nous sommes tous atrios

An unusual event has erupted in the blogosphere. Donald "We Stalk" Luskin has had his lawyer, Jeffrey J. Upton, send a letter to Atrios over at Eschaton.

The letter is a chilling commentary on the state of free speech in America. Those of our bpost readers who are outside of the country are probably unaware just how censored our main stream medias' news has become. The letter just reinforces how much alternative news and intelligent voices are not welcome in the US these days.

Dear “Atrios”:

This firm represents Donald L. Luskin, a Contributing Editor to National Review Online and author and host of Poorandstupid.com, among other activities. You recently linked to Mr. Luskin’s October 7, 2003, posting on his website entitled “Face To Face With Evil,” in which he chronicles his attendance at a lecture and book signing presented by Paul Krugman. You chose the unfortunate caption “Diary of a Stalker” for your link. More importantly, your readers, in responding to your invitation to comment, have posted numerous libelous statements regarding Mr. Luskin. Picking up on the theme you introduced, several have made false assertions that Mr. Luskin has committed the crime of stalking. Such a statement constitutes libel per se, an actionable tort subjecting both the author and the publisher to liability for both actual and punitive damages. As a result of your control over and participation in the comment section of your site, as well as the fact that Mr. Luskin has personally brought these libelous comments to your attention already, you face personal liability for their distribution. Determining your identity for the purpose of making service of process can be easily accomplished through a subpoena to Blogspot.com.

Read the rest of the letter as well the accompanying articles. Do read the comments.

PS Why is Donald L. Luskin referred to as the Stalker? He wrote an editorial critical of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, We Stalked. He Balked., The Truth Squad is getting to Mr. Krugman, published in the National Review Online, May 7, 2003. That was Luskin's choice of words, not Atrios'.

Bizarre people, these right wingers. We're beginning to think the truth must give them hives: they seem to have such an aversion to it.