Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Much of the backing comes as a result of an item posted by Glenn Reynolds at the very popular right-of-center blog Instapundit, who linked to a “Support Harry’s Place Blogburst” set up by the conservative blog NeoConstant. Although I haven’t done a thorough review of all the blogs that have signed up, at a glance they appear to be overwhelmingly on the political right. In most cases, I have no problem with this- for the most part I welcome the support of anyone who opposes the BMI’s dishonest efforts to suggest that we deliberately misconstrued the meaning of what Al-Jazeera originally reported Sawalha as saying about the Jews in London celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary. (I hope they would all be equally supportive if, for some reason, we were being unfairly sued by Mark Steyn or Rush Limbaugh, but I live in the real world.)
As a result of this lawsuit, IslamExpo - the marketing effort that was attempting to paint lipstick on the pig of fascism, has lost some of their featured speakers, including Stephen Timms, the Minister of State for Employment, Shahid Malik, the international development minister, Stephen Timms MP, the Minister of State for Employment, conservative Douglas Murray and the political editor of the New Statesman, Martin Bright.
Perhaps as a result of this (a very big "perhaps"), George-airplanes-are-the-devil's-work!-Monbiot speaks out against British libel laws, calling them a "national disgrace, a global menace, and a pre-democratic anachronism".
Well, that's a sure sign of end times, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. For once I agree with George Monbiot.
If Gene were truly living in the real world he would know that there is very little chance of Harry's Place being sued by Mark Steyn or Rush Limbaugh over a true statement.
I'm sure he does know that. He also knew that Harry's Place's criticism of powerful Islamists could get them all sued. But that didn't stop any of them from criticizing these powerful and well-connected fascists.
They're leftists at Harry's Place, so of course, they complain. That's what the left does.
The Islamists and their lawyers have been going after bloggers lately. Most bloggers folded after just a hint of a lawsuit. By fighting this lawsuit, they're bringing attention to Britain's horrific libel laws. These laws affect writers worldwide. In their own, kvetching leftist way, they're doing us all a favor.