Thought this might raise an eyebrow or two and hopefully provoke some healthy discussion. BTW, the victims' story can also be found on Wikipedia.
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2007 Soap Box Archives

Bet You Haven't Heard

I live about 150 miles from Knoxville, Tennessee and you would think that any kind of sensational crime would be like local news in our part of the country. But such is not always the case.

You've probably never heard the names Channon Christian or Christopher Newsome. They were two young students at the University of Tennessee who were carjacked, raped, tortured and murdered.

If you don't have a strong stomach you probably shouldn¹t finish this column, as the murders were so brutal they're apt to make you sick.

Newsome, the young man was raped and beaten, they then castrated him and shot him several times. Then they dumped his body by some train tracks and set it on fire while his girlfriend was forced to watch.

Channon was gang raped over a period of days then her breasts were cut off while she was still alive, then they sprayed cleaning fluid in her mouth in an attempt to erase the traces of DNA, then her body was put into a garbage receptacle.

It seems to me that with the headlines and airwaves screaming about such inconsequential things as who is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby and the bogus case against the Duke lacrosse players they could find space to report a brutal crime worthy of Saddam Hussein and his two demented sons.

But have you seen anything on the networks, The New York Times, The Nashville Tennessean? I haven't.

I wonder if it could be that the five perpetrators who have all been arrested were black.

If this had been white on black crime Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and their ilk would have descended on Knoxville like a swarm of angry bees. I guess the lack of TV cameras discouraged them.

A free press is one of our most precious rights and a selective press one of our most dangerous realities. To suppress or ignore one of the most hideous murders of the decade is asinine and reeks of political correctness and agenda driven formats.

Is reporting the latest lewd episode of Paris Hilton's privileged life or playing Alex Baldwin¹s raging diatribe for the thousandth time really more important than letting the public know about a cruel and demented crime like
this?

Race should not enter the picture where crime is concerned and every decent human being should passionately condemn such a horrible thing as this no matter what color the victim or the perpetrators are.

Shame on the American media for letting such a violent crime as this slip through the cracks. I wonder what else they're not reporting.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels
May 7, 2007

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That's absolutely, by far, one of the worst things I've read about all year long.

Snake, I think that there may be some extremely valid points made in the column, I agree that race should never play a role in ANY arrest, prosecution or media coverage. This was a hideous and horrible crime perpetrated against two young people, people whose lives were cut tragically short.

It is disgusting what the media chooses to cover or not cover certain stories. The lives of these two young people should be celebrated, and the crimes of their perpetrators should be shouted at the rooftops, as a lesson to what inhumanity represents.

God bless their souls.

A couple of the things Charlie mentions (e.g., the breasts being severed) aren't in the Wikipedia article. But being a Tennessee resident who undoubtedly knows folks in law enforcement, I wouldn't think Charlie is stretching the truth for effect. Anyway, I would think these suspects should also be prosecuted for federal hate crimes as well. I've yet to hear of anyone except whites being prosecuted for that, though. But yeah, despite the colors, this was a really horrible act. I didn't even hear about it in Memphis, either. The picture of the young couple is on the Wikipedia article, too. They looked so happy and carefree with their whole lives ahead of them. Sad.

That story didn't even make it into the Memphis newspapers ?

I saw this on Snopes the other day. Pretty fucked up. Agreed though, no surprise that it hasn't hit the major media's radar.

I heard about this on a talk radio show. This is just awful. What ever happened to the sick fucks that did this? These people aren't even human.

God be with these victims.

What the crap kinda crap is this sh*t-fu*k? Is this a spam?

What does the military have to do w/ a private citizen who was unfortunately raped, murdered and eaten? Is Charlie suggesting that we dispatch the military on ALL of the bad private citizens(i.e-"black-trash"/immigrants)? Well, at this point in my life I say fu*k him and fu*k you 2!

If that piece of crap named Charlie Daniels is reading this I would like to quote one of his earlier songs....."...preacher man talkin' on the TV, puttin' down the rock n roll. Want's me to send a donation, cuz he's worried about my soul."


Charile Daniels-Long-haired country boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BRVq-Rb7eo
You're a hypocrite, Charlie. Big time.

Cool story.

When does casting begin for the film?

It doesn't have anything directly related to the article, but Charlie Daniels has been a vocal supporter of the troops and has been extremely critical of the portrayal of the troops and the military in the media because of Guantanamo, which he visited a couple of years ago.

He's not a hypocrite, its how he seems to sign all of his letters/posts.

Charlie Daniels is a preacher, a rather crusading one too. That's why he signs his letters like that. That's why I posted the line from his song and THEN called him a hypocrite.

He used to be an overt atheist and now he is the diametrical opposite of that. He's a hypocrite. But hey, aren't we all...

I don't think it's cool.

I really don't like reading about women getting their boobs ripped off.

But, hey, that's me. I know some of the younger crowd likes the rough stuff these days. That's cool.


Shalom mutha-fucka.

But if they made a film about it loads of people would wanna see it.

Including you, I'd suspect.

Give me a break. That kind of clichéd stuff milks it, exploits it, makes a tragic event into a disgusting farce.

Make a film about it. HELL YEAH!!!!!!

Why is he a hypocrite for changing from an atheist to a believer? What if he was once a believer that became an atheist? Would that also be hypocritical? Perhaps he's had a change of heart, seen the light.

However, that detracts from the original intent of this story.

I applaud anyone who convert from being a atheist to a believer.

Fair enough, fair enough. And I'm in agreement w/ you and Mig, I can't fault someone for trying to find some good natured faith in their life.

I was ripping on him b/c he used to make millions by singing "AGAINST*" God/Faith and now he makes millions by singing "FOR" God/Faith.

It's like, geez Charlie, ever hear of finding a nice happy median in your life? Why does it have to be one extreme or the other?


*See 'Long-haired Country Boy'