THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† Media Irrelevancy – A Self-Inflicted Wound: Check out "Mad Ave Blues," a parody by GCA Savvian investment banker Terry Kawaja set to Don McLean’s “American Pie” (… “something touched me deep inside, the year the media died”):
[Hat Tip: I Want Media]
† Updates To Previous Posts (sixth item, Multiculturalism: Jihad By Other Means): Salil Tripathi, a London-based writer who sits on the executive board of the English PEN writes about a libel case against award-winning British science writer Simon Singh to illustrate the need to reform English libel laws – which miscreants who bankroll terrorists have been using (third item) to sue American journalists – in a Wall Street Journal op-ed:
In April 2008, Mr. Singh wrote an article in the Guardian challenging the British Chiropractic Association's claim that its treatments can cure, among other ailments, colic among infants, ear infections, and asthma. Mr. Singh said there was no evidence to support these claims, which he called "bogus."
The association could have challenged the author in an open debate, providing the evidence Mr. Singh said did not exist. Instead, it sued the author for libel. In a remarkable ruling last month, Justice David Eady decided that Mr. Singh's article was defamatory because, according to the judge, Mr. Singh implied that the association deliberately misled the public.
Mr. Singh, though, didn't suggest that the chiropractors were being dishonest - after all, they might sincerely believe that their treatment is effective. He simply questioned the scientific validity of their claims. …
Unlike in the United States, where plaintiffs have to prove that the defendant's statement is willfully false and defamatory, the burden of proof is reversed in Britain. According to U.K. libel laws, the plaintiff has to show only that the statement harms his reputation - which is the case with almost any accusation, true or false. It is the defendant who must then prove that his allegations were not libelous. …
British libel laws claim almost universal jurisdiction, allowing plaintiffs to sue over publications that may have only a tenuous link with Britain. This in turn has encouraged libel tourism - a lucrative business for British lawyers - as foreigners jet to British courts seeking protection from public scrutiny.
Turnabout is fair play, and Michael Savage - who was recently banned from entering the UK (sixth item) by soon-to-be-ex home secretary Jacqui Smith – has no plans to drop his defamation case against her, because his “honor” is at stake. In an interview with BBC Radio, he said: "None of my words have ever led to violence for the simple reason that I do not call for violence, I do not provoke violence, and moreover, I want to say that provoking violence is illegal in the US as well." (Well, unless you’re Al Sharpton).
† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, 10 Reasons Michelle Obama Should Be Proud – Really Proud – Of America): This latest installment in The Stiletto Blog’s ongoing series meant to help instill the necessary pride of country in Michelle Obama’s consciousness to enable her to serve as an unofficial ambassador focuses on a pizza delivery guy who was outside his normal delivery area and saved the life of a rape victim. The Associated Press reports:
Chris Turner normally wouldn't drive into the remote Tennessee mountains just to deliver a pizza. The one time he did, he came upon a scene that drained the color from his face and made him "numb from head to toe" - a woman with her hands tied, silently begging him to call 911.
It was no joke, and Turner, 32, rushed to a nearby house and made the call. Police say the woman was jogging in her Atlanta neighborhood when she was whisked away by a man who frequented her business. Authorities say he drove her off, raped her and held her captive inside a cabin. The 24-year-old woman was rescued by Sevier County deputies on Tuesday evening because of Turner's quick thinking.
Turner told The Associated Press on Friday that he noticed the woman pop up from a couch while the suspect signed the credit card slip. …
“[S]he was just mouthing, 'Please call 911.'"
The victim later told Turner that the rapist “was going to kill her ... after he got done with her."
Comments