Defendant Warren, on behalf of himself and Esquire, told The Daily Caller that they had “no regrets” in posting the subject stories and that Plaintiff Corsi, and by extension the other Plaintiffs, are an “execrable piece of shit.”

The suit asserts this is also an actionable statement.

Beware the vortex.

Well, I guess that shows how out of it I am. I’d never heard of World Net Daily until I read this post. And now I’m sorry. I could have gone to my grave happy, but, no, you had to bring it up.

Nice morning eye-opener, Attaturk. Anybody have a link to the Esquire article or the lawsuit? It must read especially well in legalese.

Looking for some trenchant hilariousness? Here ya go. The “execrable” part is on page 7.

For people who spend their lives badmouthing their fellow Americans, the Right are rather thin-skinned. In a just world, the right would be flogged daily for the way they talk.

Thanks much, Stony. I’m going there right now to see parody turn to farce.

Good morning, pups. Ms. Collins is on book leave, so it just Mr. Kristof today. In “Yet Again in Sudan” he says all eyes might be on the atrocities taking place in Libya and Syria, but let’s not ignore the potential Darfur-like situation brewing in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.

Here he is.

The coffee and tea are ready, the cold drinks are in the fridge, and I’ve got toasted Thomas’ English muffins with lots of butter and your favorite jam. We got lots of rain again last night, with lots of thunder that alarmed the kittehs. Delilah was under the bed when she wasn’t in my lap. And we may get more rain today. This is a good thing. Have a great day.

I’m not an attorney but I don’t see how this is actionable. If there was no right to parody then how do they explain National Lampoon, Mad Magazine and The Onion to name just a few? The irony here, (apart from Chuck Norris’ campaign to eliminate “frivolous” lawsuits), is that it has to be next to impossible to parody Farah and Corsi.

Well, World Nut Daily does manage to get its name in the news. And also to whinge about being victims.

I thought the same until I read the article. It does read as though it were news and was not funny enough to be recognized as parody or satire. Esquire should have left it to The Onion. On damages, though, WND would have to prove that they had a good reputation to sully. Also, Corsi’s book is selling like crazy at Amazon.

Good morning, pups. Ms. Collins is on book leave,

Oh, she’s learning to read?

Rule One of wingnut jurisprudence: Wingnuts’ suits are meritorious, yours are frivolous.

Parody is protected speech under the First Amendment. In 1988, the Supreme Court unanimously threw out a lawsuit filed by Jerry Falwell against Hustler magazine. Hustler printed a parody of a liquor ad which, among other things, portrayed Falwell as having engaged in a drunken incestuous rendezvous with his mother in an outhouse. The Court held that Virginia’s interest in protecting public figures from emotional distress (Falwell sued Hustler in Virginia state court) is not sufficient to deny First Amendment protection to speech that is patently offensive and is intended to inflict emotional injury when that speech could not reasonably have been interpreted as stating actual facts about the public figure involved.

The case was Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988).

How dare you call me a ‘world-renowned’ author, even in jest! I shall have satisfaction!

ohmigawd! thanks for the laugh depicting the parody about Falwell + his mom in an outhouse… egad! har

rightwing outrage over stuff they do unto others incessantly is as predictable as the sun rising in the east… maybe more predictable. rightwingers are unhinged anymore, imo.