesman.

What happened to the 81-year-old in the space of three days is a parable on how easily the news media can hold up people to public admiration, and then destroy their reputations – all for the sake of the public's right to know. It raises questions about the ethics and values of Lorenz and her editors. And it provokes larger issues related to forgiveness, redemption, and how one should measure a person's character.

Readers of the Statesman, an influential Cox newspaper, were recently treated to a front-page feature by Lorenz: “81-year old pilot still flying high."

The 750-word story described how Adams -- a “bubbly and energetic” 81-year-old -- is an active pilot and flight instructor with 29,000 hours of flying time. Calling her the “Queen of the airport bums,” it noted the spunky redhead enjoys hanging out with the guys at Smithville's small airport.

On top of that, the story noted Adams enjoys doing aerobatics in a single-engine airplane, a Citabria that she co-owns. She even took the plane up for a solo flight -- doing loops for the benefit of the Statesman's reporter and photographer. Adams had for years operated the “Lori Adams Flying Service” in the Houston area, until selling the business in 1982. She returned to Smithville, her hometown, nearly 20 years ago.

“When she gets into an airplane, she goes into her own world,” Smithville resident Austin Wampler was quoted as saying. A friend of Adams, he's one of her flight students and co-owns the Citabria.

The story's first paragraph started cheerfully:

"As the saying goes, there are no old, bold pilots. And 81-year-old Lori Adams said she certainly isn't bold."

In the newspaper trade, such stories are called “feel good” or “puff” pieces. Generally, they rely on what the reporter is told by the interview subject and maybe one or two of the person's friends and associates.

Soon after the story ran, somebody sent the Statesman an e-mail revealing a dark episode in Adams' life. Forty years ago, police in the Houston area charged Adams, then 42, with beating her 5-year-old stepson to death.

The Statesman checked out the allegation, and sure enough, it learned Adams had pleaded “no contest” to such a crime in 1973, 36 years ago. Lorenz and her editors were intrigued: Some follow-up was definitely needed. So the next day, Lorenz phoned Adams to get her side of the story.

Adams told me, during an interview, that she was shocked to hear Lorenz on the phone -- urging her to talk about the tragic episode in her life: Nobody in Smithville even knew about it, she noted. “I said: 'That's 40 years ago!” You're not going to bring that up, are you? Why would you do that? It has nothing to do with that story (on my flying) that you did about me.'”

Adams grew concerned that Lorenz was irritated at her refusal to give her side of the story – and would write something if she refused to talk, she said.

'Skeletons in the closet'

What happened next provoked much controversy in central Texas about the Statesman's ethics. It also highlighted a clash of values – the small-town values of Smithville's residents verses the urbane values of the Statesman's editors, who fancy themselves as guardians of the public's right to know. In a sense, this was a dispute over "journalistic values" verses "human values."

For the rest of the article, go to the American Thinker.