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<p>“Two wrongs make for superior entertainment?” Yeah, I agree with that.</p>
<p>According to The Michigan Daily, University of Michigan’s student paper, AG Cox has suspended Shirvell. I guess the public pressure got to him. However, this isn’t going to stop Shirvell from continuing his mind-boggling agenda of harrassing Chris Armstrong. The university did bar Shirvell from stepping foot on Michigan’s campus. I don’t think this story will end any time soon.</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the story from the Daily:</p>
<p>[AG</a> Cox: Andrew Shirvell has been suspended | The Michigan Daily](<a href=“http://www.michigandaily.com/node/56128]AG”>http://www.michigandaily.com/node/56128)</p>
<p>I love Attorney General Cox’s statement that when he defended Shirvell’s right to blog, he hadn’t actually read the blog.</p>
<p>No lawyer here, but the First Amendment gives the guy the right to blog. It doesn’t mean that there are no consequences from that blogging, right? </p>
<p>Bad example here, but if I set up a blog in which I revealed anecdotes about working with my clients, and publicly identified them, and said not-nice things about them, it’s not the government’s place to prohibit me from doing so, but that doesn’t mean my employer can’t decide that what I’m saying reflects poorly on the business and therefore terminate me. Right?</p>
<p>If I were a pro sports player and had a blog and said nasty things about Jews / gays / Catholics / people with blue eyes / whatever, my team owner could fire me, right?</p>
<p>I think the following editorial is of interest. It discusses BOTH the Rutgers incident (another CC thread is on that incident) and this one at U of Michigan as they both relate:</p>
<p><a href=“Why did Tyler Clementi die? - CNN.com”>Why did Tyler Clementi die? - CNN.com;
<p>I agree with all of the previous posters that this Shirvell guy is a lunatic. </p>
<p>One interesting thing I’ve read about Shirvell is he was hired as the Assistant AG in 2007, the same year he was licensed by the Michigan bar. He is a '06 graduate of Ave Maria law school, a school most people have never even heard of.</p>
<p>It seems highly unusual for a brand new grad from a undistinguished law school to be immediately hired for the high position of Asst AG. One would think that a little more experience would be required. Nepotism is probably the only reason Shirvell got hired in the first place.</p>
<p>This whole situation has been a debacle.</p>
<p>Ave Maria, really? Hmm, let’s look at their website. The text on their home page begins</p>
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<p>An evangelical Catholic, then. Kind of like, just to pick an example at random, Mel Gibson. No red flags there.</p>
<p>The article referenced earlier about Shirvell’s suspension has been amended:</p>
<p>"Correction appended: An earlier version of this story reported that Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox suspended Andrew Shirvell.</p>
<p>The office of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox reported that Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell is taking a leave of absence, capping what had become a national news story after The Michigan Daily first reported in early September on Shirvells controversial blog that targeted Michigan Student Assembly President Chris Armstrong.</p>
<p>Shirvell announced his leave Thursday, but did say when he would return, according to Cox spokesman John Sellek."</p>
<p>Andrew Shirvell has taken a voluntary leave of absence, which the state’s attorney general’s office confirmed to CNN today. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/30/michigan.justice.blog/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/30/michigan.justice.blog/index.html</a></p>
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<p>What I don’t get is that although under the First Amendment, people have a right to free speech, aren’t there laws about cyber bullying, stalking, hate crimes, etc.? It just seems like the guy is breaking OTHER laws. This is on top of the fact that his position in the state’s attorney’s office requires upholding justice and tolerance and so his private “speech” and “actions” go against an ability to be fair in the judicial system upon which the citizens of the state rely.</p>
<p>Paid or unpaid leave?</p>
<p>When I googled it, the report was that no one knew if it was a paid or unpaid leave. I bet it is a paid leave - otherwise it would have said unpaid leave of absence. This story makes national news nightly, particularly on Anderson Cooper 360. It makes the state of Michigan look very bad. Jon Stewart of the Daily Show interviewed Shirvell and it will be aired sometime this week. It’s so sad that the govt. representatives of Michigan are bending over backwards to protect this lunatic.</p>
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<p>That, to me, is the clincher.</p>
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<p>Yes! As you and others have pointed out, surely there would be protection under slightly different senarios, why not this one?</p>
<p>I have no ties to the University of Michigan but I’m so impressed with their response. It’s truly brought tears to my eyes. Kudos to all who go there and all but one of their alum!</p>
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<p>Well, it’s the Attorney General, Mike Cox, who’s protecting him. Governor Jennifer Granholm has strongly condemned the lunatic, saying she’d fire him if she were AG (which she was before becoming Governor). But the lunatic works for Cox, not the Governor, so there’s nothing she can do about it. Rather unfair to tar “govt. representatives of Michigan” in general.</p>
<p>This story just makes me weep. I went back and watched both interviews with Anderson Cooper, as well read the stories in the Daily Michigander and there are a couple things no one had commented on. One, it was stated that while in Michigan a government employee cannot be fired for his political views, he can be fired for behavior unbecoming. HELLO! How much more unbecoming does this guy have to get? Second, Anderson Cooper pressed him on such things as the use of the nazi flag and the calling Armstrong “Satan’s representative on the Student Council”. Shirvell defended these as typical “campaign tactics”. Have we come so far that outrageous lies and baseless accusations now count as normal “campaign tactics”? And last, Armstrong ran a campaign based on a call for longer cafeteria hours, lower tuition, and gender neutral housing. So all you parents who think you pay to much in tuition, that is a “radical homosexual agenda” don’t you know?</p>
<p>Likewise, it must be a “radical homsexual agenda” that college students need more hours to eat. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I heard that under the new Radical Homosexual Regime, the cafeteria will serve phallic foods like HOT DOGS and CARROTS in an attempt to Turn Your Kids Gay.</p>
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<p>Wow, I didn’t know that. I’ll bet Cox is privately kicking himself now for hiring that nut. That’s the risk you take when you don’t actually look for experience or quality or sanity in your hires.</p>
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<p>Cox hired him because Shirvell was on his campaign staff as part of an outreach to conservative Christians in the state.</p>
<p>^ And that’s why Cox won’t dump him, because he’s afraid of offending any Christian conservatives who might like what Shirvell is doing.</p>
<p>And now his blog is shut down…</p>