damnum absque injuria

Michele worries that Kotze's loss of advertisers might start the entire Blogosphere down on a slippery slope, after which any blogger who gets mad at any other blogger (or at least any "red-meat" blogger, which probably includes her and certainly includes me) can fish out some intemperate or offensive remark, and parade it in front of advertisers. One side of me agrees with Michele. Another says let's deal with a clearly inappropriate series of statements by a high-profile blogger now, and worry later about how to deal with less inappropriate statements made by lower-profile bloggers. That a ban on falsely yelling "fire" in a crowded theater may lead us down a slippery slope toward a ban on criticizing the draft during wartime (the case in which Oliver Wendell Holmes uttered that (in)-famous quote) does not mean we should legalize yelling fire in a crowded theater. It just means that when imposing restrictions on anything, we should be careful not to take those restrictions too far. I don't know how far is too far, but all we need to know for now is that going after bloggers who defame murder victims as "mercenaries" is not going too far.

A third side says, as Bill Quick (who I now consider an ex-blogtard does, that advertisers have a right to know what they're getting into, even if that does inevitably lead to politicians shunning all "red-meat" blogs. The fourth side, and the correct one, says who cares? We're already at the bottom of that slippery slope anyway. There's nothing you, I, or the entire Blogosphere can do to Kotze that he and his cronies can't or won't do to us already. Threats of lawsuits are scarier, of course, particularly since several really stupid ones have been leveled against bloggers of late. But false arrests of the innocent do not mean that the guilty should not be arrested, and the existence of frivolous legal threats against bloggers does not mean that meritorious suits should not be brought against those who truly earn them. While I don't want to see free speech in the blogosphere chilled, I don't want it to operate as a law-free zone, either. Thus, while I will not encourage any of the victims of Markos Zuniga's libel to sue him if they do not want to, I'm not going to discourage them from doing so, either. And if any bloggers who happen to be lawyers wish to assist them in their suits for free, then hey, I'm not about to discourage that, either.

UPDATE: Spoons thinks I'm wrong.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Several commenters have pointed out the common law rule that you can't libel the dead. I'm not sure that's still the law in every state, but if it is, the absurd result is that the four victims' estates would have no cause of action against Zuniga, but all the living people he called mercenaries, would.

FINAL UPDATE: Of course, none of this matters if the word mercenary is factually correct, or at least arguably so. As James Joyner notes that Blackwater Security offers its services to foreign and private interests, as well as U.S. interests, and concludes from this that the use of the term "mercenary" is correct. I don't think that's right; they're a security firm, not a band of soldiers fighting wars on behalf of anybody. But this entire discussion is, of course, academic; the chances of Kotze getting sued by anybody are slim to none, and Slim just left town.

THEY'RE NOT REAL!!!!!

Sorry to disappoint, but maybe next time, armed with that new information, you can drive right by, preferably 65 mph rather than 6.5. I know those decimal points can be tricky.

[Uh-oh, more "booby" jokes, and this time you weren't even talking about birds. There went all your paid advertisers. - Ed. What paid advertisers? - Other Ed. Good point. - Original Ed. And by the way, my name isn't Ed, so please stop calling me that. - Ed.]

The A.N.S.W.E.R. march was basically what I expected, except that there were far fewer people there. Also, I noticed that their most defamatory statements were limited to screams rather than signs. Our group was repeatedly slandered as Nazis and Klansman, and the Fallujah victims were repeatedly slandered as "mercenaries," but no one seemed willing to put that stuff in writing. The looniest thing I saw in writing was a Free Mumia sign. I kicked myself for not anticipating that and designing a "Free Hat" sign of my own. Too bad, maybe next time.

