The Next "New" Outrage:

[TracGunny]

Keep an eye on the news, folks; the next new outrage is building momentum:

Today in Sothern California, in two seperate incidents, teachers brought down loaded photos and video recordings of the beheading of Berg to share with their respective class. After forcing the class to look at or view the video, one of the teachers quiped, "This is what you get for getting involved in a war you don't belong..."

I, or someone else on this board, will post the whole story once it hits the print media. For now you can catch it on Fox or CNN...

[yellowwing]

Califorania? Land of Haight-Ashbury and UC Berkely. Personally I did not watch the video. Upon reading the synopsis, I did not want to see it.

As of 2130 CST there is no stories from a Google news search.

[thedrifter]

TracGunny....I think this is what you were looking for........


Decapitation Allegedly Shown In High Schools
Teachers Placed On Paid Leave

POSTED: 9:44 am PDT May 14, 2004
UPDATED: 5:32 pm PDT May 14, 2004

SAN DIEGO -- Two teachers are suspected of showing students video of American Nick Berg being decapitated, 10News reported.

A social studies teacher from Grossmont High School in El Cajon allegedly showed students Wednesday a portion of the video, pictures and audio of the beheading, Grossmont Unified School District Superintendent Terry Ryan told 10News.

Ryan said the teacher, Michael Smith, (pictured, far right), has been removed from the classroom pending a full investigation.

Smith, an El Cajon native, graduated from Grossmont High School in 1983.

Many of his students wore shirts Friday that read "Free Mr. Smith." Others, who also support Smith, said he is a very popular teacher, but they question his judgement.

An art teacher from El Capitan High School in Lakeside Thursday allegedly noticed a student watching the video and invited other students to come to the computer terminal and watch.

Ryan said the art teacher, Gina Grossini, (pictured, above, right), told the students, "That's what we get for being in a war we shouldn't be in."

Kenneth Blackington, a senior at El Capitan High School, said, "A couple of kids almost fainted during it, and another kid had to go to the bathroom and almost puked."

Grossini was also removed from the classroom.

An investigation has been launched and district officials met with the teachers Friday along with attorneys.

Counseling services have been made available for students.

"We have set aside counseling and we are making a provision at the school that any student who saw the video can have counseling. That is our first and foremost concern," Ryan told 10News.

Parents and school administrators have expressed deep concern, according to 10News.

The San Diego City School District sent a letter to all principals Friday morning advising them not to allow their students to see the video.

It read:

"We believe that the content of the video is not age-appropriate for students in grades K-12. We suggest other means for students in the upper grades to discuss this world event in age-appropriate formats."

The letter also told principals to make sure their school counselors can provide support for students who have seen the video, or who are disturbed by reports of the incident."

The video, posted earlier this week on an Islamic militant Web site, showed five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks, standing over Berg, a U.S. contractor whose body was found on a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday.

"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Susan," the man said on the video. "I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in ... Philadelphia."

After reading a statement, the men were seen pulling the man to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. A scream sounded as the men cut his head off, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" - "God is great." They then held the head out before the camera.

http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/news/3305827/detail.html


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Another one going around........


'Doonesbury' Strip Shows Head on Platter


Fri May 14, 6:05 PM ET

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, Associated Press Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The distributor of "Doonesbury" called it an "unfortunate coincidence" that a strip depicting a man's head on a platter will run in newspapers Sunday — days after the release of a videotape showing an American's beheading by Iraqi militants.


Kansas City-based Universal Press Syndicate said Friday the strip was drawn before Nicholas Berg's death in Iraq; it will offer a substitute comic strip.


Berg's headless body was found last Saturday in Baghdad. Three days later, a videotape posted on an al-Qaida-related Web site showed him decapitated. Berg was buried Friday in Pennsylvania.


In Sunday's strip, the character Joanie, angry about her friend's firing from her university coaching job, begins daydreaming. In the last frame, she's pictured carrying a platter with the head of the university president on it. He says, "What's this." She responds, "A good start."


