Posted on 10/15/2003 7:31:27 AM PDT by VRWCmember
In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
vitiate \VIH-shee-ayt\ verb
1. to make faulty or defective; impair
2. to debase in moral or aesthetic status
3. to make ineffective *
* Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Example sentence: Critics asserted that studies claiming to prove the product safe were vitiated by lack of objectivity on the part of company- hired scientists.
Did you know?
Here's one for word puzzle lovers -- and anyone else allured by alliteration. The sentence "Vivian vituperated the vicious villain for valuing vice over virtue" contains three words that derive from the same Latin root as "vitiate." Can you identify all three? If you picked "vituperate" (a verb meaning "to scold"), "vicious," and "vice," your puzzle prowess is beyond reproach. Like "vitiate," all three descend from the Latin noun "vitium," meaning "fault" or "vice."
Rules: Everyone must leave a post using the Word for the Day in a sentence.
The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day.
The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-)
Practice makes perfect.....post on....
Sometimes the jokes just almost write themselves.
You would think penis snatchers would have learned by now...
" Winters also said two pairs of panties from the woman were tested — one from the night of June 30, the other being the one she wore to a hospital for an exam the next day. The latter pair contained blood and semen, Winters said.
“The accuser arrived at the hospital wearing panties with someone else’s semen and sperm in them, not that of Mr. Bryant, correct?” defense attorney Pamela Mackey asked.
“That’s correct,” Winters responded.
Pubic hair samples from the woman also turned up Caucasian hairs that could not have come from Bryant, who is black, Winters said."
The real dishonesty here was the misrepresentation of the evidence by the prosecution.
WaPo... excerpted.
Winters also testified that a trained sexual assault nurse who examined the woman the day after the incident found blood in her underwear and vaginal injuries "not consistent with consensual sex."
Finally, Mackey got around to the nurse's report, which said the vaginal injuries were not consistent with consensual sex. It was at that point that she began to suggest the woman had been with other recent partners -- until she was cut off in mid-sentence by the prosecutors' objections
for one thing, i resent women being lumped in together and expected to react in a monolithic fashion. SG, WHyisa and i, for starters, disagree fairly vehemently about this case. there is no reason, just because we are all women, that we should have the same reaction to it.
secondly, i have no idea if it is the press or the defense, characterizing this evidence as exculpatory. i have been at work and tied up with a brief all day and have only haphazardly been able to follow the thread. what it DOES indicate is a sloppy case put together by the prosecutor. if the girlie had sex immediately prior to or after this supposed event, then the prosecutor should KNOW about it and be prepared to counter it. again, this is NOT about her prior sexual history, this goes to the issue, raised by the prosecution, of her physical state as a result of this alleged rape. if there were physical manifestations of sexual conduct present when this supposedly happened, that is relevant because it does CLOUD the issue of his guilt.
i find it mindboggling that there are so many freepers that think that a mere accusation of rape means that the accused is guilty and should just go to prison right then and there, bc certainly if it is a result of consensual sex, it is impossible to proffer any sort of defense without being accused of sliming the alleged victim.
there are false accusations of rape, and in my opinion (and interestingly enough, in the opinion of many rape victims on FR, more so than even some others) defendants should be given the latitude to expose these women for what they are.
Sorry for implying that all women would/should react the same way. From what I saw in the article posted (not in all the related and linked articles) it appeared that the argument of the defense was that the indication that she engaged in sex with at least one other partner proved that the sex with Kobe was consensual. (That appears to me to be the only way to argue that this information is "compelling evidence of his innocence".) I, as a person, find such an argument (that one consensual encounter with one party proves the other encounter to also be consensual) to be egregiously offensive; and I assumed that women would find it even more offensive because it is essentially demeaning to women to suggest that if a woman consents to sex in one instance then all other sex must therefore also be consensual.
like i said, there is much haziness over whether this is the PRESS characterizing this as exculpatory. i do not believe that hsi defense team is doing that. for one thing, these people are SMART. believe it. they are successful at what they do, so i would not be so quick as to ascribe something asinine like that to them.
You are correct that I have a bias against lawyers in general and defense lawyers in particular. I hope that I never need the services of one, because I think our system of justice has been perverted and corrupted, even though it is still probably the best in the world which just goes to show how screwed up the rest of the world must be.
Yes, there are false charges of rape, just like there are false charges of sexual harassment, false charges of child abuse, etc. And the accused must be able to put on a defense.
The accuser's credibility in this case has definitely been challenged (as has his with the initial denial of even having sex with her being changed to an argument of consensual sex after being informed that the proof of a sexual encounter was beyond contradiction). It just seems to me that with the attacks on the accuser, it just will serve to demonstrate that if you choose your victims properly, it should be pretty easy to get away with almost anything -- especially if you can afford a high profile attorney.
... so i would not be so quick as to ascribe something asinine like that to them.
I simply took the report at face value when it said his attorneys said they have "compelling evidence" of his "innocence".
EAGLE, Colo. - Kobe Bryant's attorneys dropped another bombshell Wednesday, saying they have "compelling evidence" that the NBA superstar is innocent of rape and accused prosecutors of ignoring it.If the attorneys did not characterize it that way but instead characterized it as demonstrating that the prosecution's case is too weak to reach the standard of evidence, then chalk my misunderstanding up to bad reporting. If they want to characterize this as substantial reasonable doubt, and even that it makes proof beyond a reasonable doubt completely impossible, then I have no problem with that. But to characterize it as "compelling evidence" that he did not rape her is what I find disturbing. The only way to argue that it is "compelling evidence" that he did not rape her is to argue that it is "compelling evidence" that she consented to the sexual encounter. That characterization is what I find so offensive. Fortunately for the defense, the burden of proof is on the prosecution, so the defense does not have to prove that he didn't rape her; the prosecution has to prove that he did.
as to your opinion of lawyers, or that of anyone else for that matter, i am really not hurt by it. there are good and bad in every profession. and this is a job, as far as i am concerned. i happen to enjoy it, but i would never claim it as a high and noble calling.
I know that not all lawyers are scum. I'm sure it is just the 95% or so that ruin it for the rest of them. ;)
Such a crime to do that to a 4-year-old when there are teenagers all over the place just begging for such treatment...
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