Time to return the money
From Robert McLelland's MyBlahg:
Update: Correction, the net kook is asking for $600,000, which makes it even more laughable considering his reputation isn’t worth 6 bucks let alone 6 hundred thousand.
The net kook in question is Warren Kinsella, and the lawsuit againt Mark Bourrie of Ottawa Watch was covered here, and concerned a poorly worded post that made it sound like Warren Kinsella was involved in some sort of criminal activity.
Net kook or not, you never make that sort of allegation against a lawyer.
At the time, McLelland was urging people to donate money:
Update II: If you want to help out, you can donate to the screw Kinsella fund.
The link took you to a post at Ottawa Watch where you could make a PayPal donation to "StopKinsella".
Any money left over from Bourrie's defence would have gone to Reporters Without Borders.
What defence?
This has been an interesting month. I posted, in January, about Warren Kinsella's political future. That was, in my mind, what the post was about. At that time, and now, I did not believe he was an actor of any kind in the sponsorship kickback scandal. And he certainly did not know and couldn't possibly anticipate the future dealings of Public Works in advertising, which happened long after Kinsella left government. I truly believe that, and I could not, in good conscience, even begin to try to prove otherwise if his libel suit went to trial.
The manner in which my January 14, 2006 blog entry was worded made it seem that Mr. Kinsella had been a party to illegal conduct when this was clearly not the case. I apology [sic] without reservation to Mr. Kinsella for that error on my part.
So he caved before any stepping into a courtroom, as far as I can tell. Probably because it was made clear to him that he was in the wrong.
I'm curious, though, if there was no defence offered, will the money in the fund be returned? Donating the extra to Reporters Without Borders sounds nice, but it looks like there was nothing spent for which there was anything to be counted as extra.
Certainly, it doesn't look like Bourrie's promise to those making donations that he was going to fight this was fulfilled.
I'm sure McLelland will be calling for a full accounting on behalf of anyone who followed the link from his blog to make the donation. Right.
Honestly, people, who for a moment thought this was going to play out any differently? McLelland and his kind goading Bourrie on were doing Bourrie a huge disservice. Instead of the belligerence and cockiness, Bourrie should have talked to Kinsella immediately, openly and honestly. McLelland should have told him that that was the honest thing to do, and the smart thing to do.
It's easy to cheer for a fight from the sidelines.
Skew my story on Skewz.com
Rate political news for their bias, read related stories, and leave your own skewed commentary
Search for more opinions from Canadian bloggers on these related keywords
Sphere presents related news articles and blog posts
Sphere It!
Comments
My Blahg » LEADERSHIP ENVY
“Fuck The Jews” - Robert Mclelland. Should we give people that kind of freedom? Does Robert follow these freedoms too? ...
myblahg.com/?p=464 - 73k -
Posted by: maz2 at February 21, 2006 08:16 PM
I didn't goad him into anything and I pretty much figured he'd cave in. Can't blame him. As for cheering from the sidelines, it's not my fault the net kook won't sue me. I have the money to fight the prick so I won't wilt.
Posted by: Robert McClelland at February 21, 2006 09:29 PM
And by the way, I was asked to link to the donations request.
Posted by: Robert McClelland at February 21, 2006 09:30 PM
"Good for you Mark! You have avoided the despicable trap of getting involved with lawyers and judges and wasting your life, money, time and sleep on this farce we call a justice system. Bravo!, you're not as dumb as I thought. Our courts are not concerned with right and wrong, only who is the best liar(lawyer) to convince our unelected judges on how to decide. Kinsella being a "lawyer" pretty much guaranteed you would lose unless you spent your life savings to fight him. Our current legal aid system excludes anyone who is employed so unless you are very rich or are a useless drain on society, you are not entitled to justice; you are ruined no matter the outcome, convicted or ruined financially or both. Defence atourneys should be available to all and court appointed if needed or this ass-reaming of the middle class will continue."
This I posted at Bourrie's site in support of his decision to eat crow. This is the nature of our court system and as such, stifles democracy by allowing the financial implications to silence us.
The ability to disent, to object is what defines democracy and the intoduction of the internet amplifys our ability. Our current libel laws treat the populous like we are imbecille sheep (aka communism) and we are not smart enough to make our own opinions. Agree or disagree with what Mark posted, it does not matter as much as what sociallist-liberal Kinsella was trying to do; silence those of differing opinion. There are those who deny the Holocost and are persecuted for their views and yes they are wrong, but must our courts protect us from their views? Are you that much of an intellectual infant that you need censorship? If so you have a poor view of the intellegence of your fellow man. Censorship is the fist step to the path of sociallist indoctrination and you may not like what people say but to silence them is a slippery slope indeed.
