Comments on: American Girl, Italian Nightmare

A 48 Hours Investigation Raises Questions About The Case Against A U.S. College Student On Trial For Murder In Italy

[bebesvin]

What about the bloody footprint that was supposedly Amanda's? Was there a female officer who stepped on the blood to pick up Merideth's body, or any police with bloody shoe prints that had Amanda's tiny sized foot? Was there contamination to the degree that a bloody footprint was placed there by police? I mean a bloody footprint the size of Amanda's foot is pretty significant. So we get the point the prosecuter is a bit weird, but that doesn't mean Amanda is not guilty.. let's not loose perspective.

[pattersonsm1]

Where is our political might in all of this it is obvious this girl is being railroaded so this prosecutor can make a name for himself (he almost sounds like an American prosecutor) he has the attention of Italy and America as well as all the press coverage he can handle. He has already turned public opinion against the girl and she will not get a fair trial. Our government needs to intervene and send the FBI over to assist in the investigation. Come on politicians its time to get involved in this one.

[FawltyLogic]

If you want to take a look at the real issues with respect to Knox' story, credibility, and the reason(s) she was charged, take the time to read the timeline "Our Best Shot At Making Amanda Knox?s Timeline Alibi Work" by FinnMacCool at http://truejustice.org. The reasons she was charged revolve around her own contradictory, nonsensical and untrue statements and DNA evidence. She has very capable defense counsel and THEY don't believe all the rubbish about the charge being based on a vendetta by a corrupt prosecutor....so lay off all the ugly American protestations against Italy, Italians and their court system. If any country needs to be a bit low key as to other countries' justice system, its the US....having admittedly abandoned recognized international proscriptions against torture and having set up and run closed courts, with no access to counsel or meaningful judicial review over the last 7 years. The US also adopted the unlawful practice of "extreme rendition" where people who had not been formally charged with anything were kidnapped and taken to countries where torture could freely be employed.

[unixwiz]

mmm836 writes: "Whatever your beliefs about the handling of this case don't you find continuation in this matter highly contrary to the principle of justice and maybe downright criminal?'

Two comments on this question:

I think that "Do you find" would be a reasonable query. But "Don't you find" assumes facts not in evidence. (If I'm wrong about this, where can I sign up for your mind reading course? :)

As far as whether it is "downright criminal", wouldn't that depend upon the wording of the Italian legal codes? If not covered by those codes (and the "old-world" frame of mind described by another writer may increase the chances that it is not covered. Whether or not it is criminal has, of course, no bearing upon it's morality.

[Ilove48hours]

Why did CBS take down all the posts that it's loyal viewers made during morning of April 16th to midnight April 18th - they all seem to have been "mysteriously disappeared". Maybe this can be next 48 Hrs Mystery....I can see it now....it'll be entitled "The Search for the Missing MB Posts".

[mmm836]

Obviously the issue of whether 48 hours is biased in this report will never find common ground. Supporters of Amanda Know and many Americans will not agree with supporters of the Italian justice system and vice versa. But I do find it extremely concerning that the lead prosecutor of this case is under indictment for abuse of power related to a previous case, "The Monster of Florence" with similar satanic overtones and his alleged belief in medium/blogger Gabriella Carlizzi.

BBC news has also reported the following from Italian writer, Fiorenza Sarzanini, who has written about the case:

"The overwhelming feeling here [in Italy] is that the real victim is still Meredith Kercher - not Amanda Knox."

Ms Sarzanini believed that, having chosen to highlight an indictment against Mr Mignini, the Knox campaigners fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the Italian judicial system.

"Really, these things are not unusual here," she said.

To allow an indicted prosecutor to continue on in this capacity, especially since his indictment is based upon abuse of power and office is unreal. To have an Italian citizen who I would think is highly educated as she is a published author, to find this not usual, is surreal. Whatever your beliefs about the handling of this case don't you find continuation in this matter highly contrary to the principle of justice and maybe downright criminal?

[48hrzfanz]

This is outrageous! That Italian Prosecutor is under indictment himself. He would never, ever have the chance to prosecute anybody here in the U.S. because of that. The guy follows a woman blogger who is supposedly an expert on Satanism. He's pure evil himself.
Spare me on the Tabloids. They are the same all over the world. The Italians just want to punish Americans because they hate us. It's so obvious. That poor girl is being targeted because she's an American. You can't tell me otherwise!

[Peteygurl]

It does not take a criminal, forensic specialist to see how sloppy the Italian "judicial system" was at the crime scene. It is very old world over there. I am an American and was engaged to a Sicilian, Italian man in the late 1990's. I am an American, Italian, Russian and have lived in Italy on and off over the years. I truly Love Italy and the Italian way of life. But, they are living in the dark ages as far as true justice is concerned. The superstious mentality is simply insane over there. I recall attempting to leave the hotel room I was renting with my then fiance and my two young sons in 1998. My fiance told me he would be taking the train to another town for bussiness that day and left. Much benounced to me, he had given orders to the hotel desk boy not to permit me to leave the hotel. To my utter disbelief, the man stood in before the hotel entrance doorway and said to me," You may not leave, your man has told me not to let you go." After a arguing with him for a few moments, realizing my two little ones were in need of a good meal before the town shut down for the day...I thought quick and asked him to call my "man". As he walked back to get the tele, I grabbed my sons and ran....retreating into a small cafe for a sandwhich as thoughts of our near false imprisonment began to slowly unravel within my mind. Naturally, I wanted to take my boys and rush to the airport....but, instead I chose to minipulate my then, "fiance", wanting to get my boys home safe. It worked! You have no idea what I'm speaking of, unless you've lived in their society. It is lovely, until you are the one they choose to peg for the crime of their own choosing. America the Beautiful! Ah....such sweet, sweet justice!

[FawltyLogic]

For linguistic purists, the reference to to the slang term can be ignored in favor of the substantive criticism of the piece, i.e. that it was factually insufficient or haphazard, was not fully planned or developed, was incompetently prepared and demonstrated a lack of sufficient ability to investigate and/or knowledge of the subject matter. As far as it being perjorative, it was meant to be. If you feel the piece was a laudable journalistic effort, you're entitled to your opinion. In my view, it was and is twaddle--trivial, feeble, silly drivel.

[unixwiz]

And "yourdictionary.com" says "Slang .. having or showing little thought, care, or foresight: somewhat vulgar", while "etymonline.com" simply says "ineffectual"

A British dictionary (from University of Cambridge) says: "A half-assed idea or plan is stupid or has not been considered carefully enough". (I'm surprised that they present it so colloquially).

Yet another dictionary says: "Impractical, not giving a full effort {weak in the pants}. "

The problem with such idioms is a lack of agreement on meaning. That's what I meant by ill-defined.
(If I meant "undefined", I would have said "undefined")

Many online dictionaries don't include it at all (within those dictionaries it /is/ undefined, but that is not the point).

One thing that is (explicitly or implicitly) included in common with almost all dictionary entries, where they do exist, is that the idiom is considered pejorative, which is reason enough not to use it in rational discourse or exposition.

- Michael