Well, the verdict is in The Duke Lacrosse Players are guilty of...uh... something. We're not really sure what it is, though we now know it's not rape. It's just a matter of finding the crime that will fit the verdict.

According to Al Sharpton, even if they didn't rape her, they still exploited her sexually by hiring her to dance for them in the first place. Now, on this much I agree with Sharpton. I know men. Whether we deny it or not, our eyes are sexual organs. Why do you think they were men who came up with the term 'eye candy'? What sort of hunger do you think that 'candy' is intended to satisfy? So yes, the accuser here was employed for these lads' sexual gratification. But in the end, their behavior, however immoral Sharpton and I think it to have been, was nonetheless legal.

Where I disagree with Sharpton is that it is also immoral to declare someone guilty of a crime and then proceed to search for the crime to fit the verdict. At least, it is immoral on a Christian view. And Sharpton is a Christian, is he not? A preacher and teacher of the Bible, and he seems unconcerned by the fact that in the Bible a false accusation is so serious that the false accuser is to receive the punishment which the accused would have received had he been found guilty. Instead of turning his guns on the false accuser in this case he maintains the verdict and searches for the crime. Nice.

According to the girls of The View, even if they didn't rape her, it was still a race thing. (I heard an audio clip; I didn't see the show. Like I really would. Ugh!) I mean, here you have these rich white boys, using the poor black single mother, for their obvious sexual gratification. (Hang on a moment! Wouldn't it also be a race thing if they had refused even to consider hiring a black dancer? Yes, I believe we would call it racial discrimination. Like I said, there will always be a crime somewhere that fits the verdict against these young men.)

According to these girls there is on the basis of this event a history with these men of really inappropriate things. Who doesn't have such a history, if we really, really look? A history of inappropriate things. Fine. But are they guilty of rape? That's what they were accused of.

Guilty, guilty, always guilty. We have them by the feet and will fashion the boots to match. Dennis Prager wants to know (1st hour of his program today) where these men can go to get their names back. There is no such place, apparently. The Minority Offense Industry will see to that.

I'm sure we'll be hearing of more crimes that fit the verdict. (Incidentally, we had this same sort of thing in the Marc Rich case.)

H/T: Ann Althouse for the "Prissy, Puritinical Left" phrase.