Yes. A total cynic! As for hope, I hope you're right and I'm wrong.
Of course I don't think that dismissal of the charges would be enough. Not by a long shot. I was being sarcastic. And BTW, I detest the word "healing" -- especially when it comes from people who caused or continued the harm in the first place.
I don't think the bloggers will have much influence over the disciplinary committee because the committee doesn't see the bloggers as a threat. The media do. And with good reason, the bloggers have done a better job covering this case than the MSM have. The media had to alter their coverage. The professional journalists were being shown up by engineers and history professors.
Oh my goodness -- I should have known better. (And to think that, against my natural instincts, I made a conscious effort to be gentle, too.) Sorry about that, Mad-Margaret! You never know, though: maybe one of the members of the disciplinary committee will be a closet FReeper and/or former journalist.