"Given its timing following the recent grisly tragedy in Iraq (news - web sites) and the realities of Sunday color production cycles, we felt we should call this to your attention," Lee Salem, editor of Universal Press Syndicate, told newspaper editors in a statement.


The Pulitzer Prize-winning strip by Garry Trudeau appears in 1,400 newspapers.


"I regret the poor timing, and apologize to anyone who is offended by an image that is now clearly inappropriate," Trudeau said.


Several newspapers said the distributor's warning came too late.


"We may write some sort of letter to our readers the day the strip runs explaining that fact that we didn't receive notice until after the comic was printed and ready to go," said Andrea Buck, interim editor of the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune.


David Green, managing editor of The (Nashville) Tennessean, said a final decision hadn't been made, but he anticipated the paper also would include a note.


Mike Needs, public editor of The Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, said the strip would run.


"We have looked at it, and while we think the timing is unfortunate, the content of the strip is not related to the Iraq War situation and therefore we are going to go ahead with publishing that comic strip," he said.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040514/ap_on_en_ot/iraq_war_doonesbury_1


Ellie

[MillRatUSMC]

Now a big question;
"Who will pay for counciling for any of these students that were forced to watch the murder of Nick Berg?"

Will the State of California force the teachers?
Would serve them right, if they had to pickup those medical bills.

Pi$$ as hades in northwest Indiana...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

[TracGunny]

TracGunny....I think this is what you were looking for........ Thanks Ellie, that's it. I caught the it jest of it during a FoxNews Channel interview with a DJ in Oregon(?) who had been fired for making an on-air joke out of the Berg murder. Was about to go nuts looking for it on Fox; the transcripts to the interview have not been posted yet.

[thedrifter]

Yes saw that one to...........

May 13, 2004
Local disc jockeys who laughed at beheading are fired

PORTLAND - The radio station KNRK at 94.7 FM is issuing an apology to its listeners after talk show hosts Marconi, Tiny and sidekick Nickie J. laughed at and ridiculed the beheading of American Nick Berg.
The three were fired Thursday afternoon, after airing the audio recording of Berg's murder repeatedly on Wednesday and laughing at the incident.

"Disgusting… I'm speechless," said one woman.

KNRK and Entercom, the company that owns the station, apparently agreed, playing an apology over the airwaves for their listeners:

The actions of the KNRK News Morning Show were insensitive, inappropriate and repulsive. On behalf of Entercom Portland and KNRK, I apologize to our listeners.


Read Marconi's apology

However, listeners like Blaine Dohman say they are still angry.

"I'm dismayed and just flabbergasted," said KNRK listener Blaine Dohman. "Number 1, to be put on the air, and two, not be put in check by the powers that be."

KXL radio talk show host Lars Larson also played the audio over the airwaves, but with a strong warning to his listeners.

He says the Marconi show's ridiculing of the incident is inexcusable, but thinks Americans should hear and see what happened to Berg, saying images have been shown by the media before and the incident with Berg is no different.

"I don't think that the America news media can decide for you what you can and cannot see. On the other hand, I don't think this should be on the air and then laughed at and made fun of," Larson told KATU News.

Company officials say they were never told the shock jocks were going to laugh at the killing of Nick Berg on the show.

http://www.katu.com/news/images/story2004/040514dj_fired.jpg

http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=67314


Ellie

[TracGunny]

Ellie, you are amazing....

[thedrifter]

I love to read......If not on the net.....Always reading one of my books......Kept me out of trouble.....LOL

Ellie

[BC22]

I used to listen to NRK when I was in high school, and I stopped listening to the Marconi Show long before this happened. It's mostly low grade humor and I got tired of listening to them talk and talk, instead of playing music. Thank goodness they're fired, maybe now I can listen to some music the next time I go home on leave.