Posted by: Affliction at February 21, 2006 09:41 PM
Wow.
1) It appears that the total amount of money donated was somewhere around a grand, which doesn't say much, by the way, for the solidarity of bloggers in standing up to bullies. Mark's lawyer was one of the pricier ones, charging $450 an hour, so it's pretty safe to say that not much of the grand remains. I don't want my own doantion back. And Mark has posted at note at his site offering refunds to anyone who wants them. So your post, Steve, is a little late, and any residual self-righteousness on the topic can be expelled by opening a window.
2) A lot of us were "cheering on the sidelines," loudly, in fact, but not many of us are sitting in judgement on Mark today. His apology, incidentally, is hardly eating crow. It isn't even a retraction. The bill of particulars in Kinsella's complaint, and there were many of them, got reduced to one change that had been made anyway: changing "he" to "Guité." Parturiet Kinsella nascitur ridiculus mus.
3) In effect, Mark won a lot and lost very little. That counts as a win, in my book--not just for him but for bloggers, left and right and centre everywhere. You ought to be cheering the fact that, after all this kerfuffle, Kinsella got only what was already his--an antecedent instead of the pronoun "he". Mark's relatively minor costs were covered by allies; Kinsella likely had to dig into his own pocket.
In any case, I think you owe Mark an apology for the innuendo about his contributions. Here is the corrective link:
http://ottawawatch.blogspot.com/2006/02/money-raises-its-ugly-head.html
Posted by: Dr.Dawg at February 22, 2006 10:01 AM
This is a classic example of a defective psychological disorder common to people who seeks "control" professions such as priests, lawyers, politicians, school principals, etc. They feel DOUBLY OUTRAGED when someone uses their own tactics on them! Ask yer fave shrink!
Posted by: Raymond Hietapakka at February 22, 2006 10:34 AM
And by the way, I was asked to link to the donations request.
Did you suggest a smarter and more cost-effective approach to the situation?
Posted by: Steve Janke at February 22, 2006 11:36 AM
Mark's relatively minor costs were covered by allies; Kinsella likely had to dig into his own pocket.
Are you sure? Are you sure Bourrie didn't have to cough up some money to Kinsella to cover Kinsella's costs and maybe a bit more? Maybe your donation went into Kinsella's pocket.
Posted by: Steve Janke at February 22, 2006 11:42 AM
"Maybe your donation went into Kinsella's pocket."
Ouch. There goes my day.
Posted by: Dr.Dawg at February 22, 2006 11:47 AM
Maybe I know more than you think, Double-D. If you put money in, and I know you did, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for an accounting.
Posted by: Steve Janke at February 22, 2006 11:51 AM
Bourrie is the ultimate weenie. What a rube. Anyone who got sucked into donating to his lost cause deserves to lose the money. Woe is you to, Yankme ?
Posted by: Funny Bone at February 22, 2006 01:27 PM
Ah, I see that Mark's stalker has arrived. Talk about weenies. Not to mention gutless wonders. Scram, Noreen.
Posted by: Dr.Dawg at February 22, 2006 02:43 PM
Steve, I donated and encouraged others to donate to Mark on three principles: a) Kinsella is an ashhat who was behaving like an idiot, b) bloggers should stand up when one of us is threatened with or actually hit with what amounts to a slap suit, c)the price at this stage of the legal game is a lawyer bigger than the other guy's lawyer.
I cannot imagine that Mark paid a nickle in "costs" to Kinsella. But if he did, so what? He was able to settle the matter without filing so much as a Statement of Defence (which a cynic might suggest indicates Kinsella was more than a little eager to get out from under the idiocy of filing this piece of garbage in the first place) without altering the substance of his post or thought one iota.
Of course, and I speak entirely hypothetically, if Mark did pay Kinsella to piss off we now have an idea of what Kinsella values his reputation at: rather less than a thousand bucks.
Posted by: Jay Currie at February 23, 2006 03:19 AM
"Maybe I know more than you think, Double-D. If you put money in, and I know you did, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for an accounting."
("Double-D." Ouch, again.)
Those are mysterious words, Steve. If you know what the settlement was, then its terms have almost certainly been breached.
But I'll take Occam's Razor for now, thanks: the matter was settled quickly and without much bloodletting, and was a clear win for Mark, who retracted nothing and paid nothing.
Posted by: Dr.Dawg at February 23, 2006 11:33 AM
I admit to not having contributed, but I would never expect a refund. To me it's a few sheckles for entertainment. He's had enough trauma for the time being.
I say go out and buy a few good CDs. Support the musicians who work magic to provide us with great music. TG
Posted by: TonyGuitar at February 25, 2006 04:21 AM
 
|
|
