A major shift in defamation law - Rafe Mair Ruling Strikes a Blow for Freedom

Ezra has lots, Jay Curry comments as well. Libel Cry Babies The Lying Jackal and Lucy Warman are weeping in their Suckybaby mash today.

Damian Penny has more, the following is key, and a desperate update to our draconian libel laws:

It is therefore appropriate to modify the “honest belief” element of the fair comment defence so that the test, as modified, consists of the following elements: (a) the comment must be on a matter of public interest; (b) the comment must be based on fact; (c) the comment, though it can include inferences of fact, must be recognizable as comment; (d) the comment must satisfy the following objective test: could any person honestly express that opinion on the proved facts? Even though the comment satisfies the objective test of honest belief, the defence can be defeated if the plaintiff proves that the defendant was subjectively actuated by express malice. The defendant must prove the four elements of the defence before the onus switches back to the plaintiff to establish malice.

 

h/t blazingcatfur

Now poo poo head kinsella will have to think twice before threatening the whole blogosphere with legal destruction withouit submitting much paperwork. 

Got this in my e-mail a little earlier:

Looks like I'll be claiming that reward:  http://realcdncynic.blogspot.com/2008/06/would-real-cc-please-stand-up.html
 
I'll contact you once the storm blows over to arrange payment.
 
realcdncynic

Led to this site :

Canadian Cynic = Douglas Friesen 

 

[...]

Peaceworks employs 18 consultants/staff. With numbers like that, one would expect they'd be operating out of some sort of office building due to space concerns. That's not the case. Peaceworks is run out of one side of a duplex on Erb St. in Waterloo.

It's too small to house 18 personnel. As a result, it's consultants work from their own homes.

'CC' works from home
Peaceworks' consultants work from home.

Dot connected!

There you have it. Connect the dots! 'CC' = Douglas Friesen! Looks like he can't hide behind his shield of anonymity any longer!

Is it legit?  Does anyone know anything about this? 

Update:  For those who seem to be confused:  Linking to another website and asking if the information is true is different than stating something as fact.  As the initial e-mail notifying me of the site came anonymously, for all we know, It was a red herring sent by CC himself...  With that in mind I've pulled the guy's pic but left the original post intact...

Another Update:  CC's worked himself into quite a lather .  That's amusing... 

Today, local nut-bar Werner Patels posted the following crap :

Right.  I'm dishonest.  I'm unethical.  And, if Werner had the balls to allow comments on this post, here's how I would have responded:

Had you been paying attention, Werner, you would have noticed that my site (no-libs.com) has been going through extensive renovations since March.  You would have also noticed that the "Alberta Blogs" icon was proudly displayed in my sidebar up until the renovations began.  It's archived here if you need proof: (http://no-libs.com/wordpress/)  No, I don't have everything in place yet but I've been slowly working on getting it put back together.  When you've got a day job and family to look after this stuff comes neither easily nor fast.

Further, Werner, had you actually read my blog, you'd have noticed that I'm having serious computer problems.  Most of my time, over the past several weeks (and I do mean SEVERAL), has been spent trying to keep my machine running and there's hardly been any time to even get a post up let alone make revisions to the site's layout.  Hence this week's notice of hiatus.  It's been too freakin' much!

Further still, you note, Werner, the complaint to AB Blogs about my lack of a link.  I just got my blog e-mail up and running this morning and scanning the 500+ new e-mail messages, I can't see a single one notifying me of the infraction.  It's just a little unfair to tear into someone for something they've done wrong if you haven't yet let them know about it first no?  Werner, you're a freakin dope!  

I'll tell ya what...  Now that my machine's back up and running, I'll see what I can do about the missing link this weekend.  There are no guarantees.  Between work, the little league games and the deck renovations time is going to be tight.  I still need to configure dreamweaver to work with the new joomla system on my server.  That will take some time as well.  I will guarantee however that it will be repaired by the end of the month.  If that's not good enough for you you can continue with your little "progressive" hissy-fit about the evil conservatives and their blogroll infractions and have me removed from the blogroll.  I. DONT. CARE.  Actually, now that it appears that it's you that's running the blogroll, Werner, I dare you to start purging conservatives from it.

In any case, Werner, you can go frig your hat...  You know the one, the little black boler job you like to wear...

As an aside, is it possible that you really don't care about the blogroll and that you're just using this as an opportunity to take a shot at a conservative blogger/politician while you think he's not looking?   Just because I'm not posting to my site, it doesn't mean that I don't check in every now and then to see what's going on.  Werner, you're a f***ing dope!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my hiatus...

OH, and if you're wondering how I knew it was werner that posted that crap, WHOIS is your friend... 

UPDATE:  Werner responded to the e-mail I sent him notifying him of my rebuttal:

You should also take extra classes in English spelling, you f***ing moron. You make me laugh.

 

Btw, your reply on Project Alberta is funny and shows how uneducated you really are: I don’t run the blogroll, and I am not out to purge conservatives – I only want to purge morons like you, and I don’t care whether they’re conservatives or liberals – a moron is a moron, no matter what is ideology may be.

 

And you are not only a moron, but a retard. You must have been the product of two siblings having sex, right?

 

And next time get your facts straight before you make an ass of yourself in public – then again, being a moron and an inbred retard, that’s not really within your intellectual range, is it?

I took the liberty of bleeping his foul language...  Yup, I'm thinkin that ol' Werner thought he was going to take a cheep shot at a conservative who, in his mind, wasn't paying attention...  Sucks to be Werner... 

What's really sad is that the damned fool actually admitted that he doesn't want me pulled from the blogroll because of any sort of blogroll infraction but rather because of his own personal grudge... 

ANOTHER UPDATE:  Werner sends more gibberish via e-mail:

Doesn’t faze me one bit – but if you ever decide to run again, I will expose your lack of honesty and ethics based on this example, and I will then publish your foul-mouthed emails for all the voters to see. Your next campaign has already ended now.

 

If you can’t spell, and are an inbred retard, you should not even think of running for public office, because Albertans deserve better.

 

Oh, and wasn’t it you who violated financial campaign rules the last time? I remember seeing something in the newspaper not too long ago. So, you’re not only a retard, but a crook too.

I think he's on crack!  He is correct about one thing though...  After tast year's civic election I forgot to send in my donation disclosure form within the allocated time frame.  If missing a deadline makes me an evil crook, then I guess I'm guilty as charged...  To my credit however, I did get the required information submitted after I got the reminder from the elections folks...  

Keep it up Werner...  I'm sure you're going to find some kind of dirt on me eventually...  Actually, I can't wait that long...  Here's a freebie:  When I was 4 I tried to steal a chocolate bar from a corner store in Saskatoon.  I got caught.  There's probably a record of it somewhere...   

AND YET ANOTHER UPDATE:  It looks like Werner has a history of bat-shit-crazy !