Here is a list of all the mass-produced A.N.S.W.E.R. signs I saw upon arrival:

• Money for jobs, not for war
• Money for education, not for war
• Repeal the Patriot Act
• End the occupation of Iraq
• Bring the troops home now
• End the occupation of Palestine

Also noteworthy was the fact that while only one A.N.S.W.E.R. protestor carried the American flag, several chanted "peace is patriotic." Lest anyone mistake this token ceremonial patriotism for a commitment to the United States, others made it clear which countries their patriotism was directed at: Cuba, "Palestine," and Iraq, as it existed under Saddam Hussein. Making good use of the bullhorn, Citizen Smash informed them that Palestine, Cuba and Saddam's Iraq are/were not democracies. They responded by informing us that America is not a democracy either. Maybe they were relying on the alleged distinction between democracies and republics, and underscoring the fact that our nation is a democratic republic rather than a pure democracy.

Or maybe not.

UPDATE: Smash made the same observation. Great minds think alike, and so do I.

Grass. I was kidding about the wheels.

Let the people see what war is like. This isn't an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush's folly.

That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.

Fortunately, courtesy of Michael Friedman (a.k.a. Fried Man), that post isn't the only thing that's disappeared from Kotze's disgusting site. Well done, soldier.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Actually, that's not quite right. Apparently, all Kotze managed to delete was the permalink, not the entry itself. You can still find the original on his site by following a link to an earlier entry and then scrolling down about 19 screens (or just search for the word "screw"). Or, perhaps this was deliberate; make the offending entry as hard to find as possible, but don't actually delete it so your minions can get all uppity when others accuse you of deleting it. Who knows? Who cares? Either way, it was a sleazy thing to do.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Matthew Hoy argues that Kotze's non-apology apology is just as bad as the original piece Kotze is trying unsuccessfully to cover up.

FINAL UPDATE: Michael's write up made Best of the Web.

April Fool [or, depending on your time zone, "psyche"]!

Serious congratulations to the real winners, who are Nitin at Hawken Blog, with the winning Council entry, "Social Security," and Ryan at Tasty Manatees with the winning non-Council entry, "Tax Funded Attacks Against White House Employees."

Apparently, some joker in Wisconsin formed a Minnesota corporation called "You're Fired, Inc." (whose corporate existence I have not yet been able to verify), which in turn has filed an intent to use application on March 15, 2004, Serial No. 78384766, seeking trademark protection for "all apparel and clothing accessories" under IC 025, US 022 039. Of these classes, only 022 overlaps with Trump's.

By far the most entertaining of the applications filed to date is No. 78376887, a combined prior use / intent to use application filed by Agoura Hills auto detailist Jeffrey W. Teague Teague seeks trademark support for all of the following:

Coffie cups, Clothing, Base Ball caps, Jackets, Watches, Bumper Stickers, Stickers, Dog Clothing, Water bottle lables, Bullet proof clothing, book covers jewlery, Eyeglasses, Beltbuckels, Mouse Pads; Computer screen savers, Footwear, Pants, T-shirts, Overalls, Aprins, Computer gaming toys, Toy bears, Lables for Beanie Babys, underwear, snow boards, ski equipment, sporting goods, Paper plates and cups, posters, advertizements adds, Sweat shirts, Automotive parts, automotive related items, Boating goods, Patches, embossing, stamping on metals for badgeing, small pins, Pens, Pencels, Stationary, Stationary goods.

The real kicker, though, is the sheer number of goods listed. Teague's record indicates both 1A (use in commerce) and 1B (intent to use), so it does not mean that on February 6, 2004, Teague suddenly started using the phrase "You're Fired!" on coffee cups, clothing, baseball caps, jackets, watches, bumper stickers, non-bumper stickers, dog clothing, water bottle labels, bulletproof clothing, book covers jewelry, eyeglasses, belt buckles, mouse pads; computer screen savers, footwear, pants, t-shirts, overalls, aprons, computer gaming toys, toy bears, labels for Beanie Babies, underwear, snow boards, ski equipment, sporting goods, paper plates and cups, posters, advertisements, sweatshirts, automotive parts, automotive related items, boating goods, patches, embossing, stamping on metals for badging, small pins, pens, pencils, stationery, and "stationary goods" (whatever those are supposed to be). It does mean, however, that he has used the name on at least one of these products, and has a bona fide intent to use it on all the others.

Given his horrible editing skills, Mr. Teague might want to reconsider his bona fide intent to get into the business of selling "advertizement adds."